For such contributions, he holds the Friendship Award, the highest award given by the People's Republic of China to foreign experts who make a significant contribution to the country's progress. His home country also recognized his contributions in 2006 when Queen Elizabeth II presented him with the Order of the British Empire.

The honors ceremony at Buckingham Palace was another snapshot in the family's off-the-beaten-track travel album. Most of the destinations they visit are far from the hot spots recommended by travel guidebooks; instead, they prefer places such as the Explorers Club in San Francisco, Hadrian's Wall in Britain, or uninhabited stretches of steppe along the China-Mongolia border.

Many assume the Lindesay family must be wealthy in order to afford their globetrotting, but they are not. Lindesay says they just choose to spend money on travel rather than luxuries. Where possible they eschew cars in favor of going by foot, bike or public transport, and they never stay in five-star hotels or dine out lavishly.

"Real travel may be hard, uncertain, uncomfortable, but there's a feel-good factor when you pass a test of some kind," Lindesay wrote in the family's newly published travel memoir Pages of Discovery.

Lindesay cites a trip to Moscow as an example. Instead of taking a taxi from the railway station to the hotel, they took the plunge into the Moscow Metro. "We crossed the city for a few rubles, mingled with ordinary people, and saw they are not 'aliens' but people just like us, everywhere. We arrived at our destination feeling comfortable, confident, and not timid," says Lindesay.