As a travel writer I've specialized in gritty, fearful destinations, the kind of places that make a reader's hair stick on end.

One senses that, in these conditions, no amount of wet-wiping could bring true hygiene.

During the days I felt myself slipping into a kind of madness. Solitary confinement has an astonishing effect on the mind. The trip was to stay calm and keep myself occupied. I spent hours working out how to break free. But trying to escape would have been instant suicide.

Usually, there is nothing more pleasing that returning to a place where you have endured hardship.

For me, a journey to Damascus is an amazing hunt from beginning to end, a slice through layers of history in search of treasure.

Move to a new country and you quickly see that visiting a place as a tourist, and actually moving there for good, are two very different things.

The first rule of an expedition is that everyone should stick together.