These are travel stories, ranging in space and time. Some are memories of re-imagined past, others more personal – all have a twist that prompts reflection about our place in the world. From the first recorded performance of ‘Hamlet’ (off the coast of Africa, in 1607) via the strange foundations on which probability theory was built and the forthright epitaphs of Suffolk gravestones, these explorations expand to include the pursuit of wine, a glittering dusk on the beach of Essaouira, the simit vendors of Istanbul, an elegy for Palmyra. And much more.