A friend once asked the author how many countries I had visited and what was on my bucket list, and his reply was that it wasn't filled with things or places, but with people like "The Walnut Man" or "The Albeeno Aborigine" and the Ladyboy in "Bangkok Confidential" that he had met along the way and the stories that they shared about themselves. If anything, a little bit of luck, patience, and an ear for listening have made all the difference in seeing the world through a different set of lenses.

The richness of travel is in each footstep taken like walking el Camino de Santiago in Spain, where each day is a new adventure along an 800-kilometer trail filled with stories of personal challenge, hardships overcome, immense satisfaction, and a bookmark in the lives of people from all corners of the world.

Each story, each memoir is merely a point in time in someone's life and the reward was having it handed to you as a gift.