Acknowledgments

Many people helped us find our way around the world including many kind strangers. We are grateful to all of them, but we’d like to offer special thanks to:

Dominick Anfuso and Ana DeBevoise of Simon & Schuster, for agreeing to publish this book in the first place.

Khun Prapansak Batayond of the Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel in Bangkok for his generous hospitality.

Bret, Christina, Sophie, and Alexander Burton for their friendship in Sydney.

My mother, Hannah Cohen, for generously and diligently keeping our affairs in order while we were gone. It would have been difficult to take this trip without her help.

My father, Norman Cohen, for many things.

My brother, Dan Cohen, for organizing our tours of the US Capitol and the White House, and his wife Stacy Cohen.

Rick and Bettina Cullen, barristers, vintners and bon vivants, for their wonderful hospitality in Perth and Margaret River, Western Australia.

Lois Eagleton, Devi’s mother, for her example and inspiration. And to her husband, Mark, for his hospitality in Arizona.

Lisa and Phil Feldman for letting us stay in their home and for to Australia to visit.

Yuri and Zhenya Friedman for their help and friendship.

Hope Gladney for her hospitality in New York City.

François Hebel for a great Paris dinner.

Giancarlo and Pia, Gianni and Anna Maria, and Mino and Birghit, for their world-class hospitality in Sardinia.

Rosie Harris and Mike Reese for showing us their Perth. (See Rosie, I told you I wouldn’t say anything bad about Perth.)

Anna Kamdar and Todd Simmons for their hospitality in Oregon.

Mira Kamdar and Michael Claes for their superb hospitality in New York.

Pete Kamdar, Devi’s father, for his great generosity and hospitality in Sardinia and Bombay, and his help in Cambodia.

Pravin Kamdar and Caroline Koff for their hospitality in Colorado.

Dipu, Dipti, and Usha Kamdar for their gracious hospitality in Bombay.

Jill and Steve Kantola for putting us up for an inexcusable length of time in their Tiburon home—and for smoothing our way in Perth.

Harlan and Sandy Kleiman of Tiburon, Bill and Terri Higgins of Mill Valley, and Douglas and Françoise Kirkland of West Hollywood—for hosting sayonara parties before we left on this journey. Each reflected the creative, generous nature of the hosts. The Kleimans and the Kirklands were also kind enough to let us stay at their homes.

Hiroko Koff and her sister Taka-san for a wonderful dinner in Tokyo.

Larry and Lacy Lang for their warm (116 degrees warm) hospitality in Phoenix.

Franz Lanting, renowned wildlife photographer, for steering us to the Chobe Game Lodge, one of our best stops.

Lee, Josh, Cassy, Bez, and Boris Liberman for their hospitality in Melbourne and use of their lovely place in Surfer’s Paradise.

Jain Lemos for her smart, competent assistance.

Sara Loyster, DeAnn Tabuchi, Lois Giono, Diane Karabochos Burt, Renee Hayes, Keven Madvig, Shannon Sheppard, and the other librarians at the San Anselmo (CA) Public Library who provided reference assistance.

Diana and John Mack for putting up the whole brood in Pacific Palisades.

My agent, Carol Mann, and her assistant, Christie Fletcher, for finding a publisher for this beast—not an easy task.

John McAlester for his help with this edition.

Holloway McCandless, Andy Belt, and Toby McCandless for their gracious hospitality under difficult circumstances.

Doug and Teresa Menuez for letting us use their Mill Valley home for three weeks when we returned from our trip.

Kevin Monko and Nick Kelsh of Kelsh Wilson Design for receiving, processing, and filing all the film from our trip.

The Hon. Patricia O’Neill, legendary for her kindness, class, and charisma, for a visit to Broadlawns, her magnificent estate, near Cape Town.

Publisher John Owen for his assistance in Sydney.

Rasik Pareck for his hospitality and assistance in Mumbai.

Liz Perle, Susan Wels, and Susan Moffett—all smart, capable publishing professionals who read and commented on the proposal for this book.

Spencer Reiss at Wired, who actually knows something about writing and offered good advice.

Cornel Riklin and family, for their hospitality in Sardinia—and to Susie, who had to stay back in London.

Heidi Swillinger at The San Francisco Chronicle for publishing the first installment of this book.

Erick Steinberg, Lisa Miller, Mark and Annie, who gave us a home when we returned to Northern California.

Sara Timewell, Jim Sano, and the folks at Geographic Expeditions for helping us during the planning stages.

Legendary Australian publisher, Kevin Weldon, and his wonderful wife, Glenda, for helping us settle in Sydney.

Eric and Janet Weyenberg for their hospitality in Honolulu.

… and finally, to our seventy correspondents who faithfully read installments of this book in e-mail form and offered invaluable comments, suggestions, and encouragement.