Tonight I’m down the back of the plane (in a middle seat goddamn it) but one of the benefits of having squillions of points is that I have access to some decent lounges whichever part of the big steel bird I am flying.
Airports
Slane Castle aims to rock the Irish whiskey world
Ask any Irish person (and many overseas visitors) what names resonate when they hear the words ‘Slane Castle’, and a who’s who of the rock and roll world trips off the tongue. Thin Lizzy, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Queen, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, U2 and many others have played the magnificent amphitheatre nestled by
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Events
Room with(out) a view
In a recent study of five major Chinese cities’ air pollution levels, Guangzhou and Shanghai had the most “good” or “light” days. Today is not one of them.
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Miscellaneous
From Toshiba traveller to Dell boy
Like an aging footballer who’s lost his pace, I’m forced to rely more and more on experience and knowledge, and ensuring the work rate simply never drops, no matter how much you’d like it to.
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Airports
Gamsahamnida South Korea, Annyeongi kyeseyo
Gamsahamnida (‘Thank you’) Korea. I learn so much from your country, your culture, your people and your duty free industry each time I come here. Annyeongi kyeseyo (‘Farewell’).
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Travel
‘Officially amazing’ at Shinsegae Duty Free Centum City
A plaque describing the department store’s status as the world’s biggest says ‘Officially amazing’. That strikes me as a pretty good way of summing up the whole complex.
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Miscellaneous
Heathrow sparkles as night-time falls on the Neponset
Wine is a category that demands effort, otherwise why should travellers bother? At Heathrow, Champagne shows plenty of fizz, but table wine falls a little flat.
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People
The sound of silence as I pray to (and for) the 1Above
I read that drinking coffee in the evening can turn back the body clock and help fight jet lag. With one small catch. You have to have flown west. And last time I looked, Hong Kong was a few points east of London.
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Travel
Desmond storms but Dermot stays calm in Galway bureau
I can tell you my close cohort and fellow shareholder Dermot Davitt really isn’t getting any sleep at all right now. That’s because he’s holed up inside The Moodie Report Galway Bureau amid the worst storm in living memory (and there have been millions down the years I can tell you) on the West Coast of Ireland.
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Travel
From the Dead Sea to dead in the water
It was nice while it lasted but alas The Moodie Report’s Interim Dead Sea Bureau is now closed. What a beautiful setting, not just to run my business from but also for the (excellent) MEADFA Conference 2015. I’ve now set up shop, as it were, in Dubai. I’m staying at the Jumeirah Creekside Hotel, owned by Dubai Duty Free, hosts of the Dubai Duty Free Golf World Cup.
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Miscellaneous
Escape from New York?
As we stumbled down the stairs to meet the day (as it now was) in the words of the Kristofferson song (Sunday morning coming down), the Candy man among us spotted a bar. Then followed the most terrifying three words in the English language if you’re accompanied by an Irishman. “Fancy a nightcap?”