His friends, whom I met a few days later further on up the trail, later confirmed the story. While you may never have quite that powerful and sudden an epiphany, you can still take advantage of remarkably numerous opportunities to have both a physical and spiritual adventure. Frankly, such an adventure may be the truest way to actually leave your own culture temporarily, to really travel. Certainly, one of the most popular places for meditation practice and Buddhist study is in Nepal. It's also dirt cheap relative to some other countries.
Meditation retreats are plentiful and amazingly cheap.
The risk of getting ripped off or encountering a low-quality meditation program meant to bilk tourists is quite low in Nepal. That country is vastly less trendy than, say, Tibetan Buddhism. It's also wildly more expensive to exist in Japan. Koyasan, an area with more than 55 temples, near Ikoma, Japan, is a likely place to start, however. Many monasteries welcome foreigners for study and can provide accommodations, though there is a cost.