For as long as they could walk, I have told Ariane and Timur that they must travel.

The ground beneath them must be moving, I say. Because, if it is not, then they are stagnating. I have told them that it doesn’t really matter where you are going, so long as you don’t plan too much, and that you absorb the hidden details of a place…

The smell of a bread warming on a street-side stall.

The sound of a knife-sharpener calling up at apartment blocks.

The sight of three old friends sitting in the shade, comfortable in silence.

I tell them that school is important.

But, that travel is a fast track to a far deeper and more valuable realm of learning. For me, travel isn’t about getting from A to B… rather, it’s about a zigzag learning system, that fills in all the gaps.

I go crazy when I hear people telling each other that they managed to cover the distance between two cities in record-breaking time. How they shaved an hour or two off a fifteen-hour journey. I am never happier than when the ground under me is passing by – preferably on land or sea, and not from 30,000 feet up.

And I’m thrilled if the unexpected happens.

The very best way to welcome the unexpected, and to prepare for it, is not to prepare at all. So, that’s why I like to free myself from the manacles of planned expeditions and throw myself into the abyss…

And see what’ll happen.

Every summer for the last seven years I have taken Ariane and Timur on a journey. We’ve taken the train up to Tibet, have been to Greenland and Iceland, and have driven across the US. We’ve zigzagged through the Far East, and have travelled to jungles, deserts, and through endless urban landscapes.

Earlier this summer, I pulled out the world map.

‘What should it be?’ I asked.

Timur tapped a finger hard at Europe.

‘We’ve hardly ever been there,’ he said mournfully.

So, I bought us passes to travel by train for a month – zigzagging through Europe.

The last time I did it, I was 20, and I was robbed in Spain. That was the best travelling experience, and one of the steepest learning curves of my life.

More on that later.

First stop, Istanbul…