The app is free and offers the option of having a meal delivered to you right at the gate. You can also use the app to order something ahead of time and pick it up once you’re at the airport.

The service has already been rolled out at JFK and Minneapolis-St. Paul International airports and, just in time for the holiday travel season, is available at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport where, so far, the Tuscany Café and Chili’s Too! In Terminal 1, Blackhawks Restaurant & Bar in Terminal 2 and Wolfgang Puck Café and Chili’s Too!, in Terminal 3, are participating.

During the busy Thanksgiving travel days, Los Angeles International Airport(LAX) is hoping to create a N.I.C.E. experience and “neutralize irritations customers experience. ” Instead of handing out parking citations or warnings, the officers will hand out information with alternative parking options and coupons for a free cup of coffee.

And, at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), there’s a turkey-themed Twitter and Foursquare contest scheduled for November 21-23. @flySFO will tweet pictures of Pardon the turkey at different locations at the airport and all you have to do is guess where he is. Prizes include an iPad and other goodies. Find more details here.

It’s hard to read travel stories about exotic places like, say, Chicago, if you can’t quite swing the cash for airfare and a swanky hotel.

That’s why, even though I never win, I’m in favor of entering contests that award – someone – free travel.

Because I learned early on that you can’t win if you don’t play.

The upscale Radisson Blu Aqua, Chicago open its doors on November 1 and to celebrate the first Radisson Blu in the U.S., Club Carlson is having an Ultimate Getaway Giveaway.

Each week during the eight week sweepstakes, which runs December 16, Club Carlson members will have an opportunity to win a two-night stay at the new Radisson Blu Aqua, Chicago, airfare for two and $2,500 in spending cash. One grand prize winner will receive a five-night getaway at any Carlson hotel worldwide, airfare for two and $10,000 in spending cash.

You’ll need to be Club Carlson member to enter, but membership in that club is free.

In Victoria, B.C., home to one of my favorite museums – the Royal B.C. Museum –  the Hotel Grand Pacific has rolled out a “pay what you want” promotion.

From October 27 through November 11, the hotel is asking prospective guests to visit the contest site, answer some questions about what they’re looking for in a hotel and make an offer for a night’s stay.

Ten rooms for each night between October 28 and December 23 will be available at a “Pay What You Want” rate, on a first come, first served basis.

Good luck! And if you win, please send a souvenir.

Thursday evening LAN airlines kicked off a campaign to promote its South American destinations in a really fun way: it surprised about 200 people dining at Nuela restaurant in New York City  with vouchers for free roundtrip tickets to destinations in Ecuador, Peru, Chile, or Argentina.

Lucky them!

And, maybe, lucky you.

Through October 31, the airline will be giving away more tickets to South America via a Twitter contest.

Here’s how to enter

If you’re fan of the Angry Birds game, you have until September 12, 2011, to enter Finnair’s Angry Birds Asian Challenge. Eight fans will get to play the popular game on a special flight from Helsinki to Singapore on September 20, 2011on board the airline’s Angry Birds-branded Airbus A340.  Enter Finnair’s Angry Birds contest here.

And you have until September 16, 2011 to enter a contest offered by McCarran International Airport, Spirit Airlines and Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau.

In the Spirit of Hollywood Sweepstakes, contestants have a chance to win two different prize packages that include round trip air fare from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, hotel accommodations and entertainment.

Enter the Tinseltown Tag-Along Tour contest here and enter the Silver Screens, Screams for Four contest here.

Whether sightseeing or heading down the road to visit a new town, finding a clean place to “go” when you’re on the go can be a traveler’s most urgent challenge.

That’s why word gets around when a hotel, restaurant, museum, ballpark or other venue goes out of its way to provide bathrooms that are not just sanitary, but distinctive, inviting and somewhat eccentric.

There’s even an annual award for America’s Best Restroom. For this year’s choice, people can cast their vote online through Sept. 19.

The contest is hosted by bathroom supply company Cintas Corp., which gathers restroom recommendations through the year and then invites the public to help flush out the best loo in the land from a list of 10 finalists.

The 2010 winner was The Fountain on Locust, a vintage ice-cream parlor in St. Louis, Mo., where the bathrooms have hand-painted murals, luxury fixtures and designer mirrors.

