"Later I realised that this was the most powerful moment of the journey for me. Here I was, a stranger who had wandered in from the Tibetan plateau in the need of shelter and comfort, and I was offered both in abundance. We had no word in common but without the benefit of language it is the non-verbals that click into place: body language, gesture, mime, eye contact, facial expressions, basic intuition. The condition of being human is universal I discovered and the underlying impulse to reach out and connect transcends the barriers of race, language and geographical location."

A beautifully written collection of essays on incredible journeys across the seven continents by writer and broadcaster Marguerite Maccurtin.