When I was a teenager my heros were great travellers like Eric Newby and Sir Wilfred Thesiger. The Guardian has a short account by Eric Newby of meeting Thesiger on the road. Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert who pointed to this link also provides his own account of meeting Thesiger as well as many good links.
Related: Eric Newby
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As well as Thesiger's classic book of life with the Iraqi Marsh Arabs (The Marsh Arabs, 1964), there's a wonderful book by Ring of Bright Water author, Gavin Maxwell, called A Reed Shaken by the Wind (1957), about the author's journey with Thesiger to the Marsh Arabs of Iraq. It records details of Marsh Arab life that has most certainly gone forever.