I have never met Reza Pakravan, and I am not sure I really should. I imagine he oozes the extreme confidence and self-assuredness that all explorers have from spending years out of their comfort zone, testing their limits in out of the way places most of us would never venture near.
Meeting him might bruise my own inflated sense of myself as an adventurer. There’s been a Great Explorer in me all my life – which of us hasn’t had ambitions to hitch-hike across distant lands and live among strange cultures? – and while he might not get out as often as he would like, the dreams are still there (the beds are more comfortable now, though).
The reality is that my travel experiences have been considerably less exciting than I might like to think. Anyone who has run their own business will know it entails more work than play. And every parent will recognise how having children can curtail the carefree wanderlust one might have indulged before (parenting brings with it, its own, more powerful, rewards, of course).