“For me, nature is something you watch on the Discovery Channel, or on the evening news -- as you learn how much more of it's been savaged to make way for the Blackberry realm that is my home”

“Once in a very long time you come across a book that is far, far more than the ink, the glue and the paper, a book that seeps into your blood. With such a book the impact isn't necessarily obvious ...”

“As a travel writer I've specialized in gritty, fearful destinations, the kind of places that make a reader's hair stick on end.”

“For me, a journey to Damascus is an amazing hunt from beginning to end, a slice through layers of history in search of treasure.”

“The idea of my heart dancing with delight was far too good to pass up.”

“Lured by the wilderness, and by the chance of spotting rare desert elephants, a few intrepid tourists make their way to the Skeleton Coast each year. It's just about as remote as any tourist destin...”

“A five-hour flight works out to three days and nights on land, by rail, from sea to shining sea. You can chalk off the hours on the back of the seat ahead. But seventy-some hours will not seem so l...”

“The impoverished always try to keep moving, as if relocating might help.”

“People know your tragedies and they treat you like youre not human. Like youre a three-headed goat. A monster from some other planet. They keep reminding you of your pain. You see how they look at ...”

“...a tourist can't help but have a distorted opinion of a place: he meets unrepresentative people, has unrepresentative experiences, and runs around imposing upon the place the fantastic mental pic...”

“The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.”

“When I travel, I feel more like a nomad than a tourist.”

“I do not know where to go, but I have been on the road.”

“While she was in transit, being unattached was exhilarating, but the moment she stopped, so did the high.”

“The natural tenderness and delicacy of our constitution, added to the many dangers we are subject to from your sex, renders it almost impossible for a single lady to travel without injury to her ch...”