What a wonderful world we live in And how lucky I am to have seen so much of it - not just once but again and again, through the pages of my diaries.
Stroll amongst the steaming geysir fields of the Andes and beneath the crumbling rocks of the Karakorum ... watch the sun rise over Mount Everest:
"The sun gilds first the summit, then the plume of spindrift snow blowing off the peak, then the western ridge and finally the vast snowfields on the mountain's flank - how exhilarating to watch a mountain waking from sleep "
Scramble up steep steps into tiny chapels squeezed into crevices in the cliffs at Bhutan's Eagle's Nest ... become dazzled by the gold leaf adorning the walls of Samarkand's Golden Mosque ... gaze in awe at Sri Lanka's 12m high Avukana Buddha, carved into a cliff.
Join an exuberant procession of worshipping Ethiopian Christians ... marvel at the skill of Mongolian eagle hunters ... watch the elegant dance of a Japanese geisha ... join picnicking Iranian families to eat freshly peeled cucumber.
Swim with awe-inspiring Australian whale sharks ... thrill at the sight of the Antarctic's Wandering Albatross with its 12ft wingspan ... listen to the sounds of the African night:
"Three lionesses arrive, lapping loudly at the water, while from the darkness comes the roar of a male lion, like strangled coughing repeated over and over again, until it fades away."
Come and join me in my travels