I believe I have a sunny disposition, and am not naturally a grouch. It takes a lot of optimism, after all, to be a traveler.

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

I don't think that it's possible to have a truly rewarding experience in travel if it's simple.

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

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.

Travel books are all sorts - some are autobiographies, some are about falling in love. Some are about having great meals, some are about suffering. There are as many different kinds of travel books as there are novels. People think a travel book is one thing. It's many things.

...a society without jaywalkers might indicate a society without artists.