I experienced that sinking feeling you get when you know you have conned yourself into doing something difficult and there's no going back.

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.

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

The 70s were a wonderful time to be young. I think most young people at that time were pushing the boundaries, asking all sorts of questions of society, of life and of themselves. They were very politicised. It was part of the air that we breathed.

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.

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.