Charlie's immediate plan for this trip was to attend the London premiere of
City Lights, and thereafter take a brief European vacation, perhaps of the duration of his month-long 1921 trip. No one would have guessed that it would be almost a year and a half before he returned. In his 1933 travel memoir,
A Comedian Sees The World, Charlie explained:
"The disillusion of love, fame and fortune left me somewhat apathetic. There seemed nothing to turn to outside of my work, and that, after twenty years, was becoming irksome. I needed emotional stimulus.
I am tired of love and people and like all egocentrics I turn to myself. I want to live in my youth again, to capture the moods and sensations of childhood, so remote from me now - so unreal - almost like a dream. I need to turn back time, to venture into the blurred past and bring it into focus.
Thrilled with this adventure I buy maps of London and here in my California home I retrace road lines, bringing back memories of places that affected me as a boy."
