The best airports (and Istanbul is high on that list) are magnificent amphitheatres that house not only people but emotions (sadness, excitement, anticipation, joy) and are therefore ripe for great experiences.
Travel
If dogs run free, why not me?
Just like Uncle Chu, this workload sometimes causes me to paws for thought and look up with a sad face for sympathy. That’s what comes from being an old newshound, I suppose.
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Lifestyle
Avoiding the maelstrom while learning to live with COVID
As I write, two members of my team are suffering from COVID, caught in the maelstrom of the pandemic as it rages once again through the UK, where some 9.3 million people have suffered from the disease and almost 142,000 people have died.
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Travel
Passing the time in ‘Kowloon Kuarantine’ with a travel retail exclusive SQAP and A Room with a View
It might not feel like it when you’re sat down bleary-eyed and cold inside a giant repurposed air terminal hoping like heck you haven’t caught COVID but the whole system is hugely impressive.
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Airports
Hamad International, hotspot of travel retail
In the world of international airports, you could make a very good case that this is the leading hotspot in our business.
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Airports
Passion, pride and purpose at Hamad International Airport
Visiting Hamad International Airport and Qatar Duty Free is like taking an elixir for those COVID blues.
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Airlines
From inconclusively negative in London to conclusively upbeat in Qatar
Checking in is not as simple a process at it was in those halcyon pre-COVID days. PCR test results need to be checked along with all other details. Do NOT – as we had been forced to – turn up at the last minute.
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Events
Leading from the front at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open
As the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open takes place, even with limited numbers and with all of the necessary safety measures, it also offers an important sense of normality returning to Irish life.
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Travel
Any day now I shall be released
I’m going to focus on the soon-to-be-opened rather than the temporarily shuttered here as I think the real story is now one of future renaissance not bleak recent past.
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Travel
Collinson joins the dots as I return to the skies
The closest I have come to an overseas trip in ten months is via my regular ferry rides between Discovery Bay and Central. Now I can experience the real thing again at last.
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Airports
How Hong Kong Airport is getting all dressed up and ready for take-off
Better times are coming at this magnificent gateway and the Airport Authority Hong Kong team is more than prepared for them.
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Travel
No shot in the arm but a stab in the heart
Now, as with so many others around the globe, my plans are – unlike me – up in the air. It sucks but to stay with that not particularly attractive verb, one just has to suck it up.
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Airports
How Changi Airport turned itself into the ultimate destination
The whole concept is the best example I have seen yet of an airport adapting to crisis and one that has the added benefit of permanently underlining the allure of Changi as a destination in its own right.