David's AW News: Asia Begins

Greetings from Kuala Lumpur,

I just arrived here from Spain. Not without some drama. I was having a late lunch on the beach with Toni, Tomas and Raul partly to celebrate the roll out of the new Dropshipping website in Spain and partly to say goodbye (for now). As we were eating the beach grilled sardines I received an auto-call that my flight from Malaga was delayed 90 minutes, now since I had a 2 hour connection in Istanbul that seemed like fun.. but at least I had time for another glass of wine... almost missed the connection..

Last week I was telling you about trying not to complain about the hot weather and other complaints.. If you missed it, you can catch up here.

The brightly lit landmass on the left is the European side, and across the water to the right is the Asian side. The Bosphorus is the dividing line where Europe meets Asia.

First Drama of the Trip

As we came into land at Istanbul I was able to grab this dramatic view of where Europe ends and Asia starts. A fitting view for my next Asia adventure. And the adventure started with a little drama..I landed with my connecting flight already being boarded and at a gate on the other side of the airport Gate A1D about as far as you can get.  Some people on my flight were also on that flight and started to run like crazy.. (my trip.com app said 25 minutes walk that would be too late) But here's a tip: in Istanbul they have freelance guys with electric buggies.. really for old or disabled people.. but give them a small tip and they will crank the speed and wizz you through the airport. I quickly found a guy..  the crook wanted $20 but no time to argue.. as we sped along he was calling his mates to go help the other runners. We arrived in 12 minutes and I just caught the gate before it closed. The check in guy said well done and yes we have your luggage it will be on board, he showed me on his screen. Wow that's pretty impressive. 

I arrived in KL early in the evening yesterday and yes my luggage made it.. and took a taxi to the town centre to my usual hotel. Terrible traffic.

Today feeling a bit jet lagged but ready for the adventure to come. I had a little walk to catch the vibe of one of my favourite cities.

Street food shacks, Chinese temples and the world's second largest building. A flavour of KL.

Meanwhile in the UK.

Holly has been investigating the classic Salt Lamp range.

I know many of you sell Salt Lamps.. if you don't then maybe you should.. check out the YouTube video. if you don't yet sell this classic range. If you didn't know... Best quality and prices at AW.

Also in the UK.. big news (kind of)

The British Independent Retailers Association (Bira) has condemned the Government’s inaction over the de minimis import loophole following a Sky News investigation.

Link Here.

They just worked out that the government has lost a billion pounds in lost taxes it could have raised.. I don't want to sound like I told you so.. why are people so slow to wake up.. we have been banging on about this for six months.. We started a Change.org petition.. 40,000 of our customers signed. Long time ago.

We made a hiphop music video with AI music..

The USA stopped it, the EU (are slowly) stopping it.. Indonesia banned it within two weeks.. India never let them in. UK.. well we are a bit slow in the UK.

And at AW Artisan Europe not so slow.. we still have a MASSIVE up to 50% off Mid-Season Sale.

Wishing an amazing, lovely week!

All the best.

David

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