Admit it: you thought about getting one of JetBlue’s All You Can Jet travel passes and taking the month of September off to just zip around the country.

I did.

But while we were daydreaming the passes sold out.

Well, you’ve got another chance.

Boston Logan International Airport is having a twitter-based contest to give away a pair of All You can Jet 7 passes – the kind that let you travel any day of the week from September 7th through October 6, 2010.

If you want to enter you’ll have to act fast.

The contest kicked off Tuesday morning at 10 am east coast time and end at 9:59 a.m. on Friday morning.

To enter, you’ll need to come up with something catchy and creative. Here’s what the folks at Boston Logan are looking for:

“Simply send us a “tweet” at www.twitter.com/bostonlogan with a haiku, limerick, verse of your choice, or image(s) explaining why you would like to visit destinations served by JetBlue and include the contest hashtag #AYCJBOS. Creativity counts. Limit one (1) entry per unique Twitter handle.”

Sounds easy, right?

Here’s a link to the All You Can Jet Boston contest rules and some additional information.

Good luck! And please make those entries entertaining: I’m one of the judges for the All You Can Jet Boston contest and I’ll be looking through every entry on Friday afternoon.

In honor of National Park Service’s fee-free weekend  – today and tomorrow, August 14 -15, 2010, here’s a contest you can enter to win a trip to one of ten National Park ‘units’ around the country.

Courtesy NPS - Dennis Mulligan

The folks at Bausch+Lomb are hosting the “Inspiration in your Eyes” contest.  To win a trip to one of ten ‘inspirational’ places in the Continental United States (the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park, Great Smokey Mountains National Park, the Statue of Liberty, the Golden Gate Bridge, Glacier National Park, Waimea Canyon, the Columbia River Gorge, Colorado’s Garden of the Gods, or Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park) write up – in 1,500 characters or less – a story about a place you find inspirational and send along a photo.  Details on the Inspiration in your Eyes contest here. Deadline: 9/30/10.

Giant Sequoia at Sequoia National Park - NPS, photo by Alexandria Picavet

And for a little inspiration while you’re thinking about what to write about, take a look at my recent article for msnbc.com:  National Parks: Offbeat, unusual – and free.

The story includes notes about the country’s smallest and largest national parks: Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas and /Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, in Alaska; the park that’s home to some of the largest living things: record-setting Giant Sequoia Trees in Sequoia National Park, CA; and the battiest national park: Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, which is home to up to a million Mexican free-tailed bats.

But, the economy being what it was – and is – there have been no takers. So according to this article in Crain’s Detroit Business, the airport authority has decided to nix the naming rights project for now.

Times are tough for everyone. But doesn’t mean you can’t travel. Win one of these travel contests and someone else will foot most or all of the bill.

As I learned from a cross-Canada bike/train trip heading east-to- west a long time ago and a more recent plane/train trip in the other direction, there are plenty of unusual and incredibly lovely places to visit up north. Want to see for yourself? The Canadian Tourism Commission is sponsoring a Canada Now sweepstakes for US residents that has a prize a CN $5,000  travel voucher.  Deadline to enter: July 31,2010. So hurry!

Know any good jokes?

The national airline of Isreal, El Al Airlines, is jumping into the social media world with a two contests, one on Facebook, the other on Twitter. From now through August 13,2010, El Al Airlines is asking its Facebook Fans to post jokes on its wall. The person who posts the funniest, non-offensive joke will win two round trip tickets from Los Angeles or New York to Israel. Deadline: August 13, 2010. Winner announced on or around August 16, 2010.

The airline will also be giving away one round ticket to Israel from Los Angeles or New York to one Twitter follower. Follow and contact @ELALUSA for details. Deadline: August 4.

And Shell Vacations Hospitality is having a Share a Pic, Win a Trip contest. Top prize includes photo supplies and accessories and a 3-night stay at any of their resorts. Deadline: August 11, 2010.

Good luck! And if you win, no need take me with you. Just bring home a souvenir.

