Philadelphia International Airport’s newest exhibit is all about baseball.

“Philadelphia’s Baseball Legends: The Championship Teams,” includes b&w and color photographs that tell the stories of Philadelphia’s champion baseball teams and the individual players, including many who are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

The exhibit is located post-security in Terminal A and officially opens today,  Friday, July 3rd, with a special event that includes current and past baseball stars as well as the Philly Phanatic.

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Ready for the weekend?  I sure am.   Especially after working on these two fun articles.

(Statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe, the Blue Ox, greet travelers in Bemidji, MN.)

From the air, you might be lulled into thinking that every town looks the same. Once you’re down on the ground, take a closer look:  there are plenty of unusual and offbeat roadside distractions that can spice up your trip.

For example, this giant roadside rabbit!

Years ago someone brought a 26-foot tall, wind-damaged statue of a blue-jacketed Texaco gas station attendant to the fiberglass department of Ed Harvey’s boat shop in Aloha, Oregon.  The repair estimate topped $2,000, so the owner abandoned the statue.  Harvey, a big fan of the 1950 movie, Harvey, starring Jimmy Stewart and a giant imaginary rabbit named Harvey, decided to put a rabbit head on the fiberglass man and post him in front of the store.   Harvey the giant bunny-man was an instant hit.

Curious about where to find this building shaped like a giant picnic basket or the town that has a  shrine to jackalopes?  See my Roadside Distractions slide show that posted recently on MSN.com .

Of course, the July 4^th holiday is all about picnics, parades and fireworks. But for a “Classic and Quirky 4^th of July Celebrations” story for MSNBC.com, I found a town that celebrates freedom with worm races and another that starts its holiday parade at a 12:01 AM on the 4th of July.

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Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS)  is celebrating the abolition something called the Ticket Tax today by serving up a giant Dutch cream cake, Dutch music, and coupons good for an 11.25% discount in the SeeBuyFly shops throughout the airport.

“Hostesses” will be handing out cake and party hats (!!) and travelers who pose for pictures wearing their party hats can download a free photo of themselves tomorrow, July 2.

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The folks at 3M Privacy Filter did a little survey and discovered – no real surprise here – that a majority of Americans would rather go to the dentist than sit in a middle seat on a full flight.

To help dull the pain, the company asked  business travel expert Chris McGinnis and etiquette expert Anna Post to put together a basic, yet handy and downloadable, Middle Seat Survival Guide.  (As I wrote in a Well-Mannered Traveler column in 2007, Delta Airlines has tried its hand at this too.)

Want to avoid that middle seat altogether? Through August 31, 2009, 3M Privacy Filters is also inviting travelers to enter a contest to win two round-trip first class tickets within the United States. You can enter that contest here.

Have some of your own tips on how to avoid, or deal with, the dreaded middle seat? Share your ideas here.

Tags: Etiquette | 1 Comment »

The folks at Air New Zealand are just having way too much fun getting naked and made up for the camera.   A while back they offered up this cheeky ‘Nothing to hide” commercial:

Then, of course,  “The making of” video.

Now, here’s the airline’s sassy safety video. Wouldn’t this get you to pay attention?

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The hands of 54 Silicon Valley residents – actually giant images of the hands of 54 Silicon Valley residents – are part an unusual mural being installed in the new rental car and public garage at Mineta San José International Airport (SJC).

The digitally created mural, titled “Hands,” is the work of artist Christian Moeller and will be hard to miss: the mural is 1,200 feet long and seven stories high.

Want to check and see how they’re doing with the project? You’re in luck:  there’s a webcam trained on the parking garage offering views of the project in progress.

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Whether or not you actually buy anything, souvenir shopping is good way to spend some time when you’re stuck at the airport.

For this week’s Souvenir Sunday we have an item that was not only invented in Los Angeles, but actually seems to be useful and airport-security friendly.

(Photo courtesy Katherine Alvarado at LAX)

They’re called Spongeables and are fun-shaped sponges infused with cleansers and skin care ingredients.  At Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) they’re for sale in Terminal 4 at the Destinations LA store, which also has LA-made peanut brittle for sale.

