Things have been quiet here to start the new year, but I think of it more as feeding the beast. There are no adventures in the fourth boxed white bedroom awaiting wallpaper and a glow-up. There’s no rugged luxury sitting in front of a computer screen. There’s still much to do. To paraphrase a Kobe Bryant quote : “Job’s not finished.”
Writers must live and then report back. Funnily, there are so many luxury “experts” who don’t leave home or endeavour to make their day-to-day luxurious. Packages come to them they make “cringe” worthy videos and feed the algorithm for free in hopes to land it big. It’s alluring, but not when you’re beyond that from the starting line. Right job, wrong idea.
T2LA’s job has changed though. This might be as self-congratulatory as Hollywood giving Best Picture to a film about Hollywood… but newsletters are good.
Ours are really good, you’ve told us so. I’m going to do more of them. Topics and volume will reach a respectable cadence and slowly we can become a digital magazine.
This is a departure from what many know us as. I still need to define who and what “us” is. It’s not messy but it’s unclear. Equity. Compensation. AOR. ETC. (Dad joke) We’re getting there though. Im itching for travel currently and to write about it. I was planning a trip to Dubai with work which has not panned out, so I’ll take the wife back to Edinburgh instead for a week. The Macallan is calling.
But the heart of this (Sunday brief?) is being written from The Savoy in London. What a place. I’ll break more of it down in the newsletter, but the service is the best in the world. I’ve been fawned over more elsewhere, but there are levels. Anticipation of need and meeting people at their comfort level is vastly important.
One five-star might treat every guest as if they have a big television star’s rider. I say this as David Walliams and I share a subtle nod to each other in The Gallery. Not sure if he noticed me noticing him, but I smile and quickly acknowledge his smile and let him return to his breakfast. I’m a fan. He’s gotten a raw deal. If my old group chat leaked they wouldn’t let me have a job doing anything. I’d be lucky to get a job as The Rat Catcher. That’s not quite true, but your private messages should be private unless criminal. Full stop.
I digress.
The Savoy is so subtle and so full of surprise and delight and impeccable polish. But it feels real. It feels as much Bond as it feels Frasier’s dad. Everyone is welcome. If you’re confident enough to and can foot the bill at the Savoy, then you’re in the right place.
I’ve also been away because I took a bad job managing at a luxury watch retailer before returning to tech, hat in hand, to a >35% pay increase over my old role. It was time. And the hired gun is back.
The watch job exemplified everything I’m saying about fake luxury. It felt as though because I’m actually from the luxury lifestyle, my team revolted against me and my superior did nothing to help, only condemn. What would Fleming or Churchill do in such a situation? Your dream job doesn’t pan out…you’ve jumped out on a ledge and people think they’ve got you over a barrel? They light the whole thing ablaze and exit out the back. To hell with that.
I can’t lie, the shock of my superior when I exited was grand… the idea that there might be consequences for a poor work environment… for once labour won. But I’m hardly the patron saint of the “working man” because a less charitable view was I took a vacation back to retail and couldn’t cut it. That might be true. But no one I look up to would have advised me to stay in that environment. In fact, they all cheered. Bought me beers and gave me pats on the back, encouraging me to think about my path, slowly measured and with immense care.
This is the wealth-building journey. I’m well into it now but I’ve got a long way to go, and despite the frustrating down moments that can feel insurmountable, we’ve been in the VIP section for quite some time now. Though it never feels that way.
Stay tuned. More of these: Tasting Notes (Wine). 24 Hours at Virgin Hotel – Shoreditch. The Rough with The Smooth – 2 Weeks at Riu Palace Santa Maria. 24 Hours at The Savoy. The Group Chat (working title) will launch soon.