I thought people went to someplace like the Himalayas or Death Valley to find themselves. I hadn't thought of it as going to Europe.

I have found myself so I dont need to say this.

I think the European experience came from relatively wealthy Americans going to explore the Continent. Personally, I find it amusing that people using this reference are often staying in posh hotels and surrounded by other Americans and tourists from elsewhere.

These days, I believe the idea is still there. Perhaps not focused on European experiences and perhaps not using the term, but still being done.

For myself, a big part of my experience was within the U.S. following the Grateful Dead around the country, but I have had a world of travel experiences in addition to that. The main idea seems to be removing oneself from his or her normal to find out who they are without the trappings and habits of everyday life.

Without doing further research, I would say the idea was first put out in publication with Thoreau's Walden Pond.
“I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die Discover that I had not lived.”

I was reminded of this post just recently. Two weeks ago, I fractured my ankle and am stuck with a cast and limited mobility. My world has been shrunk to three rooms.

In a way, I am finding myself again due to the change in circumstances. I am not traveling abroad. I have barely left the house in two weeks. Heck, I cannot even get to my second floor.

Despite, or perhaps because of my situation, I am learning new things about myself. Of course, it is incredibly boring and I am spending a bit too much time watching television or surfing online. However, I have found a new way of looking at myself.

One of my great aunts in the early 20th century as a young lady alone traveled by ship and rail around the world. She was expected to keep a log and write notes to be rewritten and published into a book to share her experiences with those who stayed home. She circumvented tthe Earth going to Egypt, Japan, China, and other places.

My great grandpa did something like that, kind of, in 1916.
But not in Europe --- his family had immigrated from there and the west was more of the ideal.
He was the star of his family (from scotland) and by 22 he was a very rich man as the head of some huge logging company in Seattle. Then he had a complete nervous breakdown and the doctor ordered him to take a break, take a vacation, take the waters... to go "find himself" and come back with his spirits refreshed.

He packed up the wife and kid (my grandma) and a couple of relatives and they travelled around Washington, Idaho, Oregon, California and Arizona for 8 months. They caravaned (sp?) in their model Ts and camped and cooked out. Cousin Cookie kept a journal and my mom made fotocopied spiral bound books of it with the fotos as well, (they had cameras). It's really funny, the slang and the writing. It seems like everything was called Ginny --- the car, the cooker, the clothesline, random strangers... "ol' Ginny". Ha ha.

But he found himself. He ended up homesteading a few thousand acres in Arizona --- I don't know how it worked, but I think it was the Homestead Act ??? He worked for Mr. Wrigley (the gum dude) here in LA, and then for a few months of the year he had to go to Arizona in order to keep his claim, and he had to do that for a certain number of years.

In any case, he "found" himself, but it wasn't in Europe. This was in 1916-17 and the doctor's remedy for a nervous disposition.