What’s it like staying in the highest rooms in the world, atop the 480-metre The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong? Well, actually the top floor of the 18-storey beauty is wellness and eatertainment, so choose a 17th floor Club room. Splurge on The Ritz-Carlton Suite, #1720, which comes with dining for 10, a square jacuzzi tub that could fit four in comfort. You have a private sauna, and window seats that allow unrivalled views of Tsim Sha Tsui around to Macau.

If it’s details that make up quality, Atlantis The Royal Dubai is on the winning podium. As the world knows, the opening was postponed several times. We wanted to make sure everything was perfect, says VP and GM of Atlantis Dubai, Tom Roelens, who was enticed to Kerzner after many years at Four Seasons, lastly as opening GM of Four Seasons Kuala Lumpur. Atlantis The Royal opens to overnight paying guests on Friday 10 February – minimum stay, any time, is two nights.

Sometimes, it’s good to turn to tried-and-tested. As if a much-loved record, it’s play it again Sam, and again and again – at The Beaumont, in London’s Balderton Street, Mayfair. To be honest, at that much-loved privately-owned hotel, part of Preferred, it should be play it again SEM. SEM? Only those clever enough to have reserved #401, the Schiaparelli Suite, understand the SEM connection.

It’s so easy, once again, to fly to Dubai. After seeing what’s new there, The Museum of The Future and things like that, treat yourself to the lasting memory of Zighy Bay, two hours’ drive away.

Having a London townhouse sounds rather posh, but it’s a lot of hard work – cleaning all the stairs from one floor to another and so on. Owning such a home is also a continuous drain on the money supply. Staying in someone else’s London townhouse, however, is a completely different story. It’s divine, particularly if it’s The Adria.

The Rivera is now taking front stage on the post-pandemic theatre floor. This catapults Monte-Carlo’s hot new dining venue, La Môme, right into the limelight.

Head for France in the Caribbean in the form of the island of Saint Barthélemy, invariably shortened to St Barts, or St Barth in French (for the record, it’s one of four Leeward Islands that, together with Guadeloupe, Martinique and Saint Martin, form the French West Indies).

It’s reckoned about 8,000 Australians play croquet these days. Partly thanks to the 30-year old Australian Croquet Association ACA, which launched its new ACA Academy in 2020, is more and more becoming an all-ages sport. Many youngsters, indeed, will be practising hard for the Under-21 Golf Croquet World Championship, scheduled for 8-12 February 2023 at New Zealand’s Mount Maunganui. This is the time, indeed, for Asia Pacific to show it can get through those hoops.

Israel’s Negev Desert might not be as big as the 348,750 sq km Great Victoria Desert but even at a mere 13,000 sq km it deserves to be taken seriously – as does its premier resort, Six Senses Shaharut. It’s a unique oasis, four hours’ drive south of Tel Aviv. In a 360-degree empty panorama, palest pink with uninterrupted blue sky over. You’re emotionally lost in another world even before you arrive.

Israel has everything the modern-fit Australian, and Asian traveller, wants. The lure of the eastern Mediterranean and millennia of local history. For immediate immersion, take the train from Ben-Gurion International Airport to Jerusalem (the speediest, at 26 minutes, leaves the airport at 56 minutes past the hour and should cost under A$8).

Is there a ‘best hotel in the world’? It all depends on what a traveller wants at a particular time, coupled with circumstances that include weather, other people and untoward happenings. There are individuals and anonymous groups that announce best properties, all too often, one fears, with vested interest.

Since flights from Asia-Pacific tend to arrive in Los Angeles around breakfast time – at destination, that is – get in good shape as quickly as possible. Immerse in luxury and glamour, at Four Seasons Los Angeles at Beverly Hills. But first, a post-flight hiccup. A rail link is being installed at Los Angeles International Airport. For the immediate future, Arrivals landside is a zoo. Stand in line for the occasional courtesy shuttle to the off-site stands for both taxi cabs and Uber. Then, at that time of day, allow at least 35 minutes to get to Beverly Hills.