Have you found a great souvenir while you were Stuck at the Airport?

If it’s under $10 and “of” that place then please take a picture and send it along. We may feature it on a future Souvenir Sunday.

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I’m not a big fan of spending a lot of money while traveling and certainly not a big fan of overpaying for things just because I’m away from home.  So it’s always bugged me that any deals offered by “real-world” Starbucks never seem to be available in airports, where prices for even a cup of drip coffee can be quite a bit higher than out on the street.

So I’m pleased to see that from now through September 29^th, 2009 airport Starbucks branches (which are operated by HMS Host) will be offering what they say is an airport-only deal:

If you buy a Starbucks drink at one airport in the morning – keep your receipt.  When you arrive at another airport, you can use that receipt after 2 PM to buy any iced Grande drink for $2.

The offer is geared at promoting the Vivanno smoothies Starbucks is rolling out mid-July that will surely cost way more than $2, but you can use that receipt to knock down the price of other iced Grande drinks as well.

(I saved quite a few bucks when they were offering a similar deal last summer at neighborhood Starbucks by channeling the Five Easy Pieces Jack Nicholson and asking for an iced coffee, “but just hold the ice. And use hot coffee. Please.”

Now, what would go well with an afternoon coffee at an airport? The Chicago Airports have an idea:

The Taste of Chicago is in full swing now at Grant Park and runs through July 5^th.  If you don’t have the time or the inclination to join the crowds there, you can still get a taste of both the food and the music at Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports.

From now through Sunday, July 5, restaurants at both airports are offering specially-priced “Taste” portions.   Both airports will also have live music in the terminals on July 2 and 5 from 2pm until 5 pm.

Performances at O’Hare will take place beyond the security checkpoints in each domestic terminal and in the Arrivals Level of International Terminal 5. Live music at Midway will take place in the Baggage Claim area.

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Thursday night (June 25, 2009) there was a party at Miami International Airport (MIA) to unveil two iconic murals that might have ended up in the trash had it not been for a casual conversation between an airport skycap and a passenger heading home to Brazil.

Maybe you remember the two giant, colorful murals that used to be in the east concourse of the old American Airlines terminal at JFK airport in New York.  Created by Brazilian artist Carybé, who won both first and second prize in a 1959 contest to create art for the terminal, the murals are titled Discovery and Settlement of the West and Rejoicing and Festivals of the Americas.

These two murals had been part of the terminal since 1960 and at 17 feet tall and more than 50 feet long each, they were hard to miss. They were also hard to care for. Over the years, the colors faded, small coins and other objects embedded in the pieces fell off, and layers of grime and bird droppings accumulated.  So when it came time to demolish the terminal and build a new one, the plan was to destroy the murals along with the building.

But after a woman heading home to Brazil learned what was about to happen to the murals from JFK skycap Darren Hoggard, she went home, made some calls, and eventually American Airlines  donated the murals to Miami-Dade County for display in the new terminal being built at Miami International Airport.

They couldn’t just take the murals off the walls because the artwork had been painted directly onto the walls. So the walls themselves had to be taken down and the murals had to be restored before being trucked, in giant sections, down to the Miami.

(Photo courtesy Steven Brooke Studio)

Now, the murals are in their new home at Miami International Airport, in the pre-security area of the south terminal, on the 3^rd level of the international greeters lobby area.

It’s a great story. And these are really impressive murals.  If you can’t go see them for yourself, check out the photo gallery that accompanies my recent USATODAY.com column on these murals.

(Photo courtesy Steven Brooke studio)

Tags: Airport amenities, Airport art, Miami International Airport | 1 Comment »

Here’s a great use of an in-city airport:

Burke Lakefront Airport (BKL), a general aviation airport on Cleveland’s downtown waterfront, will be hosting a farmer’s market with more than a dozen local vendors.

Each Thursday from 11:30 am until 2:30 pm, from now through October, vendors selling fruits and vegetables, locally-made ice-cream, baked goods, cheese, honey, jams, jellies and more will set up on the sidewalk in front of the terminal.

Organizers also promise cooking demonstrations, live entertainment, and free parking.

Have you seen something new at your airport?  Let us know!

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