Have you ever noticed that time passes more slowly when travelling? This effect occurs because in unfamiliar places, we fixate our attention on things we haven't seen before. We are in the here and now, consciously living our experiences. When you leave the city you first arrived in yesterday morning, you feel as if you have spent at least five days here, not two. This is how travelling prolongs life. As you read this book, you will visit cities in several countries. And you will meet friends and strangers whose influence on our present is hard to overestimate. Some of them may have been or still be your secret companion, interlocutor or opponent. And someone may unexpectedly hand you the key you are looking for...