Sunday, October 30, 2011

All Things Considered...

...I'd rather win than lose; I'd rather leave at my own accord than being forced out; I'd rather kill my own work than let somebody else do it for me.

All things considered though, if I have to I'll take a loss. And live to fight another day.

Sunday, October 02, 2011

Familiar Sights

It doesn't really matter in which urban conglomerate you find yourself in the world, you are pretty much guaranteed to encounter a McDonald's, Starbucks, Nike, or Apple store, or a luxury brand like Gucci, Hugo Boss, Calvin Klein, or a global product like Coca-Cola.

What I personally didn't expect to find all over, are brands like Games Workshop (according to their own website in 19 countries, four continents), whose business is catering to the tabletop miniatures hobby. It's just a tick over stores catering to collecting stamps or model train sets, and these are usually run by individual middle-class retailers, not by franchises.

I also didn't expect to find Nespresso (88 countries, present in all continents except for Antarctica) around the world the way that it does. I suppose it's a brand really catering to a coffee shop experience, but with machines that don't cost EUR 1,000. Or maybe George Clooney has a bigger influence on people than I thought.

Then there's Zara, a clothing store present in 73 countries. Because it's not a big name US brand, I tended to overlook it, but if you go to Seoul, you'll find a Zara store. If you go to London, you'll find one. If you go to Dubai, Surabaya, or New York, you'll find one. Heck, if you go through my clothing rack, you'll probably find one.

Seeing these brands all over the world makes travelling less of a discovery than before. These are familiar sights in far-flung places, which may lose some of the authenticity of a city. However you are never far from your comfort zone, and you will never feel more cosmopolitan.