It was eight years since I’d been on a flight that crossed an ocean. That’s a long time. The last big one was earlier in the year that Lydia was born. We spent two weeks trudging through Yucatan jungles in search of lost Mayan cities. The twins came three years later. But now they’re all going to be in school. They’re basically small people. They can talk, dress themselves, use a bathroom on their own. And now I know they can carry all their own gear. And really what more does one need to travel? They don’t speak any foreign languages but neither do I. There are very few skills that I possess that they already don’t. And they have something invaluable that I’ve been losing bit by bit since I was their ages - fearlessness, boundless drive and cartilage. I wondered if I still “had it” after many years, and if the changed person I am today is compatible with the activities I took part in many yesterdays ago. And the biggest question of all is can I do it with young ones in tow . . .