I was young. I was newly married. And I had worked like a dog. I just wanted to live and travel.

My kids started school so having a strong base in Melbourne has been a key priority. I'm not daunted by the travel. People say 'It's so far to Australia ' and I say 'You get on the plane you eat well you sleep you wake up - and you're there.'

You do not travel if you are afraid of the unknown you travel for the unknown that reveals you with yourself.

I'm obsessed with Nicholas Sparks. I've literally read every single book because every time I travel at the airport I always buy a new Nicholas Sparks book.

Could I say that the reason that I am here today you know from the mouth of the State Department itself is: I should not be allowed to travel because I have struggled for years for the independence of the colonial peoples of Africa.

Travel books are by and large boring. They lodge uncomfortably between fact fiction and autobiography.

Don Quixote's 'Delusions' is an excellent read - far better than my own forthcoming travel book 'Walking Backwards Across Tuscany.'

Occasionally I find a travel book that is both illuminating and entertaining where vivid writing and research replace self-indulgence and sloppy prose.

Just to travel is rather boring but to travel with a purpose is educational and exciting.

I am traveling less in order to be able to write more. I select my travel destinations according to their degree of usefulness to my work.