The greatest justification for travel is not self-improvement but rather performing a vanishing act, disappearing without a trace.

I never stay with people and I never look people up when I travel. I depend more on just chance meetings. The advantage is that people don't know who I am. I meet people casually and they're not doing me a big favor because I'm going to write something.

travel [is] flight and pursuit in equal parts.

I think I understand passion. Love is something else.

There are two worlds: the world of the tourist and the world of everyone else. Often they're side by side. But the tourist doesn't actually see how people live.

You can't want to be a writer. You have to be one.

Travel works best when you're forced to come to terms with the place you're in.