Martin Buckley hitch-hikes around the world in some of the oldest and strangest planes still in use.

In his thoughtful and unusual travel book, Martin Buckley journeys through many nations, including Australia and New Zealand, Canada and Peru, Morocco and Kenya, but the country he really explores is a romantic and dangerous place that seduces all who travel there - the sky. Martin Buckley grew up near Farnborough, the heart of English aviation, and was always fascinated by flight. Three years ago he acquired a pilot's licence and set off to 'hitch-hike' by plane around the world. The result is a stylish and often hilarious travel book, offering intimate insights into the thrills and perils of the pilot's seat - from a UN Cessna flying aid into a war zone, to aerobatics in a jet fighter, from chasing goats through snowy mountains by helicopter, to touching the edge of the stratosphere in a Learjet - and weaving a panorama of aviation history through the narrative.'Buckley is a born storyteller' Observer 'His stories are extraordinary-he tells them with the kind of boyish excitement that's a world away from airport check-in queues' The Times'Read Absolute Altitude for the sensitivity and shrewdness with which Buckley describes people he encounters. He has an unerring instinct for remarkable lives behind ordinary exteriors' Independent'Buckley writes wonderfully well, with a novelists ear for dialogue' Evening Standard