The Adventure Is Still Out There
A few days ago, I was scrolling through Instagram when I came across the latest photos from my niece Helena, who is travelling through Central Asia with her friend Ivana. They’ve been exploring Uzbekistan and some of the other “Stans”, travelling through a part of the world that still feels wonderfully remote and exotic. Then I saw a photo of Helena on horseback, riding through this vast, beautiful countryside. And it stopped me. I felt this sudden rush of excitement for her — but also an incredible sense of nostalgia. It took me straight back to being a young traveller myself, when the world seemed enormous and there was always another adventure waiting around the corner. I remembered travelling through Morocco in 2011 and heading into the Sahara Desert by camel. There was something extraordinary about leaving the roads and towns behind and moving slowly into that enormous landscape. And then spending the night in the desert. No city lights. No familiar surroundings. Just the va...