The 2010s nearly gone. How did that happen? It seems just the other day that I was walking along the banks of the Thames in the darkness of a chilly London night as we ushered in the new millennium.
Miscellaneous
Saluting some of the best in the business
The L’Oréal team is right up there with the best. They’re pleasant, proactive, professional and passionate in everything they do, as well as incredibly hard working, their releases well-written, timely and always backed up by great images.
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Lifestyle
A Muddly Medley and a tale of Lindor chocolate – ‘The Heaven I was waiting to see’
“Putting these short stories and poems together was very hard for me because even though I like writing, I am on the other hand a very short 11 year old with a very short attention span and have a very annoying brother at hand.”
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Airports
Plenty of dazzle in Daxing; lots of fun (北京坊) in Beijing
The risk in describing Daxing is that you might run out of superlatives. It is an extraordinary testament to architectural genius; and a statement that airports can be beautiful as well as functional, soul-enriching as well as commercial and efficient.
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Miscellaneous
Uneasy calm in Hong Kong – but for how long?
“Finding an exit strategy is almost always the most difficult part of anti-government mobilisation, and it remains unclear how the spiral of violence can be halted now.”
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People
A lament for VG Siddhartha
None of us know, can even begin to comprehend, the pressures or despair which drove that person to a decision so blithely dismissed as cowardly and yet one that requires the ultimate courage.
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Travel
Buoyant in Beijing, sleepless over Siberia
In both culinary and commercial terms there are plenty of exciting options on the menu.
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Events
Meeting the maestro in Moscow
My stay in the Russian capital has been about as good as it gets. Except.. it is about to get better.
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Airports
Celebrating a red-letter day with CDF-Sunrise
This cluster of stand-alone beauty boutiques is a first for travel retail in the Asia Pacific region.
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Events
Bringing it all back home post-Orlando
I’ve arrived home in London after a crazy but wonderful four weeks on the road. Hong Kong, Hainan Island, Seoul, Incheon, London (48 hours), Reykjavik, London (overnight), Orlando. I think my neighbours believed I was a burglar.
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Miscellaneous
How Kap Lee intends to create ‘lifetime value’ at Lotte Duty Free
Many duty free executives from around the world come here just to view what amounts to a vast, throbbing human laboratory. Lotte Duty Free’s advantage is that it monitors that laboratory each and every day.
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Miscellaneous
There will be rain, there will be shine in Korean duty free
Brands’ long-held selective distribution principles have been scattered in the Korean winds – there’s certainly nothing selective about what amounts to a mass redistribution market, a little China of duty free.
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Events
Korean duty free may be yummy but don’t expect any golden eggs
Just as the Chinese government is seeking to crack down on, perhaps eliminate, daigou trading, there is the likelihood of more duty free licences here. Really? If that happens, Korea’s duty free chickens will have come home to roost. But they won’t be laying any golden eggs.