This month I swam with a whale shark, a mysterious giant cruising through the waters that swirl around one of Britain’s remotest outposts. I came within charging distance of a 500-strong herd of buffalo, and followed in the paddle sploshes of a Native American guide as he kayaked past hoodoo rock sculptures at the edge of Glacier National Park. I survived world-record bum-ache to cycle rough trails between the distant nations of the ancient Silk Road: Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Tajikistan – at last stopping to gawp in wonder at the Milky Way, framed by the peaks of the Pamir Mountains. And I diverted to Kazakhstan, sneaking into a crumbling, spooky hangar to discover a once-classified Soviet-era remnant: a clone of the Space Shuttle, known as the Buran. Each of these experiences was vicarious, captured through the eyes of our contributors and shared as I edited my way through the pages of this ‘Inspiring Journeys’ issue. As the physical act of travel goes on pause for so many of us at the moment, I hope your imagination joins mine in still getting out there.