The only thing I’ve ever won in a contest or a raffle is a bottle of not-very-tasty rhubarb wine.

But that doesn’t keep me from entering contests, especially if they involve free travel. Filling out the forms usually takes just a minute or so and, well, you just never know.

So here are some travel-related contests you might want to enter:

JetBlue is celebrating its 10th Anniversary by giving away 10 cruise vacations on Royal Caribbean International. The prize: an oceanview stateroom for two on a seven-night Caribbean cruise and roundtrip JetBlue flights. Enter JetBlue’s Perfect 10 sweepstakes before August 31, 2010.

Delta Sky Magazine is hosting a Fashion Week Sweepstakes. The prize: 2 round-trip tickets to New York City and three hotel night accommodations during Fall Fashion Week. Plus a $1,000 shopping spree at Macy’s Herald Square on September 10, 2010.

And the folks at On the Go Tours are accepting entries in its Get Rid of Me Contest through September 30, 2010.  You’ll need to make a video and campaign for votes (a common contest requirement these days) but the prize is hefty: a 6-month trip for two to China, Egypt, India, Morocco and several other exotic destinations, and a chunk of spending money.

Good luck. And don’t forget to bring us home some souvenirs.

(Photos courtesy The Commons, Flickr)

If you’re going to get stuck at a German airport, try to make it Düsseldorf International Airport (DUS) on the first Sunday of the month.

That’s when DUS has is its “Airlebnis” (air-experience) events and if you were there yesterday, Sunday, June 6, 2010, you would have seen athletes and visitors literally bouncing off the walls – and everything else  – as DUS became the obstacle course for the  German Parkour Championship.

What’s Parkour?  Take a look at this:

There area oodles of other parkour (freerunning) videos on the web, but you get the picture… this is a really zany, potentially dangerous, but really fun-looking sport. But what kind of sport exactly?

According to Parkour US:

“Parkour or l’art du déplacement is NOT an extreme sport, rather it is a physical discipline that allow one to overcome their obstacles to get from point a to point b in the most efficient using the possibility of human body. Such movement may contain running, jumping, climbing, vaulting and other movements that may help the efficiency.”

At DUS, Parkour competitors – traceurs – were tested in two categories: speed and style, including “execution, flow, creativity, level of difficulty, and overall showmanship” and participants included the current world champion, a 15-year old from Germany.

The men and women who perform parkour make it look easy. So for novices who wanted to give it a try, there were professional instructors on hand to give lessons.

I’m waiting for the results of the championship and some photos from the day, so please be sure to check back. But in the meantime, I’m heading outside to practice.

To celebrate the release of Disney-Pixar’s Toy Story 3, Aflac is giving away a trip to Hollywood and a tour of Walt Disney Studios – for four people.

Prize includes: airfare, three nights in a hotel, a special Disney tour, a private screening of your favorite Pixar movie (which one would you pick?), and $500 cash.

Enter the Quacktastic vacation giveaway here.

(Auckland, New Zealand  airport welcomes travelers with this!)

The Great Kiwi Adventure contest has as its prize a trip for four to New Zealand.

Prize includes plane fare from Los Angeles or San Francisco to Auckland, New Zealand and a seven-night trip in the Bay of Plenty.

(Photo courtesy Daniel Incandela)

And, take a look at the growing list of airport profiles I’ve been working on for USATODAY.com.  The note at the top still says “the 25 busiest airports” – but the list is growing and will soon include short guides to 50 airports.  There’s a spot in each guide to add your comments and tips as well. Here’s a link to the USA TODAY Airport Guides.

8 year old Harry Winsor really loves to draw airplanes. So his dad, a savvy advertising executive – with a blog – sent one of Harry’s pictures to the folks at Boeing.  But rather than send Harry a thank-you note, the giant company sent Harry a form letter letting him know that – like every other idea or suggestion that comes in over the transom – they were legally required to shred the  drawing; not even look at it – lest young Harry someday accuse the company of stealing his ideas.

