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Although I’m experienced getting around London on foot and on the Tube, yesterday was the first time since high school that I traveled around the city by bicycle.

I still have a hard time with the “Look Left” part of crossing the street here. So I was glad to follow a guide during a Fat Tire Bike Tour through the city. Especially when I was issued a baby blue bike named Luscious for my journey.

All went well and, even though it was blustery and rainy, we encountered plenty of other city cyclists along the way.  A lot of those folks were using one of the 6,000 public bikes stationed around the city as part of the bike-sharing program London launched this past July.

Dave Phillips, our Austin, Texas-born guide for the Fat Tire Bike Tour, is a big fan of this city-sponsored bike-sharing program. From his street-eye view, he says the program seems to be working out just fine. Especially since anyone with an annual membership gets to use the bikes for free if the check-out time is less than a half hour.

Brilliant!

Categories: ground transporation, Layover
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This Saturday, September 25, 2010 is free Museum Day around the country.

More than 1300 museums – including a lot of aviation and space museums – will open their doors for free to anyone who shows up with a downloaded coupon from Smithsonian magazine that’s good for admission for two people to any one museum on the list.

Last year, more than 300,000 people took advantage of the Smithsonian’s free museum day offer. This year, event organizers expect a lot more people – maybe 20% more – to show up.

It’s a great opportunity to go to a museum you’ve been meaning to go to but have put off because the price tag seemed too high.

A few suggestions:

The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City (regular adults admission: $22);

The U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama (regular adult admission; $24.95);

The Adler Planetarium (regular admission $27 for adults) in Chicago, where there’s a great exhibition of rare and antique telescopes including this rare circa 1660 ivory telescope from Germany

Or the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson, Kansas.

Categories: aviation, Aviation history, Events, Exhibits, Free Stuff, Fun Stuff, Museums, Uncategorized
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Congratulations to Portland International Airport (PDX) which has been chosen best domestic airport in Condé Nast Traveler magazine’s annual poll of business travelers.

The poll ranks U.S. and international airports (as well as airlines and hotels) in several categories, including ease of connections, customs/baggage/, food/shops/amenities, comfort and design, and perceived safety and security.

Portland has won this accolade in four of the last five years. Other airports in the top three: Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. and Tampa International Airport.

For a bit more information about the services and amenities at these airports, here are links to my USA TODAY guides:

Portland International Airport

Washington Reagan National Airport

Tampa International Airport

For a list of guides to 50 domestic airports – all winners in their own way – see the profiles I put together for the USA TODAY Airport Guides list.

And feel free to add your tips and comments about your favorite airport.

Categories: Air Travel, Airport guides, Layover
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Except for that year when my husband bought me a United Airlines Red Carpet Club membership as a birthday present, I’m not a regular in airline club lounges.

Although I’d certainly like to be.

Especially after spending a few hours at Air New Zealand’s Koru Club Lounge at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)

Located upstairs in Terminal 2, this large, bright club room has two walls of windows, great views out onto the airfield and several zones conducive for reading, working, watching news or grabbing a bite to eat.

Amenity-wise, the lounge offers complimentary wireless Internet access, phone booths, work stations with computers, showers, a copy machine and, in among the refreshments, wines and vodkas from New Zealand.

I don’t travel with kids, but I bet families – and other passengers – really appreciate the kids play area equipped with books, games, coloring projects and a flat screen for showing videos.

If you’re traveling Business Premier on Air New Zealand your ticket gets you into the Koru Lounge. But you can also gain access if you’re a Star Alliance Gold Member traveling internationally on other airlines (i.e. Air Canada) in Terminal 2 or if you buy a $55 day pass.

At first that $55 sounds sort of steep. But considering what you’d pay for internet access, lunch and a drink or two at the airport, this pencils out to a great deal.

And how did I find my way into the lounge? I was on my way to London with Air New Zealand as part of a Visit London media tour. My goal: inspect the Air New Zealand airport lounges and find cheap and offbeat places in London to write about.

And of course, to spend some time stuck at Heathrow Airport.

Categories: Air Travel, Kids, Kids travel, Layover
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Last week we learned about the 19 new, artist-enhanced rocking chairs that landed at Boston Logan International Airport.

Today, we learned about the 56 rocking chairs that sit outside Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport.

About 25 recycled plastic chairs were set out last October, but airport officials say the chairs were so popular that 25 more chairs were ordered soon after.

You’ll find these rockers in the area where passengers hang around waiting to get rides home. People waiting for passengers to arrive gather here as well.

All in all – a brilliant idea!

Categories: Air Travel, Airports, Layover
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