“For what matters in life is not whether we receive a round of applause; what matters is whether we have the courage to venture forth despite the uncertainty of acclaim.”
People
Won’t see the golden of the sun when I’m gone
My pen won’t pour a lyric line when I’m gone/So I guess I’ll have to do it while I’m here
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Events
Hearing pin-pon-pin and getting into the swim of things in Paris
Well into the first week of the Olympics, it’s a case of so far, so very very good. As testified by last year’s Rugby World Cup, the French sure know how to put on an opening ceremony and a magnificent sporting tournament.
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People
How Mathieu Herrero and Dag Rasmussen each carried a dual Olympic and travel retail torch
I salute these two good men and true from the business sector that has given me such an enriching living for four decades. For they are indeed torchbearers for the excellence and the values that our definitively global business sector so often represent.
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Events
A drone-lit, FAB-ulous and (Brewery) X-rated experience in Ontario
The energy, the passion, the support, the hospitality, the professionalism of the ONT team were second to none. Atif has assembled one hell of a class act here and it shows through every aspect of their operation.
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Travel
On the road from Riyadh to Macau to Brisbane
I will be spending a great deal more of my time in the Kingdom going forward and I will not be alone within the travel retail community.
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Airports
Time, terroir and telling a 300-year story – A Rémy Martin experience
Heritage, passion, time, terroir, humility and knowledge passed down the generations; these themes and many others resonated during a memorable immersion into the world of world of Rémy Martin.
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Travel
Coming to a cinema near you: The Old Man & The Misfiring Laptop
While I would never have been likened to Robert Redford in his prime, the combination of his senior incarnation and the film’s plot did rather remind me of myself. I’m thinking of approaching him regarding a remake.
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Airports
Landing a scoop in Doha and heading for showtime in Singapore
The recent workload has ensured that neither me nor ‘the website that never sleeps’ reached for the melatonin.
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Events
Courvoisier Spritz anyone?
what did the brilliant DFS management led by Founders Bob Miller and Chuck Feeney do? Simple, they labelled their (effectively) in-house brand (at the time, not today) Camus with a small ‘Camus’ and a big ‘Napoleon’
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Events
Discovering a fresh philosophy in Shenzhen and talking Trinity in Ho Chi Minh City
You don’t go from a start-up, single-shop operation in 1991 to a powerhouse US brand within a few years and the subject of a successful majority divestment to the mighty LVMH before your first decade is out unless you are doing a whole lot of things right.
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Events
How I overcame Severe Tire Damage to become the oldest influencer in town
Before you knew it I was receiving LIVE gifts in appreciation of my efforts. Perhaps it was audience sympathy – they may have thought I was past my ‘cell by’ date – but whatever the reasons the livestream ranked number three in Hainan that day.
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Events
Free as a (Kiwi) bird and flying high in Haikou
With me barely leaving my desk from 6am to midnight for several consecutive days due to needing to get our latest China Travel Retail Report eZine over the line, it has at times felt a rerun of one of many COVID hotel quarantines.