That didn’t sit right with his dad, who wrote about the incident on his blog and, – as this Advertising Age article explains, here’s where the lemonade started getting made.  Someone at Boeing with a new Twitter account got wind of the snafu  and:

“In no time, the brand reached out and took responsibility for its mistake. It called young Harry and invited him to visit Boeing’s facilities. On its corporate Twitter site, it wrote things such as, “This is on-the-job social-media training for us” and “We’re expert at airplanes but novices in social media. We’re learning as we go.”

Other companies and organizations jumped in as well.  Alaska Airlines sent Harry a model airplane. And now the Future of Flight Aviation Center – which is co-located with the Boeing Tour in Mukilteo, Wa. – has created a design your own aircraft show in Harry’s honor.

Kids – of all ages – are invited to submit their airplane designs to The Harry Winsor Design Your Own Aircraft Show by June 7^th, 2010.  Designs will then be on display at the Future of Flight from June 15, 2010  through July 30, 2010.

Everyone who enters will not only have their artwork put on display; they’ll receive a special badge for their efforts.

Here’s what I’m sending in.

It’s a drawing of the 787 Dreamliner I smuggled out of the factory during a tour organized by Alaska Airlines a few months back.

Got something better?  Then read the guidelines and send your drawing in to the Future of Flight’s Harry Winsor Design Your Own Aircraft Show.

One was about Delta reinstating service from San Antonio to Cincinnati. That’s good.

One was about the airport jumping into the world of social media with Facebook and Twitter accounts that will be used to keep travelers up-to-date on weather, flight delays, cancellations, and other airport news such as contests. The airport is already promising prizes to its 500^th Facebook Fan and its 500^th Twitter follower.

SAT also promises to use Facebook and Twitter to alert travelers to concessions specials and discounts, like this week’s candy sale at Natalie’s Candy Bar in Terminal 1 by Gate 10, where there are 16 different candies in 1 lb bags selling for $2.99 each.   (Not that I would admit to buying a pound of candy at an airport, but I’m pretty sure that’s a good deal.)

While you’re at the airport, snacking on candy or just hanging around, be sure to check out the airport art, including Gary Sweeney’s neo-retro tourist tourist posters at the entrance to the parking garage.

They look just like vintage travel ads, but on second glance you’ll see that they’re pleasantly, wackily, off.

Well, he’s going to be in New York City – at Times Square – on Tuesday on March 30^th, from noon – 5 pm, as part of the “Dance Your Way to Singapore Experience” promotion.  People will be invited to “dance badly” with Matt and to have their own dance videos posted directly to YouTube – Your Singapore.

The 20 most-viewed videos will be put up for a vote and the winner will get to go to Singapore and bring along a friend.

And when you go – because of course you’ll win – you’ll get to see one of my favorite airports: Singapore’s Changi Airport, which I profiled in What makes Singapore’s Changi so charming? for USA Today.

Are you game?

The folks at BoardingArea.com, a bundled collection of business travel and frequent flyer blogs (StuckatTheAirport.com actually started there) is running a contest with a really great prize: a trip for two to the Gold Coast of Australia. Deadline is March 28^th.  I’m definitely entering.

JiWire rolled out a new free Wi-Fi Finder app that will allow you to search for free and paid Wi-Fi hotspots offline. Very helpful.

And if you’re out and about today, keep in mind that it’s Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream shops and free pastry day (actually sort-of free pastry morning; you’ll  need to buy a drink) at Starbucks.  It’s a fair bet that few airport branches of these outfits will be honoring the promotions, but if you find yourself at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport you can definitely take advantage of the “Flounder’s Day” special being offered at Ivar’s Seafood restaurants throughout Puget Sound.  Today would have been “flounder” Ivar Haglund’s 105th birthdays, so if you buy one entrée, you’ll get a second one for $1.05 by saying “Happy Birthday, Ivar” at check-out.  Even at the airport.