Airplanes have dulled and desensitized us; we are encumbered, like lovers in a suit of armor.

There's a lot of sensuality that I associate with travel. And that's romance.

Travel is an attitude, a state of mind. It is not residence, it is motion.

Tourists who go to Africa have more of a traditional experience than Africans do. A tourist goes on safari; Africans don't.

Most travel, and certainly the rewarding kind, involves depending on the kindness of strangers, putting yourself into the hands of people you don't know and trusting them with your life.

... Oceanic malaise. I never saw anyone reading anything more demanding than a comic book. I never heard any youth express an interest in science or art. No one even talked politics. It was all idleness, and whenever I asked someone a question, no matter how simple, no matter how well the person spoke English, there was always a long pause before I got a reply, and I found these Pacific pauses maddening. And there was giggling but no humor - no wit. It was just foolery.

You can't save the rhinos and you can't preserve a culture. I'm very pessimistic. Once it's gone, it's over.