Posts in the category "":

It’s Dino-Day at StuckatTheAirport.com!

Here’s the 33-foot-long Yangchuanosaurus dinosaur skeleton at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. It’s on loan from the Fernbank Museum of Natural History and is in the Atrium in airport’s main terminal.

(Photo courtesy: ATL)

Here’s the 15 foot tall, 30-foot long Tyrannosaurs rex at Pittsburgh International Airport. Look for it airside, as you enter or leave the people-mover trains.

Here’s an allosaurus, one of the dinos at Toronto’ s Pearson International Airport.

And here’s the much-loved brachiosaurus outside the Field Museum store at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport

(Photo courtesy Flickr user ProStaK

Categories: Airport guides
No Comments »

Second Chances, an exhibit filled with art made from recycled scraps of this and that is on view at San Francisco International Airport.

Among the more than 200 objects on display are Senegalese scrap metal briefcases, Mexican license-plate dustpans, Moroccan water containers made from rubber tires and colorful South African baskets made from telephone wire.

The fanciful, decorative objects also include everything from a bird sculpture made from toilet paper mâché and magazines to an entire dress made from Mary Jane candy wrappers.

You get a chance to see Second Chances if you’re stuck at San Francisco International Airport and find your way to Terminal 3, Boarding Area F someone between now and the end of June 2011.

Categories: Art, Uncategorized
No Comments »

Greetings from Hawaii’s Big Island, where the Hilo International Airport is just down the road from Volcanoes National Park. Most visitors head to the park thinking they’ll see something like this:

But sometimes they’re perfectly happy just watching volcano steam rise out of a vent in a parking lot.

Categories: Airports
No Comments »

It’s Souvenir Sunday, the day StuckatTheAirport.com celebrates the fun, inexpensive items you can find  in airport shops.

This week our souvenirs come from the souvenir shop at the Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka Space Center, which is located right next to the charming, open-air terminals at Kona International Airport.

The center is part museum/part education center and is dedicated to the memory of Ellison Onizuka, who was Hawaii’s first astronaut and one of the crewmembers who perished aboard the Challenger Mission on January 28, 1986.

The Onizuka Space Center is jam-packed with hands-on activities that explain space and space concepts as well as a wide variety of displays that include a piece of a moon rock, an Apollo 13 space suit and memorabilia that includes the freeze-dried macadamia nuts and Kona coffee NASA developed for Ellison Onizuka so that the Hawaiian astronaut would feel at home in space.

The museum is just a 30-second walk from the main part of Kona International Airport and is a much better way for you and your kids to spend your time than sitting out in the sun in airport’s post-security area.

Even if you don’t want to explore the space center’s exhibits, consider stopping in to check out the gift shop. It’s has a carefully selected assortment of space-related books, games and space-related souvenirs.

That’s where I picked up these cool, inexpensive and easy-to-carry fashion accessories: glow-in-the dark, Space Shaped Rubber Bands.

If you find a great souvenir while you’re stuck at the airport, please snap a photo and send it along.

The favorite souvenirs here at StuckatTheAirport.com are inexpensive (around $10), “of” the city or region and ideally, a bit offbeat. And if your souvenir is featured on Souvenir Sunday, you’ll receive a special airport or airline-related souvenir.

Categories: Airport shops, aviation, Aviation history, Exhibits, family travel, History, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs, Space
No Comments »

Here’s a great idea:

Canada’s Region of Waterloo International Airport (YKF), in Breslau, Ontario has a self-service book cart stocked with donated used books and magazines.

A WestJet Airlines employee came up with the idea; the airport bought the cart; and the proceeds from sales – more than $3,300 so far – is donated to local charities.

Seems simple, straightforward and a win for everyone.  Wouldn’t it be great if all airports set up something like this?

Categories: Airport shops
No Comments »