Contemplation is a luxury, requiring time and alternatives..

Real travel is not about the highlights with which you dazzle your friends once you're home. It's about the loneliness, the solitude, the evenings sp….

I felt sure we could gain the upper hand by putting ourselves in the mindset of the Incas..

For my father there was no sharper way to understand a country than by listening to its stories..

Explorers like to pretend that they are a select breed of people with iron nerve and an ability to endure terrible hardship..

Money spent on good-quality gear is always money well spent.

Believe, and what was impossible becomes possible what at first was hidden becomes visible..

There's nothing like a pack of mules to give one a sense of entourage..

The first rule of an expedition is that everyone should stick together..

Calcutta's the only city I know where you are actively encouraged to stop strangers at random for a quick chat..

Most journeys have a clear beginning, but on some the ending is less well-defined. The question is, at what point do you bite your lip and head for h….

With an enthusiastic team you can achieve almost anything..

The forest did not tolerate frailty of body or mind. Show your weakness, and it would consume you without hesitation..

Respect was one thing. Survival was another. It was important that I kept my priorities in the right order..

If hot food is they key to maintaining an expedition's stamina, then low grade gut-rot alcohol is the key to sustaining its sense of pleasure..

I believe that Marrakech ought to be earned as a destination. The journey is the preparation for the experience. Reaching it too fast derides it, mak….

Enlightenment, and the death which comes before it, is the primary business of Varanasi..

The taste for glory can make ordinary men behave in extraordinary ways..

To Succeed, you must reach for the stars, and let your imagination find its own path.

My father used to say that stories are part of the most precious heritage of mankind..

The desert was bad, but nothing could compare with the horrors of a tropical rain forest..