Letter from Penang: Once you get there, it’s all worth it
It’s about the destination, not the journey – for now
YOU know the old adage we love in travel, about how “it’s about the journey, not the destination”? Well, in these days of Covid travel, when the journey has become so fraught with red tape, tests and protocols, it has definitely become [...]
Confessions of an anxiety-ridden form-filling test-taking traveller
Whoop, whoop – Cambodia leads the way, scraps all tests
WOKE up this morning with messages pinging from Cambodia – friends there all excited about the latest news. No more pre-departure PCR test needed to arrive, no more on-arrival ART test, and visa on arrival re-introduced for all air, sea an [...]
How travel is turning the Great Resignation into the Great Renewal
“Best time to have a front row seat to travel's rebound and transformation”
Workation programmes, Unlimited Time Pay Off, Joy Allowances, Remote Work – these are some of the practices being rolled out by online travel brands as they adjust to life changed by Covid, and a talent pool that is a [...]
Even as travel recovers, The Great Resignation continues
Cronin leaves Wharf Hotels and Hong Kong to return to Australia
IT felt almost like the old days. I had just returned from a trip to Siem Reap and I was on my way to have drinks with Jennifer Cronin, president of Wharf Hotels Group, who had flown into Singapore from Australia, enroute to Hong Kong, [...]
Letter from Siem Reap: Jolie spotting, Khmer home lunch and elephant playtime
A return to quieter days and richer experiences
I FIRST visited Siem Reap circa 1995 when it had just opened to international tourism. Then, the best way to appreciate the scale and grandeur of the Angkor temples was by aerial view from a military helicopter because going by foot was still hazardou [...]
Stuff it, get out there and travel
Australia yours to explore, Thailand amazes A-Z, Cambodia awaits
I never thought I’d be excited to hear an Australian accent in my living room, telling me “Australia is yours to explore” but the first time I saw the Tourism Australia television commercial, I hopped with joy like a kangaroo.
[...]
See you next Lunar New Year in the metaverse
Three years on, The Great Digitisation of celebrations
AND so out goes the Ox, in comes the Tiger – and it seems the beautiful beast just slipped in on a whisper, rather than a roar, in real life. In the virtual world, well, that’s another story and I am convinced that by next year, with or [...]
Imagine new NFT world: How tech can bridge art, culture and travel to alter spaces and places
OVERHEARD while walking the dogs this week.
“I am an artist and now I can make my own
NFT.”
“So cool ya, can make our own art and
sell.”
Curious to find out the source of this
exchange, I turned around and saw two young boys – probably no more than 12
years old – striding alon [...]
Plight of Cathay Pacific and The Great Talent Crunch That Looms
Scoot, Accor speak of staffing challenges in ramp-up to recovery
WHEN I was a kid, I dreamt of travel and thought the best way to do this would either be a flight attendant or tour guide. In the end, I found another way – I’d have been a disaster as a cabin crew – but millions of kids had [...]
What a journey ahead – buzzwords for 2022
New Normal, Metaverse, “I minted my own NFT”, Connectivity – what’s yours?
WELL, 2021 has been quite the journey and it looks like we could be in for another journey in 2022, the way the year is starting out. And there, I’ve done it – committed the crime of the journalist’s profess [...]
