I live in Washington, a budget-weary state that’s home to old growth forests, the Space Needle, Mount St. Helens and Mt. Rainier.

It’s also home to a bridge built just for squirrels, the World’s Largest Egg and a few hundred other roadside oddities.

So please plan a visit.

You might be getting a lot of these invitations before June 15^th.  And it’s not just because Washingtonians are so proud of their state.

The Washington State tourism office – set to close at the end of June due to budget cuts – is entering the names of all “inviters” into a sweepstakes for some juicy prizes, including a year’s worth of in-state, unlimited travel for two, courtesy of Alaska/Horizon Airlines AND two tickets anywhere Alaska Airlines flies, which includes Canada, Mexico and Hawaii.

I took a look at the rules and it turns out you don’t even have to live in Washington State to enter. All you have to do is visit www.ShareYourWashington.com and send an electronic postcard to someone you think might like visiting Washington State.

And, really, who wouldn’t want to high-tail it over a state where folks turn their hedges into this:

Categories: Contests, Free Stuff, Fun Stuff
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Not invited to the Royal Wedding?

Don’t worry –Heathrow Airport is rolling out the red carpet for everyone and there are a jolly lot of attractions, museums and special sights that are very inexpensive and many where admission doesn’t cost a penny.

A must-see for most every London visitor, the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square has more than 2,300 Western European paintings from the Middle Ages to the early 20^th century, including work by Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent Van Gogh, Georges Seurat and many others.  Admission is free, although there is a charge for some special exhibits.

The Museum of London delivers a punch with galleries exploring the archeological history of London, Roman London, Medieval London and the ever-popular display of fire-fighting equipment, paintings, films and objects relating to the September 1666 fire, the Great Fire, that is London’s most famous disaster.  Admission is free.

Napoleon Bonaparte's Toothbrush

Courtesy: Wellcome Library, London

Sir Henry Wellcome, of the successful pharmaceutical company Burroughs Wellcome & Co, was a world-class philanthropist and a voracious collector who collected more than million items relating to health and medicine. The Wellcome Collection, opened in 2007, has intriguing changing exhibitions, unusual artwork inspired by modern-day health and medicine, and more than 1500 objects from Wellcome’s collection, including a shrunken head, a guillotine blade, a brass corset, Florence Nightingale’s moccasins, a lock of hair said to be from the head of King George III, and Napoleon Bonaparte’s toothbrush. Admission is free.

It’s possible to spend an entire week at the British Museum, which houses more than 7 million items from cultures around the world. So pick a few exhibits and rooms you want to see before you walk through the door.  The Egyptian mummies are among the most popular exhibits, so put them on your list, but consider visiting some of the smaller and less-visited rooms, such as the Clocks and Watches gallery, which holds hidden treasures such as this automated brass clock in the shape of a galleon. Admission free; there is a charge for some special exhibits.

Categories: Airports, Museums
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May is coming right up and to celebrate American Airlines is bringing back its 5@5 Happy Hour.

(Courtesy UW Digital Collections via Flickr Commons)

Throughout the month of May, American, American Eagle, and American Connection passengers will be able to purchase cocktails, wine, beer and margaritas for $5 (instead of $6-$7) on domestic, Canada, Caribbean and Mexico flights departing between 5 p.m. and 5:59 p.m.

Those prices last the entire flight, so if you’re planning on having an in-flight drink (or two), here’s to an on-time departure.

Categories: Air Travel, Airline policies, Airlines, Food
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Here’s some free stuff, a few contests and two travel discounts you may want to take advantage of.

If you’re in the Washington, D.C. area this week or in New York City next week, keep an eye out for folks from Austrian Airlines.  As part of their Café in the Clouds promotion the airline will be serving complimentary Meinl coffee – the coffee served onboard Austrian flights – in a different Washington neighborhood each day through Sunday, May 1^st. Check here for the Café in the Clouds DC schedule.

In New York, the plan is to have chefs on bikes out delivering Austrian bundt cakes. The schedule for the NY Café in the Sky event will post on May 1^st.

Coffee and cake is nice, but what about travel?  If you’re not in New York or D.C., you can skip the cake the coffee and go directly to the entry form to enter a contest to win two round trip tickets from Washington, D.C. or New York to Vienna on Austrian Airlines. (Contest ends May 20, 2011)

File these under “Every bit helps:”

Through April 30^th, anyone with a Visa card that has “Visa Signature” printed on it (very common) may be eligible for a 15% discount on Southwest Airlines.

Virgin America will give you a promo code good for 20% off a flight if you vote for your favorite photo or video in a contest the airline is having in connection with new service to Chicago. Deadline to vote is May 11.

And you have until May 27, 2011 to enter the American Airlines anniversary miles giveaway sweepstakes. The prizes: they’re giving away 30,000 miles a day.

Categories: Air Travel, Airlines, Contests, Free Stuff
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Talk about luck.

For more than 30 years Charles Lindbergh’s 1932 Monocoupe D-145 hovered over the Concourse C checkpoint at Lambert-St Louis International Airport (STL).

But just last month, to make way for the relocation of that checkpoint, the plane was lowered to the floor, removed from the airport and put in storage at Missouri’s Mount Vernon Municipal Airport.

According to the owner of the company that moved the plane, “Had it still been inside the St. Louis airport when the tornado blew through last Friday, the plane would have taken a direct hit.”

Lucky, right?

That’s what the folks at the Missouri Historical Society are probably thinking. The organization received the plane from Lindbergh back in 1940 and planned to have it restored and put on display at the Mount Vernon Airport while renovations were underway at Lambert.

The timeline for restoring and returning the plane to Lambert airport may be altered a bit by the aftermath of the tornado, but at least the plane is safe and still around.

Categories: Airplanes, Weather
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