You're thinking what to do next, how to do it - and you're processing. The ''I'' is only an actor in so far as he looks and arranges the scenes around himself. What takes all my time is understanding what happened during those days - to be true to one's experience and to be true to what one's learned about it. Making it hold together. When Jonathan Raban wanted to find out about America, he sailed on the Mississippi on a raft.
Writers paddle up and down rivers.
They ride tricycles across the Alleghenys. The true traveller has to have an eye. He has to know how to talk to people. It isn't enough to push a pram across the Andes. The airplane and the modern international hotel make the whole business of travel a greater challenge.