Ditto on the "physically large but still small" thing. My parents were in Laos in a small hostel off the beaten path and the next room was occupied by their former neighbour from 30 years (and 8000 miles) before. I've bumped into people who know friends of mine (or indeed on one occasion the friend themselves) thousands of miles from home and never in airports. The fact that we can get on a plane and in the time it would have taken ancestors to walk 20 miles we can be in a totally alien country is still amazing to me, no matter how many times I fly.