Travel is indeed one of my favourite means of AP shifting, but it needs to be done in a specific way. Taimi, your overseas trip has shifted your AP, and that shift is permanent, but in the business of AP shifting, it is only a small beginning. The same applies to Rudi. The kind of trip both of you did means you will never be the same again - your cultural egg now has a permanent crack in it.
The problem for the vast bulk of travellers outside their country, is that they do it in the pure tourist manner, which produces only a very small and temporary shift, almost counter-productive as it can serve to reinforce the old cultural egg.
The key point is to intentionally merge with the other culture, and few want to do this. If you do succeed in letting yourself go into the other culture, and many months are required for this, then you will achieve a permanent and beneficial shift, but that is insufficient for our purposes, albeit a very good beginning.
To move to the next step, you have engage in a spiritual journey to another country, which you will know has succeeded if it changes your direction in life.
However, keep in mind the issue of small and big AP shifts. Both have their place, and in general, if you haven't engaged successfully in small shifts, then a big shift can be quite unproductive from a spiritual perspective.
In the end, I believe small shifts are the real key - slow, gradual and stable shifts over a life time. These are the real deal, but you need to be careful you are not just fooling yourself you are shifting. The ego is unbelievably clever at pretending it is changing and growing.
But the point I was making with my first post, is about intending a major AP shift. Setting it up over many years.