Damascus, Syria "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," wrote Charles Dickens in the opening line of A Tale of Two Cities . He was referring to life in an area of Europe in the late 1700s, but one could also feasibly slap this line into a book about overnights...

Ko Phangan, Thailand Seldom is there just one reason why a person travels, a point Colin Thubron eloquently makes in the opening pages of his Shadow of the Silk Road : Sometimes a journey arises out of hope and instinct, the heady conviction, as your finger travels along the map: Yes, here and here…and here....