Unforgettable. The Grand Opening of DFS Galleria Macao last night was one of those moments in life that one feels privileged to have been part of. The invitation card from DFS Group Chairman and CEO Ed Brennan came with the message ‘Your key to unlocking luxury’. And from the start of the three-hour multi-themed celebration that took
Miscellaneous
Momentum gathers behind Sheremetyevo’s comeback
A year ago, the idea that Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO) – built as a ‘temporary’ facility for the 1980 Moscow Olympics – could ever re-establish itself as Moscow’s leading aviation hub would have seemed plain fanciful. Its rivals at Domodedovo and to a lesser extent, Vnukovo, were steadily eroding its traffic base, both had (and have) enviable commercial facilities
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Miscellaneous
Running Miles (though not many) for Smiles in Macau
Injured again! But this time, it’s pride not the achilles… My training schedule for the laughingly named ‘fun run’ in Dubai on 22 November on behalf of The Smile Train cleft charity has got off to a none too promising start with injury striking early. Now a virtual non-stop travel schedule in the run-up to
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Miscellaneous
The Moodie Blog in Macau
The Moodie Blog is in Macau, preparing to cover the Grand Opening of the extraordinary new DFS Galleria Macao here on Friday. After the long 11-hour flight from London to Hong Kong, it was a seamless transition to the Macau ferry (turbo jet) at the amazingly efficient Hong Kong International Airport. There was even some
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Airlines
Flying lessons
If you’re visiting any country and are looking for clues as to what kind of people, place and culture await you, you could do worse than flick through the national airline’s inflight brochure on your journey there. Better still (and yes, here’s a publisher talking) go straight to the adverts, and you’ll get a pretty good insight into what is making the
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Events
DFS offers the key to unlocking luxury in Macau
[Top two pictures: Duncan Lui] DFS Galleria Macao will celebrate its Grand Opening at a gala evening in Macau on Friday. It promises to be an extraordinary evening in an extraordinary venue. The Galleria, with its well-documented ‘luxury-only’ focus, features three ‘worlds’ – Fashion, Beauty and Luxury. Unlike, say DFS Galleria Okinawa, there’s no generic fashion
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Miscellaneous
The eyes have it as Miles for Smiles ‘fun run’ turns into a weighting game
When you’re a top-class athlete, every single gram of additional weight counts. Or so such athletes tell me. Despite the achilles tendon-linked glitch in my training schedule for the ‘Miles for Smiles’ 10k fun run in Dubai on 22 November on behalf of children’s cleft charity The Smile Train*, I have been working hard on
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Events
The Nuance Group supports Publisher’s charity run but hedges bets as achilles heel strikes
My fateful decision to participate in the 10k ‘Miles for Smiles’ run in Dubai on 22 November is looking more foolhardy every day. The Moodie Blog has banned the use of the term ‘fun run’ because in our experience the two words simply do not belong in the same universe, let alone event. To survive this
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Airports
Case study of a changing India
If ever a picture told a story of a country in change it is this one. The scene is Bengaluru Airport near Bangalore, the new greenfield airport opened in late May. The facility, with its impressive emphasis on efficiency rather than glitz, is very much a new airport for a new India. That new India
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Events
Running Miles for Smiles… and a pint of milk
It was that last half mile that did for me, and the extra weight… The Moodie Report knows all about looming deadlines, we live under their guillotine-like effect every day of the week. But one has been looming rather more worryingly than all the others – despite, by our standards, being a long way off. It’s the
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People
Anji starts a new innings as The Smile Train lends the strength of love
Good news from Dr Mukunda Reddy, head of the cleft unit at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad, India, that is largely funded by cleft charity The Smile Train. Readers of The Moodie Blog will remember little Anji (above), the cheeky wee boy with deep brown eyes, a smile as wide as Hyderabad (especially when
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Airlines
Bravo British Airways as cabin crew show the value of a smile
One finds human kindness in the most unexpected places – even at 35,000 feet up in the sky. Flying back to London from Mumbai, India last Sunday on BA198, a kindly Scottish cabin crew member called Elaine McWilliams (pictured above right with her colleague Maria) stopped to ask me about The Smile Train wristband I was
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Airports
The Moodie Blog in India: DFS makes its Indian debut
This is my last Blog from India – written in the Clipper Lounge at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, just yards away from the new DFS Group duty free store at the airport. It has not been an easy debut for the industry leader. Initially it was the second-highest bidder in the duty free tender behind the ill-fated