Things to do in travel retail before you die (1). Visit the Swarovski Kristallwelten (Crystal Worlds). Trust me, you’ll be amazed and enchanted. The attraction is set in Austria’s beautiful Tirol region in the town of Wattens, home also to the Swarovski production plant. Outside, the landscape is picture postcard beautiful. Sweeping expanses of lush green
Miscellaneous
Hit the road Jakk
News reaches The Moodie Blog that the 56 runners and walkers enlisted so far for the ‘Miles for Smiles’ fund-raising run and walk (and sometimes both) in Dubai on 22 November have already raised nearly US$40,000 for children’s cleft charity The Smile Train. Miles for Smiles takes place on Saturday 22 November in Dubai commencing
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Miscellaneous
A great view ruined
A great view ruined. With apologies to Mark Twain and his classic reference to golf (“A good walk ruined”), it was indeed a case of a wasted view this morning as The Moodie Blog’s high-octane training camp for the November 22 ‘Miles for Smiles’ fund-raising run in Dubai moved from Macao to Panama. Waking up
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Miscellaneous
ASUTIL – and The Moodie Blog – head to Central America
If it’s Tuesday, it must be Panama… I think. The Moodie Blog has generated some decent (or maybe indecent) airmiles in recent days. On Saturday night I headed home to London from Hong Kong International Airport after an exhilarating visit to the new DFS Galleria Macao. Back into a dull and rainy London Sunday morning, then
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Events
An evening of magic, majesty – and memories
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
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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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