Having children is an extraordinary adventure. So much so that, for a while, you don't feel the need for any more excitement. Quite often, you wish for less. Though we travelled before having the boys, after having them we holidayed in Wales or Devon or - if we were feeling particularly strong - in France. As the boys got older (they are now seven and 12) we have branched out a bit, but have always been fairly cautious. So for us, Jordan (care of Families Worldwide) was a wild departure.

The Dead Sea was strangely wonderful (though frothy and turbulent and impossible to get into); Petra was astonishing (vast and rich, and crowded with elderly Americans); we saw castles and ruins, bibical vistas and signposts to Iraq, but it was the desert that stole our hearts.

Camping in Wadi Rum really is the experience of a lifetime. It says so in the brochures, and really, it is. When we arrived in the early evening, there was a full moon just showing herself above the bizarre, pink outlines of the rocky outcrops and as the blue of night deepened a rash of stars appeared, its vastness matching that of the desert. We went to sleep to the sound of silence and awoke to hissing, sandy winds and shafts of blindingly sharp light that sliced through the tent.

For a day the desert was our playground. There were camp fires and camel rides, rock climbing and desert safaris. There were sand-bound jeeps to dig out and rescue, and Bedouins to share sweet sage tea with.

We've seen Wadi Rum and our eyes have been opened. They will not be closed again. Dorset, Brittany, Tuscany... it's not enough. We want to see the world and we want to see it now!