Latest posts by Martin Moodie (see all)
- Get yourself down to El Gordo, ‘Asia Pacific Travel Retail HQ’, for a Sinead Especial, the best Taco in town - November 5, 2025
- Discovering Nomad’s land and bumping into an old friend in Alicante - October 24, 2025
- Flying Kiwi meets Travelling Omelette with a drop of Penderyn in between - October 15, 2025
We’ll keep a welcome in the hillside.
We’ll keep a welcome in the Vales
This land you knew will still be singing
When you come home again to Wales.
– We’ll Keep a Welcome, music by Mai Jones, lyrics by Lyn Joshua and Jimmy Harper
First Cardiff. Then Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández. A tale not of two cities but of two very different airports, the former having served some 881,000 passengers last year, the latter almost 18.4 million.
I flew out of Cardiff Airport on Monday and, courtesy of excellent low-cost Spanish airline Vueling, into the gateway of this beautiful port city on Spain’s southeastern Costa Blanca, my temporary base while I journey in and out of Wales over coming months due to my daughter Sinead’s illness.
We, and others, write so much about the big airports of the world but we should never forget the role played by small and medium gateways.
Flying out of Cardiff Airport was a very different experience to my more familiar exit points, such as Hong Kong International and Heathrow, but what a pleasure it was to be whisked through check-in and security within a matter of minutes before encountering the Avolta-run (though World Duty Free branded and even, oddly, Nuance-signposted) walk-through duty-free store.
My photos below tell the story of a compact but quality duty-free offer, well-pitched to the passenger numbers and profile.
I was particularly pleased to note the strong presence of Penderyn, a superb Welsh Whisky for which I have a great affinity. In fact, its Brecon Beacons Distillery, Visitor Centre and shop is just a 30-minute drive from Ystradgynlais, South Wales (where Sinead resides). A definite stop on my next visit, a few weeks from now.
Noticing the brand’s high-profile promotion and tasting, which was proving extremely popular despite the mid-Monday morning timing, I was welcomed warmly by Penderyn Account Manager and Brand Ambassador Lee Morgan, who invited me to taste the Penderyn Faraday travel retail-exclusive single malt Welsh Whisky from ex-ruby Port casks.
My palate might not have been best attuned to sipping whisky at that hour of the morn but a combination of the TREX status, the renowned quality of Penderyn and Lee’s persuasiveness overcame my admittedly feeble resistance.
It was time to fess up my professional interest in Penderyn. I asked Lee if he knew Simon Roffe, Director of Business Development at Penderyn’s owner, The Welsh Whisky Company. Very well indeed, was the answer, for it transpired they are close colleagues.
Simon is a great bloke doing a fantastic job for the brand on the international stage, building commercially on the amazing work of Master Blender Aista Phillips and her all-women distilling team.
Due to my imminent final call – and now much to my regret – I rushed off without purchasing that beautifully packaged, superbly balanced TREX. Definitely a purchase next time through Cardiff.
As mentioned, I flew to Alicante onboard Vueling, enjoying the first of what I suspect may be many Cavas (this time from Codorníu) over coming weeks and a tasty Cune Rueda Verdejo to accompany my splendidly named La Tortilla Viajera (magnificently translated, I thought, as The Travelling Omelette).
To my surprise I saw the Buy OnBoard and duty-free magazine ran to 52 pages, packed with a well-ranged fragrances, cosmetics, electronics and accessories offer.
No spirits onboard alas but I did do my bit for our industry by buying an excellent Akashi Fast-Charging Powerbank, just what I need to ensure no component of ‘The website that never sleeps’ ever nods off at my Interim Los Arenales del Sol, Alicante Bureau. ✈
