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The Moodie Blog: DFS Hawaii team show who is the king of coffee

News reaches us from Hawaii where a few days ago DFS employees set a Guinness World Record by creating the world’s largest coffee mosaic art. Their effort was a celebration of the upcoming Art of Hawaiian Coffee event at DFS Galleria Waikiki. The mosaic was formed by 5,642 cups of coffee, featuring ten different shades.

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Tasting a poignant legacy onboard Qatar Airways

“Would you like another glass of New Zealand Blanc?” “Well… yes please,” I reply, after what I hope is a suitably polite hesitation but is more likely a nanosecond to the delightful Manru, my hostess on the Qatar Airways flight from Doha International Airport to London Heathrow. Manru is from central China. She means ‘Sauvignon

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Quality in Qatar shows that Trinity is not an impossible dream

So it’s farewell to Doha International Airport, where I’ve just spent a fascinating hour reviewing the commercial facilities with Qatar Duty Free Senior Vice President Keith Hunter and his team. While everyone here is necessarily focused on the daunting task of getting New Doha International Airport (NDIA) ready for its full operational start-up in 2013,

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Dazzling Doha vision takes shape

Prepare, as they say, to be amazed. On reclaimed land in Doha, the capital of Qatar, where a few years ago (see picture above) there was open sea, a truly great international airport is fast taking shape. Yesterday I had the privilege of walking around New Doha International Airport (NDIA), a state of the art

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Popping up with something new at Schiphol

It’s rare to see an airport activation or promotion that involves airport company and brand owner working in partnership with advertising, retail and food & beverage concessionaires. So when one comes along we do our best to go and see it. That’s what we did last week when we took a trip to Amsterdam Airport

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Going for gold, going for greatness

I’m taking a leisurely late breakfast in the fantastic Qatar Airways Premium Lounge at Heathrow Airport Terminal 4, en route to one of my most eagerly awaited trips in a long while. Over the next couple of days I’m going to be donning a hard hat to view progress on New Doha International Airport (NDIA), among

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Korean Air finds the keys to duty free success with SK-II

Korean Air has produced some stunning limited-edition covers for its SkyShop inflight duty free magazine down the years but I am not sure it has ever topped its latest effort. The July edition from the world’s most successful inflight retailer is bound in a padlocked case, the keys to which reside in a small SK-II

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London plays the Games

With so many friends and family having tried and failed to acquire tickets for the Olympic Games in London, I feel fortunate and a little embarrassed to be at several events, thanks to an aggressive bidding strategy, the US National Olympic Committee (long story) and a lot of luck. It’s also thanks to the patience

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Delight for travellers as Kraftsmanship pays off

“I  took out from my pocket, ten sovereigns bright And the landllord’s eyes opened wide with delight He said “I have whiskeys and wines of the best But my confectionery offer is only in jest” – With apologies to ‘The Wild Rover’ Regular Blog readers will know my view that the confectionery category is often sold short

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Crème of the crop

Toasting the latest La Mer launch in Turkey There are press trips. And then there are Crème de la Mer press trips, the sheer lavishness of which makes the return to real life mighty hard. When the bedrock of your brand is luxury, all activities connected with it should echo that high-end positioning – a

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Olympic winners and runners-up at Heathrow

“Everyone can buy,” says the sign at World Duty Free Group’s Arrivals shop at London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 but I wonder what percentage of inbound passengers actually will during the Olympic Games period? I arrived back from Hong Kong to T5 on Saturday and was surprised to see that the store had not been dressed

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Sad-eyed loner of the (Siberian) lowlands

Why is it, I wonder, that I end up writing so many Blogs over Novosibirsk? I’m 38,000 feet up on British Airways 22 from Hong Kong to London, and after sleeping like a log for the first six hours of the flight I’m suddenly raring to go again. According to British Airways’ inflight journey map,

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Vicente wreaks his havoc

I’m about to depart Hong Kong International Airport, an airport I doubted I would ever reach earlier in the week as Typhoon Vicente wreaked havoc on flights into Hong Kong. I took a cab through rush hour traffic in Shanghai on Wednesday to Hong Qiao Airport, only to be told that my Hong Kong Airlines

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