This year’s nominees include the dragon- and gargoyle-themed restrooms at the Castello Di Amorosa Winery in Calistoga, Calif., and the loos at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel in Arlington, Va., where bird silhouettes on the mirrors light up when the faucets are turned on.

Restrooms on the ground floor of Chicago’s Field Museum have also been nominated. “They’re large and family friendly, with changing stations and sinks set low enough for kids to easily wash their hands,” said museum spokeswoman Nancy O’Shea. “Our housekeeping staff does a great job of keeping those restrooms clean, and we are just delighted to be in the running.”

Other nominees this year include the restrooms at the Main Street Casino in Las Vegas, where urinals hang on a graffiti-covered slab of the Berlin Wall, and Ninja New York, a restaurant where the décor is 15th-century Japan (complete with ninja-dressed wait staff), but the up-to-date restrooms sport built-in seat warmers, water sprayers, deodorizers and driers for the derriere.

There’s even a posh portable potty on the list. Created for President Obama’s 2009 inauguration-day festivities, Don’s Johns DJ5000LX Presidential Luxury Restroom Trailer has granite counters and shelves, heat and air conditioning, an audio system and, for those waiting their turn, a 37-inch exterior-mounted flat screen TV. It’s available for rent by any organization interested in an outstanding outhouse.

(This story first appeared on msnbc.com’s Overhead Bin)

I wasn’t eligible to enter but, I admit it, I felt a twinge of jealously when I learned that Jaeger Mah, who described himself in his entry video as “the Anderson Cooper of YVR,” had won the contest.

Mah moves into the airport on August 17th, 2011. He’ll have a nice room at the on-site Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel and, armed with a camera and editing equipment, he’ll spend 80 days finding stories and sharing them with the public on www.liveatyvr.ca, Facebook and on Twitter.

I plan to interview Mah before he starts his airport stint and check in with him during his adventure.

Here’s his winning video.

The finalists range in age from 22 to 36 and, according to the contest rules, are all residents of British Columbia.

The winner of the Live@YVR contest will move into the airport on Aug. 17 and live there full time for 80 days using an airport-supplied camera and editing equipment to tell stories about what they see going on inside the terminals, behind the scenes and on Sea Island, the area surrounding the airport.

It won’t be such a hardship: the winner will have a room (single occupancy) at The Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel and receive vouchers for three meals a day, a complimentary mobile phone and a stipend of approximately $15,000.

To watch the videos and cast a vote, see the YVR website.

Vancouver International Airport in British Columbia is turning 80 this summer and to celebrate they’re having a contest to choose a “reporter/storyteller” who will live at the airport for 80 days and 80 nights posting videos, photos and social media content – all without ever leaving the island the airport sits on.

In addition to getting to stay 80 nights at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport, the winner of the Live@YVR contest will get CN $15000, 3 meals a day, and complimentary video equipment to use during their stay.

Want to enter? You’ll need to submit a short video. And you can only enter if you’re a Canadian citizen living in British Columbia. Which, sadly, leaves me out.

Here are more details about the Live @YVR contest.

Travel Guard, a travel insurance company that last year hosted the World’s Unluckiest Travel Contest, is back with World’s Unluckiest Traveler 2: The Rescue and asking people to send in their stories. The winning good-deed-doer gets a $10,000 vacation. The storyteller gets a pair of round-trip plane tickets to any destination in the U.S.

Find out more on the Overhead Bin.

From now through June 16^th, 2011, Wyndham Rewards is asking vacation-deprived people (pretty much all of us) to send in a photo and a short explanation of why they need a vacation. Judges will pick seven finalists and the public will choose a grand winner who will receive enough Wyndham Rewards points for a seven-night vacation at a Wyndham property, a $7,000 Visa Gift Card a seven-night Alamo car rental certificate. You can enter online, via email (deserve@wyndhamrewards.com) or via Facebook.

Southwest Airlines and SeaWorld are giving away 40 trips in 40 days. Prizes include tickets for four to SeaWorld in Orlando, San Diego or San Antonio, hotel accommodations for two nights in that city, meals, and round trip tickets on Southwest Airlines. Enter here. Deadline: June 21, 2011.

And here’s a chance to help your favorite airlines win awards: the Passenger Choice Awards is inviting travelers to weigh in on check-in, frequent flyer programs, entertainment options and more.