If you think of all the enduring stories in the world, they're of journeys. Whether it's 'Don Quixote' or 'Ulysses,' there's always this sense of a quest - of a person going away to be tested, and coming back.
The truth is I'm not really interested in travel writing as it's generally conceived, and even less so in female travel writing.
My own memories are packed tightly away. I very rarely bring them out for viewing.
I just don't see myself as a travel writer. I can't. I don't.
The idea of finding things out, I hope that will stay with me until I drop.
You can trick yourself into doing things by doing it one step at a time and never letting yourself see the overall picture.
If you are fragmented and uncertain, it is terrifying to find the boundaries of yourself melt.
Its highest point was The Worst Journey in the World. Then you see this decline, and this harking back, using the 19th-century form when we're not in the 19th century. That way of writing a book about the world out there - you just can't do it anymore.
You really can expand the boundaries of your life and do risky things and prove yourself by doing them.
London sort of wore me down. I can't cope with the winters!
The genre has moved into this commercial aspect of itself, and ignored this extraordinarily rich literature that's filed everywhere else except under travel.
I think a lot of writers are unrealistic about having their books translated into film.
I try to factor solitude into my life because more and more, that's becoming a very precious and rare commodity.
I am very lucky: not very many writers can say they genuinely like the film of their book. However, I do.
It is always interesting being on films sets - I have done it before with other actor friends - and I just find it fascinating. I just love that collaborative film family that develops around a project.
As you get older, you do just get tired.
The romantic view would be that nomads are wonderful people, better than us; they care about the environment.
I'd always loved writing, in the same way that I'd loved painting. I wouldn't have seen it as a career.
Life's the adventure. You don't have to drop your bundle and go bush. It's about being brave within the context that you're in.
After thirty years of being 'the camel lady,' believe me: One becomes inured to the spotlight.
