I'm really glad I am old enough to have had an opportunity to live, work, and travel in other countries before social media was around. You just really don't get immersed the same way anymore with the ability to stay so connected to back home. I was able to email, and long distance was cheap, but there was enough of a barrier there that you still felt you were in a "different place".

And even then, based on your comment, what I had was a big difference compared to what was available 5-10 years earlier.