Welcome 2016! After spending most of the end of 2015 being hammed with one cold or sinus irritation after another, I finally felt better just before I left to spend Christmas in England – where I woke up on Christmas morning to be presented with the gift of the flu (which I don’t think I’ve had since I was a kid). But thankfully, this year has been healthier and off to a good start for travel. I have recently returned from an incredible week in glitzy St. Moritz where I spent my mornings snowboarding across Switzerland’s Alpine peaks as the sun rose, my afternoons rooting for polo ponies at the Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz, and my evenings indulging in fantastic cuisine, both regional and Japanese, thanks to the St. Moritz Gourmet Festival, which was celebrating a yokoso Nippon theme. It was all quite the experience – but one, sadly, you’ll have to wait to be published in DOTW News before I can share it.

I’m currently planning a likely trip to lush Sri Lanka next month, which is a destination I’ve had my eye on for some time (it always seems those close(ish) to home destinations escape exploration the longest – Beirut is another embarrassing oversight in the department) and I’m hugely excited about it.

And while I can’t exactly brand this as “travel”, who doesn’t love an indulgent little staycation from time to time? Recently, here in Dubai, I hopped from one stylish hotel to the next, taking advantage of the city’s ever-growing fashionable offerings. But unlike my usual, less-than-fabulous, weekend mall excursions, this time I did it like a VIP. Click on for the PDF published in the February issue of Destinations of the World News, or follow the link at the end of the post for the web version.

http://www.dotwnews.com/cities/dubai-s-shopping-experiences-make-it-a-fashion-paradise