Every Sunday is Souvenir Sunday here at Stuck at the Airport.

The assignment: find fun airport souvenirs that are under $10 and ‘of’  that city or state.

This week, we’re delighted to share a few items found by Jason Zielinski from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
First up: these wildflower postcards ($3.99). I think these are bluebonnets, the state flower of Texas.

Next: Keep Austin Weird koozies ($8.99) and Keep Austin Weird mugs ($9.99). These should help.

And finally, Stubbs barbecue sauce ($6.99).  Stubbs is an much-loved Austin BBQ and live music venue that hosts all the great bands.

Have you found a great souvenir at an airport? If it’s under $10 and “of” that city or state, please snap a photo and send it along. It may be featured on a future edition of Souvenir Sunday.

Categories: Souvenirs
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Thanks to a YouTube video that’s gone viral, millions of people around the world now know that in March 2008, United Airlines baggage handlers broke Dave Carroll’s guitar. Instead of just admitting it and paying for the repairs, the airline kept telling the musician to go away.

He didn’t.  He made a video and the rest, as they say, is music and social media history.  United Airlines changed its tune, promised to do better in the future and, when Carroll refused compensation, donated $3,000 to non-profit music foundation in his name.

Does that mean United and other airlines now won’t break anyone’s guitar? Don’t count on it.  But now everyone is paying more attention to how instruments on airplanes are handled.

Want to make sure your instrument arrives safely? Here’s a video and some tips from the folks at Taylor Guitars and the American Federation of Musicians:

• Know your airline’s policy on transporting instruments. Look it up on the airline’s Web site, print it out and take it with you. “Many flight attendants do not know their own airline’s policy regarding carry-on guitars. If you can calmly explain that your instrument is within their mandated guidelines, and actually show them those guidelines, you will be way ahead of the game.”
• Each airline has a maximize size for carry-on items, measured by linear inches. On many airlines, including Continental, American, and United, the limit is 45 linear inches.  So know your instrument’s size in linear inches.  That’s the sum of the length, width and height of your travel case.  “In many cases, even though your instrument case does not fit in the ‘size wise’ metal contraption at the gate, it might still be within the linear-inch maximum.”
• Carry a fabric tape measure with you.  It can come in handy if you’re challenged about your dimensions of your instrument case.

For more on this topic, see my Well Mannered Traveler column on MSNBC.com: Get in tune with your airline’s instrument policy.

Categories: Baggage, Music, Rules
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In Austin, “Live Music Capital of the World,” Texas,  it seems as if everyone is a Grammy winner.  Or will someday be one.

So if you’re passing through Austin-Bergstrom International Airport today (Thursday) or Friday between 3:30 and 5:30 pm, be sure to stop at the Asleep at the Wheel stage at Ray Benson’s Roadhouse near Gate 10.

It’s Kid Band week at the airport. And you might want to be able to say “I saw them when…”.

On Thursday, Edison Chair is on the schedule. On Friday, The Aviators will appear. Check out the Aviators performing My Generation last year.

And this classic:

When they played at the airport last year, the Aviators didn’t even have a name for their group;  so they took inspiration from the airport.

Watch out Jonas Brothers!

Photo by Sandy L. Stevens, Courtesy of ABIA

Categories: Music
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I’m working on an article about the great amenities at some west coast airports and wanted to share some of my favorites:

Vancouver International Airport:  I love this incredible work of art by Bill Reid, titled  The Spirit of Haida Gwaii: The Jade Canoe, that’s impossible to miss in the center of the International Terminal.

(Photo: Larry Goldstein Photography)

And I can’t wait to make my way back to YVR to see the recently opened public observation area that includes complimentary telescopes so everyone can get a good look at the airfield activity and the landscape nearby.

I’m happy that Sea-Tac International Airport has a world-class art collection and, on clear days, bonus views of mountains.

(Photo: Port of Seattle)

I can’t wait for the new light rail train, which right now stops just shy of the airport, to make it’s way to the airport door.

(Photo courtesy Port of Portland)

As usual, though, it’s the amenities at the Portland International Airport that impress me most.  When I used to live in that city, there was free parking at the airport and we’d go out there at least once a week because the city’s only Haagen-Dazs ice-cream store was out at the airport.

Today, I plan layovers at PDX because there’s free Wi-Fi,  lots of good restaurants and pubs, fun permanent artwork, and a pre-security shopping street filled with branches of  locally well-known shops where no sales tax is charged on anything.

Do you have an airport that you actually look forward to visiting? Please share your finds in the comment section below.

Categories: Art, Entertainment
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Just in time for Comic-Con International, which kicks off in in San Diego this week, the San Diego International Airport (SAN) is unveiling a new, 98 foot long temporary art installation.

“Quint’s Quest,” by Wardell Brown, is inspired by medieval stories of dragon slayings and is “a story of a good-natured elf who dreams of slaying a dragon for his family’s honor.”

The cartoons are first drawn by hand with pencil and paper, digitally scanned, and then inked and colored via computer.

The installation will be in place through January 15, 2010, post-security in the Terminal 2 East/West Corridor.

If you’re headed that way, be sure to check out some of the other great permanent and temporary art at San Diego International Airport.

(Photos courtesy San Diego International Airport)

Categories: Art
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