The Year of the Caged Tiger

Two legends in their own fields. But not even Novak Djokovic nor Colm McLoughlin could have had any idea of how the next two years would pan out.

Ham-fisted UK politicians, high-risk Hong Kong hamsters and (almost) a flying Kiwi

Like a couple of Hong Kong hamsters desperately clutching onto their exercise wheel as the men in hamstermat, sorry hazmat, suits come to take them away, Boris is hanging on like grim death.

Only three more sleeps until Christmas

Who would have possibly believed back then that most of the photos of people working in the travel retail community less than two years later would show them in masks?

Up the Creek but not without a paddle

Guess who was cast as Captain? Yep. I must have been all of four years old. Man the laugh boats as the movie’s tagline ran.

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.

Flying with butterfly wings towards better times

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

Miscellaneous

July 29, 2021

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.

Travel

July 16, 2021

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.

Travel

July 14, 2021

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’.

Travel