In way of retro(pro)spect:

"What does one learn in going around the world? ... You go to learn that the world is very large; that men in many and in most of things are very much alike; that like pursuits and thoughts are rife with mortals everywhere; that men who go in ships and those upon the land, that men who trade in stores and they who work in shops, that they who who minister to wants of earth and hopes that reach beyond the tomb are very much alike, most stardingly alike; that men are selfish after all; that all have goodness after all; that no one, of all that is bad or good, has any sure monopoly. The sun that shines on you at home comes forth to shine on all; the silver moon that you adore has just as silvery beams for us and all who live in foreign lands...

You learn in traveling round the world that gold is gold the whole world round, that silver lies in most men's thoughts, and all men work for pay, - for hearth and home and things to wear and feed upon. What else are we doing here?"

What else indeed...