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The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics kick off in just a few weeks and Vancouver International Airport (YVR) is getting ready to welcome more than 230,000 athletes and Olympics-bound visitors. Actually, the airport has been sprucing up for quite a while. In addition to its swanky new Observation Gallery, the airport has had these giant Olympic rings on site since last spring.

The installation is almost 46 feet tall, weighs more than 9,000 pounds and has 20,385 individual LED lights. Here’s a video that shows the installation process and some of the colored-patterns that can light up the sky.

In other shiny news, the folks at Air New Zealand unveiled their “Skycouch” today. It’s a specially designed row of three seats that can transform into a flat space suitable for stretching out and sleeping.  That is of course, if you’re not too tall, you don’t mind snuggling up with your seatmate, and you have purchased the entire row.  (The airline says it will sell you third seat at a discount if you’ve purchased the other two).

(Photo courtesy Air New Zealand)

Twenty-two sets of Skycouch seats will be available on Air New Zealand’s new Boeing 777-300 ER planes, which will arrive in November.

And since this is the airline that sponsored a recent Matchmaking flight and created an adorable “nearly naked” commercial and safety video, I fully expect the airline to offer a program to find travelers the perfect snuggle-mate for these flights.

Otherwise- why bother?

Along with the Skycouch and other new amenities, the airline also introduced upgrades for the Premium Economy cabin, including the cool-looking “Spaceseats” you can see in the airline’s promo video.

So what do you think? “Groundbreaking” or just really darn cool?

Categories: Air Travel, Airlines, Art, Aviation history, Design, Events, Fun Stuff, Observation Decks, Seating, Sleeping
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You know that old saying, “If life gives you lemons, make lemonade”?

Well the folks at Reno-Tahoe International Airport have taken a pesky bear and made a new airport display.

Last year, officials killed a 400-pound Black Bear that was attacking livestock in a residential area 10 miles south of the airport.  Today that bear – “preserved” and named Wu Daa-a (the Paiute word for bear) – is on display at the airport, adjacent to the security checkpoint for Concourse B.

(Photo courtesy Heidi Jared at Reno-Tahoe International Airport)

They’re not stopping with bear. In the next few months, more “harvested” Nevada wild animals, including a Mountain Lion and Big Horn Sheep, will be showing up at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport as well.

Something to keep in mind next time you’re feeling a bit sassy at the security checkpoint.

Categories: Air Travel, Exhibits
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It’s Souvenir Sunday! And it’s the traditional day to unpack and look over the fun, inexpensive souvenirs we’ve picked up at airports.

This week: McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas (LAS). Add a hotel and those guys trying to press nightclub advertisement cards into your hands and you’ve pretty much got the whole city experience right here. There are bars, slot machines, drunk guys arguing over who knows what, a fitness club, free wireless Internet access, and several oxygen bars where you can try to do something about that hangover.

There are also plenty of places to shop for inexpensive gee-gaws to remind you of your trip, including fuzzy dice in all colors,

Tiny cardboard slot machines filled with chocolate coins,

And, my all-time favorite:gummi poker chips.

Inedible, I’m sure, but tacky enough to get my vote for this week’s Souvenir Sunday pick.

Did you find a great, under $10, “of” the city souvenir last time you were stuck at the airport?

If so, please snap a photo and send it along. It may show up on a future edition of Souvenir Sunday.

Categories: Airport shops, Fun Stuff, Gambling, Shopping, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs
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Snowstorms, mudslides, rain, more rain, and tornadoes.

Sounds like a good time for a trip to Hawaii.

If you go, or just want to dream a bit about going, be sure to check out the slide-show I put together for MSNBC.com – Cheap and Offbeat Oahu – about activities that are free, cheap or bit offbeat.

Included: the tale of the fish auction that takes place 6 days a week, beginning at 5:30 am;

Information about a free exhibit at the Hawaii State Art Museum that’s filled with historical objects and photographic portraits that tell the history of Hula,

(These pot holders are not in the exhibition, but you can buy them at the airport..)

And a reminder to travelers that there are a trio of tranquil cultural gardens – Japanese, Chinese and Hawaiian – inside the Honolulu International Airport (HNL)

If you’re going to go to Oahu, you should also pop over to the Big Island.  And if you do, you’ll be able to visit the Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka Space Center at the Kona International Airport.  On January 28, 1986, all seven crew members were killed when NASA’s Space Shuttle Challenger exploded less than two minutes after launch. One of those crew members, Ellison S. Onizuka, was Hawaii’s first astronaut.

To space center has oodles of fun, hands-on activities as well as exhibits that include a moon rock from the final moon landing of Apollo 17 in 1972, an authentic NASA space suite, and personal items that belonged to Ellison Onizuka.

My favorite items in the collection are the freeze-dried macadamia nuts and the freeze-dried Kona coffee that NASA created especially for Onizuka. Today’s astronauts can still choose these items from the space menu.

Categories: Air Travel, Airport shops, Art, Aviation history, Exhibits, Free Stuff, Fun Stuff, Layover
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No time to go the museum? No problem. Plenty of airports have great art and cultural exhibits you can catch on the fly.

At LA/Ontario International Airport (ONT) Art Saving Lives, put together by the non-profit Art Aids Art non-profit organization, displays elaborate beadwork, sculptures, dolls, animals and wearable accessories made by artists from South Africa.

Included in the exhibit are many items made from re-used, recycled and repurposed materials such as glass beads, utility wire, found trinkets, juice boxes, discarded paper, and product labels.

Art Saving Lives is on display in four post-security cases in Terminal 2 and in eight cases in Terminal 4 through May 7, 2010

And at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS), Looking Up, includes photographs by members of the Austin Shutterbug Club, all on the theme of … looking up.

One example: Sunburst, by Lucy Durfee, looks up through the branches of tall Texas pecan trees.

Other images from the exhibit include pictures of two hot air balloons climbing above the clouds, a flying saucer-like image of the ceiling light fixtures in Rockefeller Center, a black and white image of workmen on top of the Bandera, Texas water tower and a shot of a single falling leaf.

Looking Up is on display at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport through April 1, 2010, in the post-security Airside East Gallery.

Categories: Air Travel, Art
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