Any last-minute flight cancellations notwithstanding, we’re on our way to Dubai for a week. That’s where our expat adventure began in 2007, and we stayed for six brilliant years. We’ve had the odd stopover and short stay since then, but it will be great to be back for a whole week. A lot has changed in recent times, and we’re looking forward to visiting favourite old haunts and new attractions. Dubai will be in the news a lot this year in the run-up to the opening of Expo 2020 in October, so it seems like a good time to have a look around. We’ll be sharing what we find on social media (see details below), and next week’s Newsletter will be a Dubai special.

THE QUEEN ELIZABETH 2, the much-loved liner that traversed the world’s oceans for nearly 40 years, has opened as a floating luxury hotel in Dubai, bringing a tortuous 10-year saga round full circle. READ MORE

GULF ARABS LOVE BIG CATS and other exotic animals, and many sheikhs have private zoos. Normally these places are strictly out of bounds, but Afaranwide managed to have a look inside. READ MORE

SUDDENLY, THE ROOM TURNED BLACK: I have no photographs of the weddings of Dubai locals I’ve been to. You're not allowed to take phones or cameras along, and only the official... READ MORE

MORE THAN TEN YEARS HAVE PASSED since the dark clouds of the global financial meltdown started to gather above the sands and skyscrapers of Dubai... READ MORE

THE TOWERS AND THE GLORY: I love super-tall buildings. There’s nothing like standing hundreds of feet in the air, peering out across the urban skyline and gazing down at the roofs, cars and people far below. While the appeal of this is lost on some... READ MORE

As the tragedy of the Wuhan coronavirus continues to unfold, the death toll in mainland China has reached 636 as we write, with 28,985 cases now confirmed. The virus has sparked some anti-Chinese sentiment around the world, at a time when the country needs support and sympathy. It has also underlined that China is now the world’s biggest player in tourism, with 159 million outbound travellers in 2019, a huge change since the SARS crisis in 2003. The fall-out from travel bans to and from China was felt within days. Here in Hong Kong, where we live, restrictions have led to a 65 per cent drop in mainland Chinese crossing the border. But as Uzaidi Udanis, president of the Malaysia Inbound Tour Association, said when he was urging the tourist industry to show respect and care towards Chinese visitors: “We don’t abandon China during a crisis, and go to them only when we want their tourists.”

At Afaranwide we still think of ourselves as newcomers to the blogging scene, but Sue took the plunge and entered Terra Incognita’s Travel Blogger of the Year contest with a piece about her favourite place on earth. She just heard she got an Honourable Mention from the judges; it’s not a prize, but not too shabby for a first go in this new world we’re navigating. It has spurred her on to follow her interest in travel and sustainability as well, since that is what Terra Incognita is all about. You can read her entry here.

In another life, Sue is editor of The Correspondent, the quarterly magazine of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong. To say that recent months in Hong Kong have been eventful is an understatement, with the pro-democracy protests knocked off the front pages only by the tragedy of the coronavirus across the border in China. Both events are having an effect on everyone’s life, and for the latest issue of the magazine five journalism students at the University of Hong Kong have written movingly about how the protests have forced them to rethink their plans. You can read the magazine here.

Planning a Valentine’s Day treat for your loved one? If you want to get ahead of the game then forget about candle-lit dinners and instead go for “biometrically responsive room lighting”. That’s one of the things that’ll be popular in 10 years’ time according to a report about likely future trends in a sector the authors dub “romantic travel”. The research was carried out by the Future Laboratory, a consultancy that has worked with the likes of Facebook and Google. The report was commissioned by Mr and Mrs Smith, a hotel booking service. Other predictions for alternatives to romantic break stalwarts include:

OUT: Massage for two, IN: Mindfulness for two. OUT: King-size bed, IN: California king – for three. OUT: His and hers, IN: Theirs and theirs. And finally – OUT: Champagne-fuelled revelry, IN: Ayahuasca*-enhanced intimacy. – CS

*No, me neither – apparently it’s a psychedelic brew used in shamanic ceremonies by ancient Amazonian tribes.

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