The beachfront WeWorks. Digital nomad visas are becoming a thing
by Rashmee
Posted on December 31, 2020
Apparently, the digital nomad visa is going to ride the coat-tails of the #wfh revolution. Those who work from home are going to move their remote working somewhere nice. Somewhere, in fact, like a palm-fringed island nation, the sort you would normally visit on vacation. According to OZY, the seekers include the African island nation … Continue reading “The beachfront WeWorks. Digital nomad visas are becoming a thing”
Read MoreLondon reopens for business - but Covent Garden remains largely silent
by Rashmee
Posted on June 18, 2020
On Day Two of the great reopening of England’s economy a dead iPhone and an assiduously obtained Apple store appointment took me into Covent Garden, the heart of tourist London. It was mostly us and the pigeons. The elegant shopping arcades built by 17th century architect Inigo Jones were tranquil and empty. Without the pre-pandemic … Continue reading “London reopens for business - but Covent Garden remains largely silent”
Read MoreCorona-alliances, travel corridors and air bridges: taking a flight is no longer business as usual
by Rashmee
Posted on June 17, 2020 / The National
While there is neither vaccine for cure for Covid-19, international travel is tentatively resuming in a strange new world of bubbles large and small, air bridges, green lanes, negotiated corridors and colour-coded zones. The cartographical features of the new travel order are not yet set but it is safe to say they will be unique. … Continue reading “Corona-alliances, travel corridors and air bridges: taking a flight is no longer business as usual”
Read MoreBubbles, air bridges, green lanes: Travel in a post-pandemic world
by Rashmee
Posted on June 6, 2020 / The Focus
It is a truism that the pandemic will change travel. How we travel, of course, but also where. Until there is a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes the covid-19 disease, international travel is set to resume in a strange new world of “bubbles”, “air bridges” and “green lanes”. What might the cartographical … Continue reading “Bubbles, air bridges, green lanes: Travel in a post-pandemic world”
Read MoreSpaceX launch: Beacon or bad omen?
by Rashmee
Posted on May 27, 2020 / The Focus
NASA’s first manned flight since 2011 is being advertised as America’s hopeful return to space, to boldly go where no man has before. Is it really? Yes and no. Wednesday’s launch to the International Space Station, nine years after the end of the space shuttle programme, is definitely a milestone. Those nine years were the … Continue reading “SpaceX launch: Beacon or bad omen?”
Read MoreWhen China sneezes, the world takes to its sick bed
by Rashmee
Posted on February 23, 2020 / The Arab Weekly
Regional tourism may suffer the debilitating effects of Covid-19, which can be passed through the air. The MENA region’s first confirmed coronavirus deaths — two Iranians in the holy city of Qom — are reminders of a two-pronged reality: the world is increasingly linked and it has a growing reliance on China. In the 19th … Continue reading “When China sneezes, the world takes to its sick bed”
Read MoreCould the demise of Thomas Cook mark a new beginning for the tourism industry?
by Rashmee
Posted on October 25, 2019 / Equal Times
Some big and startling numbers have been thrown about in the grim aftermath of Thomas Cook’s collapse. Roughly 600,000 tourists were left stranded when the world’s oldest travel company ceased trading on 23 September 2019. The United Kingdom began its biggest ever peacetime repatriation of 150,000 holidaymakers. At least 21,000 people worldwide lost their jobs. … Continue reading “Could the demise of Thomas Cook mark a new beginning for the tourism industry?”
Read MoreRegional tourism must move on from the Thomas Cook package
by Rashmee
Posted on September 26, 2019 / The Arab Weekly
Tour companies such as Thomas Cook were part of that effort to create an easily digestible narrative about foreign locales for Western consumption. Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt… the grim regional roll call of countries affected by the collapse of Thomas Cook, the world’s oldest travel company. The death rattle of Thomas Cook has been heard over … Continue reading “Regional tourism must move on from the Thomas Cook package”
Read MoreTozeur, lush and bountiful oasis in southern Tunisia
by Rashmee
Posted on June 2, 2018
Tozeur is a lush and bountiful oasis dotted with “palmeries” as they call them here. These are farms – of date palms. The more ingenious grow a great deal else too – pomegranates, figs, peaches, bananas and various vegetables. The oasis is enormous – and rich – fed by hot springs and carefully tended like … Continue reading “Tozeur, lush and bountiful oasis in southern Tunisia”
Read MoreTozeur in southern Tunisia wears its storied history fairly lightly
by Rashmee
Posted on June 1, 2018
Aboul-Qacem Echebbi, the 20th century poet whose style is admired throughout the Arab world and is responsible for the current Tunisian anthem, belonged to Tozeur. So did Ibn Chabbat, the 13th century engineer who built this oasis-city’s sophisticated, still-functioning irrigation system. The city has commemorated both men in stone. For Echebbi, whose poetry … Continue reading “Tozeur in southern Tunisia wears its storied history fairly lightly”
Read More
Rashmee has lived and worked in several countries in the past decade, including Afghanistan, India, Haiti, Tunisia, the UAE, US and UK