I was flying from Australia to London, watching our progress on the map on the tiny TV, when the attendant plonked down my meal. We were over Iran and as I picked at the chicken in black bean sauce I realised things were a lot more interesting 35,000ft below. Ko Phangan or a complimentary beverage? Kathmandu or the latest Bruce Willis movie? I knew which way I'd be going home. It took eight months, rather than 24 hours, but London to Sydney overland is one of travel's last truly great adventures.
The beauty of travelling overland is that all you need is a point A, a point B and a rough idea of how to get between them. How you do the journey is entirely up to you. I decided to do the 28,000km trip by public transport, figuring that it would be easier to strike up a conversation with the locals with one of their goats on my lap than pass by cocooned in my car or motorcycle.
And so it proved. I set off from Victoria coach station in the company of Eastern Europeans wearing mullets. I hitched a ride with Albanians smuggling fuel out of Macedonia. I spent five days floating down the Mekong with a family who ferried dodgy cars down from China. Even catching a taxi was an adventure. On the way from Tehran's northern bus terminal to the one in the south the driver insisted on taking me home to meet his family. I watched Skippy in Farsi with his son, drinking lemon juice brought to me by his wife, sans burka.
Travelling by public transport meant there were no car insurance carnets to organise or spare parts to carry. Any visas I sorted out along the way. It took three weeks to get my Iranian visa in Budapest, but I discovered the joys of Tiloz az!, the Forbidden Egg, a club that changed its style every night. And if I'd got my Chinese visas in London I wouldn't have been able to cross from Nepal into Tibet. At that time, only people with visas issued from the Chinese consulate in Pakistan enjoyed that privilege.
There are downsides to travelling overland. The vast distances make it impossible to do the trip in ideal climatic conditions the whole way. I was frozen by wintry squalls in eastern Turkey, spit-roasted by 50C heat in Pakistan, and chased by monsoon rain across India.
But every time I was at my lowest ebb the overland trail rewarded my patience and virtue. In Pakistan it was a clandestine adventure across the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan. In Tibet, it was arriving in Lhasa during the celebrations for the Dalai Lama's birthday.
Eight months, 25 countries, 13 boats, 34 buses, 16 trains, 21 minivans, six car rides and one flight after leaving London I finally arrived in Sydney. The sense of achievement was so satisfying that it wasn't long before I set off to Cape Town, to travel up to Cairo the same way.
Other great overland journeys
Cape Town to Cairo
Head north from South Africa through Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi to East Africa. Then a skip through Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia and Sudan into Egypt. From the jaw-dropping majesty of Victoria Falls to the Pyramids of Giza, this is a snapshot of modern Africa. To rough it, try a truck trip from companies like Oasis Overland (oasisoverland.co.uk). For luxury, try GW Travel (gwtravel.co.uk), for 34 days on the Pride of Africa train, a private jet and a five-star Nile cruiser.
London to Cape Town (west coast)
Go south through Morocco and Western Sahara to Mauritania, Mali and Burkina Faso. Then east through Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria before turning right into Cameroon, Gabon, Congo and Angola. There are no sanitised safaris on this side of Africa. This is the real deal. For small group tours through Ghana, Benin and Togo, try responsibletravel.com. If you've got time, Bukima (bukima.com) offers a truck trip that takes 22 weeks to get from Europe to Cape Town.
The Silk Road
Head through western Europe to China through Bukhara, Samarkand, Dunhuang and on to Xian along this ancient trade route as travelled by Marco Polo. responsibletravel.com offers a 20-day tour through China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Cox & Kings offers a more luxurious option.
The Pan American Highway
Start in northern Alaska and head south. At just over 24,000km, this is one of the world's longest thoroughfares. And the only one that goes from the Arctic Circle to within spitting distance of Antarctica at Tierra del Fuego. Forget tours. Buy a car and drive it.
· Peter Moore chronicled his overland journey in The Wrong Way Home (£7.99). See petermoore.net