I mostly travel alone. I depart alone, I return alone. This solitude encourages me to approach others. I’m more easily accepted by them, to be among them. Alone, you open up to others. We all need other people. Without a travel companion, you make more of an effort to adopt the culture of the people you meet. Alone, you’re more vulnerable, more permeable, more receptive. And that’s a good thing, because I travel to listen.
2 January 2015
Seeing in the new year can be an opportunity to celebrate, but also to take a look at oneself, to review the past year and make some resolutions. It can…
24 March 2017
It’s exactly 30 years ago this month that my life changed. Nothing had previously marked me out for a life in the tea trade. Palais des Thés opened its first…
30 December 2016
Naturally, I have emotions. I never return from my travels unmoved. Yes, in the strictest sense my job consists of visiting tea fields, talking with producers, tasting, and understanding how…
14 January 2011
In many of the countries I travel in, the water is not safe to drink unless it is boiled first. So people always have water on the boil, day and…
