Letter from Ohio: Rock & roll, small towns and apple pie
CLEVELAND, Ohio, may not be the most obvious destination for a first holiday in 20 months, but it certainly yields the most unexpected discoveries. And perhaps this could be the way post-pandemic travel eventually pans out – that we seek out the not-so-obvious to truly enjoy the serendipity and a [...]
Letter from Fort Lauderdale: The sun rises on global travel
Expedia's Kern says no more “peanut butter” approach to expansion while Concur founder Steve Singh dives deep into corporate travel disruption
WHEN Mark Mahaney, senior managing director of investment banking firm, Evercore, asked the audience at the Phocuswright conference how many had trav [...]
Letter from Miami: Take a deep breath, dive in, viva la vida
WHEN I told my friends in New York I was headed to Miami next, their first reaction was, “Be careful. It’s crazy there.”Coming from Singapore, with its restrictions on social life and crowds, New York is already crazy enough – to be back with humanity again, to be breathing the same air wit [...]
Letter from 41,000 feet: Crying over satay and The Father
I NEVER thought I’d feel emotional at the sight of satay but I am told that at 41,000 feet, cabin pressure does something to your senses so you cry more easily over movies (The Father is best watched when alone) and, in this case, familiar skewers of chicken coated with spicy peanut sauce.
Sa [...]
WiT Experience Singapore: On-site speakers share their perspectives
A TOTAL of six overseas speakers flew from the US and Europe into Singapore under specially-facilitated Safe Travel Passes to take part in WiT Experience. Three of them share their comments on the hybrid experience, and their views on virtual vs hybrid vs physical.
Frederic Barou (extreme right [...]
Case study of WiT Experience: From bedsheets in Luang Prabang to giant drop-down panels at Marina Bay Sands
Business events have come a long way, and there’s a long way more to go
I RECALL once having to host a conference in Luang Prabang, the ancient capital of Laos, and when we arrived at the venue – which was a government’s meeting hall – we realised there was no projector screen in sight. [...]
From fighting to reopen to leading the way in tech innovation, Asia travel puts its best foot forward
Key takeaways from WiT Experience Singapore 2021
IT’S been a tradition of past WiTs that a group of us would escape to a remote location or island somewhere to mark the end of yet another event. Over the years, we’ve been to Siem Reap, Bali, Phuket, Samui, Penang, Kuching with Nikoi and Cemp [...]
How Naila Kiani balanced babies and banking to summit an 8,000m peak
“I want to change perception of Pakistan and promote what it has to offer.”
WHILE some of us were afraid to cross the road to go to the supermarket for fear of catching Covid, Naila Kiani became the first Pakistani woman to summit an 8,000m peak in Pakistan – Gasherbrum II (8,035m) � [...]
When all you can do is talk about it, inspiration is the new transaction
WHAT is it they say about those who do, do and those who can’t, talk about it?
It seems these days, my friends in Asia, who have been as travel-deprived as I have been the past 18 months, and I talk more about travel than we do about food and if you know Asia, you know how extreme this [...]
The exhaustion of optimism but hey, be a rebel and ‘Skroo’ the rules – it pays off
IT was Winston Churchill who famously said, “I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.” And through this pandemic, most of us who are still in travel have chosen to be optimistic. What’s the alternative?
But there are days when even the strongest, most resilient
[...]
