WELLNESS TOURISM

Meaning Europe faced devastating forest fires this summer, driven by extreme heatwaves, wind and drought. It has been a hard season for many Spanish and French landowners, as wildfires took lives, land and livelihoods. In southwestern France, around Bordeaux, the damage was severe: whole towns and ten thousand hectares of forest turned to ash within days. Other parts of the French countryside went unscathed. A reminder that valuing farmers’ land and their hard work has always been important...

Meaning Hunter-gatherers knew food carried purpose. Eating for survival, certainly, but food connected these people to each other and their environment. Preparing and sharing it built community, passed on knowledge of the land and shaped how they lived with nature. Then somewhere along the supermarket aisle, companies began weaponizing nutritional information, and the function of food has become the focus du jour. Food as a source for pleasure, social connection, or sustenance is not enough....

Integration I was four or five when I started sipping filter coffee at my grandparents’ kitchen table. Coffee became linked to safety, connection, conversation, a pleasant pause in the day. The comfort of a large cup in my hands has felt natural ever since. A daily ritual I take with me everywhere I go. A frothy cappuccino by a fountain, tall ice-lattes drunk barefoot on a beach, a tiny shot that packs the right punch after dinner, some homebrew in the garden, a warming cup on a snowy...

Wanderlust For centuries, artists have travelled in search of landscapes, artistic inspiration or refuge in painting. Visiting coastal towns, countryside villages and fields, going up mountains and out to the ocean. They studied perspective, played with colours and practised the art of composing the same view in different light. They also explored cities for stories embedded into walls and cobblestoned streets, watching people everywhere go about their day. From the Baroque period of...

Action A month ago, we hit that half-point of the year when we inevitably fall into time gauging mode, summing up our first half of 2026, possible highlights and lowlights. In Mid-Year Reflections I shared thoughtful ways of looking at a year and valuable lessons on the meaning of time. I highly recommend you reading that piece before continuing. July is marked by holidays, whether you are in the middle of yours, at the end or only about to get started. “Vacation” comes from the Latin root...

Equanimity With fins and mask strapped on tight, going snorkelling feels clumsy on land. As soon as you slip in, movement becomes fluid, the ocean holding you. Getting used to mouth-breathing and gliding across the water. Moving with the waves, swimming and floating, watching and breathing. You feel weightless, your body gets pulled forwards, back, sideways. Letting nature move you, take you travelling. You get transported into another world. The volume of the mind chatter goes down. The view...

Wanderlust When I think of the ultimate traveller, birds come to mind. Watching one disappear into the horizon, wondering where it came from, and where it is heading next. Some birds spend most of their lives in flight, constantly travelling around the world guided by instinct, weather and light. Others return to the exact same patch of earth every season. Filling the sky with motion and bringing song to our lives, no landscape picture quite captures their omnipresence. Yet, they’re there,...

Wanderlust Somewhere right now, in a packed stadium, in living rooms, in pubs and sports bars with the volume turned all the way up, people are watching the FIFA World Cup. It has held a global audience captive for the better part of a month, with a viewership split of roughly 70 percent men to 30 percent women worldwide. The World Cup is just the loudest example right now. Because while the final whistle has blown and the win is celebrated, there are also cycling, golf and tennis...

Meaning Mid-Year Reflections We're halfway through the year already. Midpoints have a way of turning into audits of everything we set out to do: the wishful thinking, the resolutions and the goals. The mind can have a tendency of loudly counting what we missed rather than crediting what we did build, or focusing on highlights rather than how we felt and our own wellbeing. Somehow, it reduces our time to the human doing over the human being. Before stepping into the second half of the year,...

Integration Trigger warning: This text discusses death, bereavement and loss. This week I am sharing the inspiring story of Rachel Tan, whom I contacted for an interview. I am delighted she agreed. Raised with a strong work ethic, she worked hard to get a degree from Uni, build a stable career, following a traditional formula many of us were taught to pursue. Soon she landed a job which brought her to corporate London, living as an expat overseas. There was no resting on those laurels. A...