Yes, I like Amanresorts and I may be one of the founder members of the Amanjunkie club - Amanpuri in 1989 and Amandari in 1989 or 1990 etc, plus 8 or 9 others since with several repeat visits. The last were Amantaka and Amansara two years ago. By the way, I really dislike people abbreviating the hotels to Puri, Jiwo etc: that isn't the Aman way. I dislike that as much as people putting the definitive article before the hotel,for instance, 'We stayed at The Amanpulo.' Ugh . . .

Anyway, as I get older and even more widely travelled (a modest 140-odd countries now), I find expedition cruising the most convenient way to get seriously off the track. The hotel goes with you. You don't need a harbour or even a jetty. You get ashore by zodiac. You have maybe 100 like minded souls with you - and that's a crucial difference. At an Amanresort, or any hotel really, you rarely have a conversation with much less share a dinner with other guests. On these ships your travelling companions are part of the experience. And then there are the places you get to visit. In the past few years I've been to so many places without an airstrip, without a hotel - Pitcairn, Henderson Island, St Helena, Tristan da Cunha, innumerable islands in Vanuatu, the Solomons, PNG etc.

I find this terribly exciting - but it is also true that I often end these trips with 3 or 4 days at an Amanresort or somewhere like the Four Seasons Hong Kong where I'll be at the end of my next expedition trip which sails from Auckland to Bali via Norfolk Island, Isle of Pines (my all-time fave tropical island), Vanuatu, Solomons, PNG, West Papua, Bandas, Rinca. I've done this route before and it's stunning and I'm looking forward to two ***Michelin dinners at the end of it all.