Going slowly [...] was the best way of being reminded that there is a relationship between Here and There, and that travel narrative was the story of There and Back.

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

To a lot of Africans, seeing an animal is a something of a rarity. So it's a paradox of this sort of parallel life. A safari is an expensive experience and it's adjacent to a place where people are having a very tough time.

Bogotá seemed a cruel towering place, like an eagles' nest now inhabited by vultures and their dying prey.

The biggest surprise was that a country like Angola, that has so much money, that produces so much oil, would be in such a mess and so difficult to travel in. Something is almost cursed in striking oil. It's like the lottery winner who ends up broke.

The amount of hassle involved in travel can be overwhelming.

You must not judge people by their country. In South America, it is always wise to judge people by their altitude.