There are some moments in life that are like pivots around which your existence turns—small intuitive flashes, when you know you have done something correct for a change, when you think you are on the right track. I watched a pale dawn streak the cliffs with Day-glo and realized this was one of them. It was a moment of pure, uncomplicated confidence—and lasted about ten seconds.

When there is no one to remind you what society's rules are, and there is nothing to keep you linked to that society, you had better be prepared for some startling changes.

By now I was utterly deprogrammed. I walked along naked usually, clothes being not only putrid but unnecessary. My skin had been baked a deep terra-cotta brown and was the constituency of harness leather. The sun no longer penetrated it. I retained my hat.

I just don't see myself as a travel writer. I can't. I don't.

And there are new kinds of nomads, not people who are at home everywhere, but who are at home nowhere. I was one of them

I believe when you’re stuck in one spot for too long it’s best to throw a grenade where you stand, and jump…and pray.

Real travel would be to see the world, for even an instant, with another's eyes