Qatar Duty Free and Hainan have been the two shining lights of our channel during this prolonged period of deep gloom. Both are set to glow even brighter in 2022.
Lifestyle
In training for the (very modern) Quarantine Pentathlon
The triple jump – What we used to call the hop, step and jump at school is a natural for a finely tuned quarantine athlete such as me. Hop? Why that’s so easy, I could do it on one leg.
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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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Travel
Saying Jihwaja in Seoul and bidding farewell to the Land of the Morning Calm
With a two-week hotel quarantine starting on arrival, I’m going to need a little quality liquid sustenance to help sustain the website that never sleeps. Jihwaja!
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Travel
Breaking into a gentle Trot on a road trip in Busan
Trot is a popular, highly sentimental form of Korean music, sometimes described as the unofficial soundtrack of road trips because the upbeat tempo and repetitive rhythm can get stuck inside your head. It certainly has in mine.
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Miscellaneous
Rain and shine, a room indoors and edging towards a revival
Our gathering evoked the value of the relationships that so many of us in the industry have forged over many years, and the trust and friendship that underpins them.
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Travel
A free man in Busan but staying away from trains
We’re all on a kind of Train to Busan. That foul spreading monster called COVID-19 is of course the zombies and we, as individuals, companies and societies are all doing our best to survive the menace.
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Travel
Maintaining caution in Korea, becoming dumb & dumber in the UK
I’ve had so many sticks poked up my nostrils in recent weeks I’m starting to feel like Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels) after getting his nose plugged by Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) to stop his snoring in that priceless scene from ‘Dumb & Dumber’.
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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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Travel
Back where it all began and a Flying Kiwi again
My only fear is that all these Nasopharyngeal Swabs will play havoc with my wine nosing ability.
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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.