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

Previous journeys had taught me the danger of taking too much stuff.

My father used to say that stories are part of the most precious heritage of mankind.

It is almost impossible to overemphasize the importance with which ancestry is held in the Middle East and North Africa.

Once in a very long time you come across a book that is far, far more than the ink, the glue and the paper, a book that seeps into your blood.

Settling into a new country is like getting used to a new pair of shoes. At first they pinch a little, but you like the way they look, so you carry on. The longer you have them, the more comfortable they become. Until one day without realizing it you reach a glorious plateau. Wearing those shoes is like wearing no shoes at all. The more scuffed they get, the more you love them and the more you can't imagine life without them.

There's nothing like a pack of mules to give one a sense of entourage.