For twenty years, my motto used to be "Have pen, will travel". Paul Theroux travelled to write books; I travelled to keep books - I used to be an accountant which comes from the French aconter and is just a fancy word for "book-keeper".
I kept books in Germany, Australia, South-West Africa, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Burma, Singapore, Indonesia, Iran, Samoa, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Greece. I am retired now and I still keep books but travel books, of which Paul Theroux's travel books are my favourites.
One of my favourite favourites is his "The Tao of Travel", in which Paul Theroux celebrates fifty years of wandering the globe. Part philosophical guide, part miscellany, part reminiscence, it enumerates "The Contents of Some Travelers' Bags" and exposes "Writers Who Wrote about Places They Never Visited"; tracks extreme journeys in "Travel as an Ordeal" and highlights some of "Travelers’ Favourite Places".
I left home; I went alone; I travelled light; I brought lots of maps; I went by land whenever I could; I walked across national frontiers; I kept numerous journals; I read novels that had no relation to the place I was in; and I made lots of friends. I am now catching up with point 9 as I'm clutching my cell phone to avoid having to get out of my armchair while I travel the world with one of Paul Theroux's travel books in my hand.
