The taste for glory can make ordinary men behave in extraordinary ways.

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

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.

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.

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

There can be few situations more fearful than breaking down in darkness on the highway leading to Casablanca. I have rarely felt quite so vulnerable or alone.