"New York, New York"

“I never felt sadder in my life. LA is the lonelieset and most brutal of American cities; New York gets god-awful cold in the winter but there’s a feeling of wacky comradeship somewhere in some streets. LA is a jungle.” (p. 85)
This quote made me feel that Sal had to leave New York, that he had to take his road trip, to see how much he really loved it. Just like favorite activities or hobbies, or favorite movies or music, or many other things in life that one can come to love so much that you tend to in a sense “overdose” on it, Sal has had too much of New York. He needed to see the world and get away from New York for a while because everything had become dead to him, but throughout the book there are little hints to how he starts to miss New York. He dreamed of the places he has now gone as much more magnificent than they have turned out to be in the end and he has come to appreciate New York in a new light. In this quote you understand a bit of what Sal sees New York as, his home. A place where he feels he belongs. Also he has changed on his journey and now when he looks at New York it means something different to him than it did when he left it. When he arrives home, I get a sense of melancholy. He has grown and had enjoyed his trip even if he can’t put a finger on why exactly. But he was home in the month when “everybody goes home.” (p. 103)
Has there ever been anything which you had to leave behind to gain a new perspective or appreciation for?