Disclaimer: In exchange for lunch at Shang Palace, Shangri-La Dubai, I am writing this review. After a packed four days of networking, and moderating a panel on culinary tourism at the Arabian Travel Market event, Friday was the day to relax. As my flight was leaving in the evening, I had a few hours to […]
Middle East
Hotel Review: Marriott Marquis Dubai
Disclaimer: In exchange for a stay, I am writing this review of the Marriott Marquis Dubai. Located in the brand-new Jewel of the Creek district close to downtown Deira and City Centre Deira shopping plaza, the 434-room Marriott Marquis Dubai just opened in late March 2024. Check-in I had a short walk to the hotel […]
Airline Status Match Reality
ASMR for me has nothing to do with the sound of someone crunching a mid-flight Air France crouton. No, it’s all about the airline status match reality I’m currently facing. Prepare your small violins for this one. In my last post, I mentioned about how Emirates was quite open to the idea of a status […]
The Emirates Status Match
Really, there’s a Skywards Emirates status match challenge available? If access is granted to its business class lounges in Dubai (DXB), it might be worth it. But how did this discovery come about, and more importantly, what’s a status match? A few years ago, to invite frequent fliers to sign-up for its brand-new Volare program, […]
Airline Meals, Part 1
Looking through photos of the pre-pandemic travel days, I began to feel nostalgic for something unusual…or so I thought, until coming across news of Malaysians being able to order AirAsia meals at Kuala Lumpur malls. Then, in October 2020, I found out about Singapore Airlines catering economy and business class meals to private residences. Folks, […]
Fun with Airline Route Maps
Let’s have some fun with airline route maps. With any luck — and memory — this will probably be a thread I’ll continually update, especially once I’m able to find the Delta inflight magazine that showed Kampuchea instead of Cambodia, or the one where Xian, China is listed as the more archaic Chang’an. Until those […]
Airport Supermarkets
As much as I personally love finding new foods to eat, I feel that much better when I can share some of the findings with family and friends. Though, it would be fair to say I don’t always remember to get to a city supermarket for some last-minute local food souvenir shopping. Enter: airport supermarkets. […]
Hotel Review: Mövenpick Hotel and Residences Riyadh
Earlier this year, I had to go to Riyadh for some delicious business, so I chose to stay at the Mövenpick Hotel and Residences Riyadh. It’s only about one year old, but it still looks like it’s a new property. Located near King Abdullah Financial District, the chief economic zone of the Saudi capital, undoubtedly […]