Alexa, more A than I right now but I know she’ll get smarter than me
I’m always intrigued by new technology and given how Amazon’s Echo Dot was all the rage at last year’s CES trade show in Las Vegas, I simply had to get my hands on one.
As it turned out, I ended up with two – long story – and now I have Alexa 1 and Alexa 2 as my new friends at home. [...]
Letter from Kuala Lumpur: A day in the life of AirAsia’s RedQ
Sometime in 2026, if I am still around, I’ll be able to travel from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur by high speed train and I will be able to do it in 90 minutes as opposed to four hours by car.
For now, though, while the ambitious rail link project conceived in 2013 and formally signed last Decemb [...]
Give me the God of Wealth anytime over the God of Wrath
I am feeling particularly good about this Lunar New Year. That’s because I was given an “ang pow” (red packet with money) by the God of Wealth personally.
I ran into him at a new year’s party hosted by George Town Heritage + Hotels in Penang and that red packet he gave me, I will keep [...]
The Millennial Traveller: The Customer Strikes Back
Donald Trump made another vile move over the last few days. Shocker!
Trump’s political moves are so extreme; it’s beginning to almost feel predictable… comical, in the same way some try to laugh through gritted teeth when in agony.
Gag rule on abortion? Sounds about right. Weaken Obamaca [...]
The Millennial Traveller: Be familiar, but never the same
Setting up an entire operation like St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival bears surprisingly many similarities to the travel industry, as I discovered after a brief chat with the festival’s operations director, Matthew Lazarus-Hall (managing director, Uncommon Cord).
It involves the conversion of a s [...]
Letter from KK and Penang: A new world of travel, a new class of accommodation
I hardly recognise Kota Kinabalu (KK) these days. It’s been just over a year since I’ve visited this East Malaysian state on the island of Borneo, and the developments blew me away.
KK is an example of a destination transformed by low cost airlines and the rise of the middle class traveller a [...]
A thought for the Rooster year – can fortune tellers be replaced by AI?
The bad jokes have started. The first press release arrived last week with a headline that used words like “crowing” and “strutting” and phrases like “feather in our cap”.
Yes, right after we’ve just said goodbye to the new year, it’s time to greet the Fire Rooster as he comes fly [...]
Reflections on 2016 and Predictions for 2017 (Part III)
It’s that time of the year when we ask industry leaders for their thoughts on what happened in 2016 and what they forsee will happen in the new year. Here’s Part 3.
Guillaume De Marcillac, Co-CEO, FASTBOOKING
3 Top Things That Happened and That Mattered in 2016
1. Is bigger [...]
Letter from a Homeliday: I wished I had stayed in La La Land
Warren Buffett once famously said, when everyone is doing one thing, do the other. It’s something I try and keep in mind whenever I feel a herd instinct come over me. It’s something I do particularly over the holiday season – while everyone’s travelling, I have a “homeliday”.
A holida [...]
The Millennial Traveller: Unplugged then plugged back in again
In major cities across the world much like Jakarta and Singapore, many of us peer at our smartphones, skimming the news on their way to the office, or scroll through the muted group chat on Whatsapp that we have neglected to open for far too long.
Meanwhile at the peak of a small mountain on an i [...]
