Getting ahead of myself on the road to Riyadh

“Where are you flying to today, Sir?”

The polite inquiry from the courteous female check-in attendant behind the China Eastern desk at Hong Kong International Airport this morning at 5.30am was the umpteenth of its nature I have answered down the years.

“To Shanghai Pudong and then on to Riyadh,” I replied in an early morning, sleep-deprived monotone, robotically handing over my passport.

The attendant gazed at her screen, simultaneously making a few keystrokes before furrowing her brows in a bemused expression.

“Mr Moodie,” she said in the tone one usually reserves for an elderly and slightly confused grandparent. “Your flight is not until tomorrow. The 20th.”

“What’s today?” I replied in a manner suggesting I was indeed perfectly cast in the doddering grandparental role.

“The 19th.”

And indeed it was. I suppose after all the travel I’ve done in recent weeks and all that lies ahead – May, June and July pretty much full-on – I could be excused for thinking there is no day that I don’t have to be at the airport.

But today was an exception. Having arrived back from the TFWA Asia Pacific show on Friday I had confused my departure date to the ACI Asia-Pacific & Middle East/ACI World Annual General Assembly, Conference and Exhibition (WAGA) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Such things happen, especially amid a fraught schedule. But having risen at 4am on less than five hours sleep, I admit to having whispered a quiet curse or two as I trudged wearily out of the airport and towards the taxi ranks.

Having decided that proclaiming “Honey, I’m home” as I burst through the door would not be the wisest (nor safest) way to greet my long-suffering wife, I messaged in advance to inform her that she would be the unexpected beneficiary of my company for a while yet. In deference to my dear late Mum’s genes (personally I prefer Levi’s), that delightfully evocative word ‘eejit’ comes to mind.

So the trip to Pudong and Riyadh can wait almost another day while I continue keeping ‘the website that never sleeps’ company.

There certainly wasn’t much sleep available last week during an enjoyably full-on TFWA event. Full credit to the Association for running such an outstanding conference and exhibition, one where the mood was more buoyant than at any time since those far-off, halcyon pre-pandemic days of 2019.

While I regather my equilibrium and study my self-imposed lesson on how to differentiate between Sundays and Mondays, here are some of my favourite images of the week.

On Wednesday night I had the opportunity to dine with the founders of three great entrepreneurial family companies, all of whom I have interviewed over recent times. Pictured to my left are Andrey and Oxana Zubko, proprietors of Biosota Organics, an Australian company specialising in MGO 2100+ other Manuka honey variations. In the apiculture world, Manuka honey MGO 2100+ is the liquid gold standard. You can read their story here.

On my right is Fabrizio Canal, Founder of Italian gourmet food & drinks specialist Food Accademia (you can see my interview with him here), who brings a world of magical Italian flavours to travel retail.

To his right are Toni Martello and her partner (and soon to be husband) Rob. Toni (Maria Antonietta) is Founder and Executive Director at Azzurra One Enterprise, a much-respected travel retail staffing, promotional and marketing services agency in Sydney, Australia.

Remarkably, this year marks the 42nd anniversary since she created Azzurra One, initially employing two staff to sell cigarettes at Sydney Airport, later adding wines & spirits, wellness and confectionery products to the portfolio. You can read that extraordinary story here.

Andrey and Oxana were our gracious hosts on an unforgettable evening at C’est la Vie in Marina Bay Sands. C’est la vie, of course, translates as ‘That’s life’ and this unforgettable evening was certainly bursting with life.