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

It is almost axiomatic that the worst trains take you through magical places.

Unless there is a strong sense of place there is no travel writing, but it need not come from topographical description; dialogue can also convey a sense of place. Even so, I insist, the traveler invents the place. Feeling compelled to comment on my travel books, people say to me, "I went there"---China, India, the Pacific, Albania-- "and it wasn't like that." I say, "Because I am not you.

I cannot make my days longer so I strive to make them better.

All politicians, even the most idealistic ones, are looking for money, sucking up to rich people.

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

In a way, Che Guevara's fate was far worse than Simon Bolivar's. Guevara's collapse was complete: his intentions were forgotten, but his style was taken up by boutique owners (one of the fanciest clothes stores in London is called Che Guevara). There is no faster way of destroying a man or mocking his ideas than making him fashionable. That Che succeeded in influencing dress-designers was part of his tragedy.