But sometimes — in fact many times in Hong Kong — people need to get a bit of perspective.
I was talking to an old chum of mine who’s still in the business. On Tuesday he’d taken an Asian company to London to meet investors and was bemoaning the arduous day he’d just had.
Breakfast at the Wolseley was frightfully common, he said, and it was a serious pain to get to the Mandarin Oriental in time for lunch. After a few meetings – and a few scones – at the Ritz he was utterly exhausted. He had just one night in London to catch up with old friends at Scotts before the Cathay flight back to Hong Kong – first class, of course.
Of course business trips can be a real bore, but it wasn’t as if he was cooped up in a Travelodge at a retail park in the East Midlands. And really, Tuesday wasn’t the day to complain. Perhaps I’m on my high horse but with hundreds of thousands of people campaigning for universal suffrage on the streets of Hong Kong, a luxury roadshow doesn't seem to be cause for complaint, however jet set you are.