The pressure now really kicks in and I must admit to even greater nerves than on the eve of the All Blacks match – and I was a shivering wreck then.
Events
White trumps black as England soar in Yokohama
Chaps, like thousands of fellow Englishmen in Tokyo and back at home in the UK, was near delirious with happiness. And who can blame him?
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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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Airports
Nau mai! Haere Mai! Back in Aotearoa
When you look at the inflight screen flight path and you see the Antarctic looming up as next stop beyond your destination you know you’re a long way south.
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Travel
Homeless in Hong Kong but home again in the land of the long white cloud
Which airline could keep me connected for longest and with the best line speed? Cathay won hands down. I suspect I am not the only travel retail executive deciding that connectivity is key to choice of carrier.
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Travel
Discovering ‘the bouquet that pervades across China‘
As I step onto my hotel balcony, the view is as intoxicating as the Moutai aroma that fills the air. “The bouquet pervades across China and Moutai is still the best,” runs an old adage.
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Airlines
Bound for Baiju country and the spirit of China
No time for movies or sleep then, though I may catch a nap at the Cathay Pacific lounge at HKIA. I get into Maotai in China’s Guizhou province late tonight, having flown back on myself. I might need a shot of Kweichow Moutai sooner than I had planned.
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Travel
Welcoming The Sound of Silence
How long since you last visited a library? I recommend it wholeheartedly. It’s as restorative as a 90-minute spa, a walk in the forest, a plunge into cool alpine lake waters.
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Travel
Travel Retail Airways: Hitting heavy turbulence
I may just have to hunker down in Chiang Mai for a while and have a few nice Scotches with my new equine friend.
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Travel
Remembering when the dragonflies skimmed the grass
A perfect storm has hit tourism here – intense competition from rival Asian tourist destinations, a high Thai Baht, the worsening US-China trade wars and the sustained adverse publicity from the Phuket boat tragedy in July 2018.
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Events
High tension, high stakes in Hong Kong
The headlines don’t come from a regular world trouble spot where the people are raging against the actions of some despot they wish to see toppled.
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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
“Y’all come back to Dallas.” We sure will
What could have been a standard Q&A session turned into a warm, deep and revealing chat, which left me and the audience knowing a lot more about the how and why of these two contrasting companies’ success stories.