Life doesn't change just by thinking about it.
When thoughts meet experience and we finally realize something, a crack appears in our lives and change blossoms from that gap.

The author began his journey late in life, when he had accumulated a lot of prejudice and preconceptions.
But every time I travel, all the preconceived notions I've built up over time crumble away.
I realize that I was a person who knew nothing.
For him, traveling is a process of creating a new void in a life that was filling a void.
It is a process of seeing, thinking, and experiencing things anew, and only then can one truly realize them.

"Things You Only Realize After Leaving" is a story about a month-long trip to France.
He said that he felt warmer than ever in France, a country he had always thought was cold.
He said that he felt a greater surprise than anywhere else in France, which he had thought would be predictable.
Let's follow his gaze and go to France together.

I sat for a long time looking at Lake Annecy.
It was a picturesque scene that was hard to believe even as I was looking at it.
I sat there and made a resolution.
From now on, I must live a life where I don't just see things, but experience things firsthand.
We should live a life that ends with 'It was good', not a life that ends with 'It would be good'.

--- p.63

I will continue to walk in the future.
I won't hesitate to set out.
Even if you don't know what you'll find at the end of the road, if you keep walking, you'll definitely reach somewhere.
Because a life of encountering ‘something’ and reaching ‘somewhere’ is much more valuable than a life of nothing.

--- p.75

As I walked back along the hiking trail after swimming, I thought about the fantastic moment I had just experienced.
I will continue to live my life doing what I want to do most, in the best place, at the best moment.
I will do my best to live that kind of life.

--- p.108

I thought that even if I don't find a good place, I should live a life that makes this place I am a good place.
I decided to live a life where I could appreciate every moment, rather than creating great moments.

--- p.128

I would rather die as a person with many memories than as a person with many things.
That's why I want to travel more.
I want to travel throughout my life and make more memories.
I want to make a long-running film that continues the memories of the trip and never seems to end.
I want to live a life where I can laugh while watching that movie someday.

--- p.172