I like the idea of isolation, I like the idea of solitude. You can be connected and have a phone and still be lonely.

Even if I were traveling with you, your trip would not be mine.

I grew up in an era of thinking of travel as escape. The idea that you could conceivably have a new life, go somewhere, fall in love, have little children under the palm trees.

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

A novel captures essence that is not possible in any other form.

Sometimes people read a book in order to not go on a trip. You read a book instead of going on the trip. And so the travel writer is doing the traveling for you.

Friendship is also about liking a person for their failings, their weakness. It's also about mutual help, not about exploitation.