Entertainment

Help Cleveland Hopkins Int’l Airport celebrate the city

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Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE) is hosting Celebrate Cleveland, Sept. 26 – 28.

The fourth annual “hometown salute” features popular attractions, activities for the family, special guests and treats that showcase the region.

 

Here’s the line-up:

  • Wednesday, Sept. 26: Cleveland Metroparks Zoo’s Professor Wylde Traveling Show will be on site with artifacts and appearances by a variety of zoo animals, including a bearded dragon, an armadillo, a hedgehog, a kookaburra, a sand boa and a python.  Find them at Gate C4 and at the beginning of Concourse A.
  • Thursday, Sept. 27: From 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Cleveland Indians’ beloved mascot, Slider, will visit with passengers and treat them to Malley’s CLE chocolate bars. (While they last.)
  • Friday, Sept. 28: Mitchell’s Ice Cream Social, with free scoops from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. inside the security checkpoint on Concourse B.

While you’re at CLE, be sure to check out the permanent and temporary art exhibits, including 10-ft tall versions of Fender Stratocaster guitars that have been transformed into works of art by local artists and national celebrities. (Cleveland is, after all, the home of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum).

 

 

And while at CLE, be sure to visit the baggage claim area to see an exhibit devoted to Superman. The caped hero was created in  the early 1930s by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who lived near each other in Cleveland.

 

 

Travel Tidbits from Alaska Airlines and Virgin Atlantic

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Here is are some travel tidibts from Alaska Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Aer Lingus

VR on Alaska Airlines

First Class passengers flying Alaska Airlines on two routes – Seattle-Boston and Boston-San Diego – will be able to test out virtual reality headsets for inflight entertaiment.

The Seattle-based carrier will be piloting SkyLights’ new Allosky Cinematic VR with a selection of 2D and 3D movie titles such as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Spielberg’s Ready Play One in 3D and the kids title, Ferdinand.

360° films subjects will showcase freediving, classical music and acrobatics.

Virgin Atlantic and Aviation Gin

Virgin Atlantic announces today its that it will begin serving Aviation American Gin in its clubhouses and on its planes.  The gin is owned by actor and producer, Ryan Reynolds and batch-made by House Spirtis Distllery in Portland, OR.

To kick off the partnership, on September 30 some passengers on board Virgin Atlantic flights will be served cocktails mixed up by bartenders from some of the world’s super “in” bars, such as The Dead Rabbit in New York and Smugglers Cove in San Francisco.

Here’s a video Sir Richard Branson and Ryan Reynolds made to promote the partnership.

Not flying Virgin Atlantic? House Spirits Distillery  has a tasting room at Portland International Airport.

 

PHL Airport has a short story dispenser

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Here’s a great contender for Airport Amenity of the Week: Philadelphia International Airport has a short story dispenser.

PHL short story dispenser

Courtesy PHL Airport

Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)’s newest amenity is a Short Story Dispenser.

The five-foot tall, screen-less, translucent glass kiosk is now in the airport’s ‘Virtual Library’ (in the D/E Connector) and prints a free fiction story that can be read in one, three or five minutes.

To get a story, users press one of three buttons indicating which length of story they prefer and then  the machine delivers a story printed on eco-friendly paper.

The stories are drawn from a catalog of stories submitted to and edited by Short Édition, a French community publisher that developed the dispenser. Some stories dispensed are short works by classic authors such as Shakespeare and Virginia Woolf, but Short Edition says it has work submitted by 9,000 authors in its database and pay royalities to authors every time their work is accessed in a Short Story Dispenser.

PHL is the first US airport to get a Short Edition Story Dispenser, although the machines debuted a year or so ago at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and are also installed at Canada’s Edmonton International Airport and about 150 other non-airport locations out in the world.

courtesy Short Edition
PHL has had a Virtual Library since 2014 that is designed to bring the city’s Free Library’s vast electronic resources to passengers. In addition to the short story dispener, travelers can log on to PHL’s free Wi-Fi to access the Library’s e-books, nearly 1,200 author podcasts, and other digital content.

A great airport amenity!

More holiday entertainment at airports

Airports, Entertainment

Many airports go all out during the holiday season with decorations and entertainment designed to make the busy travel season festive and a bit less stressful.

Here’s what’s on tap at a few airports around the country. I’ll add more as they come in.

At Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, holiday entertainment kicks off on December 20 with Ray Benson & The Barton Hills Choir performing from 12 to 1:30 p.m. The Austin Jazz Workshop performs holiday hits on December 22 from 2 to 3 p.m.  These performances are in addition to the 16 live, post-security music performances presented weekly at the airport. See a schedule of performance and locations here.

The Voices of Christmas

At Los Angeles International Airport Santa, carolers and holiday-themed entertainment are roaming the terminals through Thursday, December 21.

Dallas Love Field has scheduled live music events all through the month, right through December 30.

And at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport live music and costumed characters will be on duty passing out gifts, hanging out with travelers and participating in a daily parade from December 15 through December 24 at 9:30 a.m. with Frosty the Snowman, Sugar Plum Fairies, Santa and others marching rom the D Concourse to the Central Terminal.

 

Munich Airport Christmas Market

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Munich Airport’s Christmas and Winter Market is open – so here’s hoping you have a long layover here.

For the 19th consecutive year, the large covered space between the Munich Airport terminals has been transformed into a winter wonderland with more than 40 kiosks in among 450 real Christmas trees and plenty of seasonal treats and local handicrafts.

Better yet, at the center of the market is a free ice-skating rink (with low-cost skate rentals) where visitors can try out Eisstockschiessen, Bavaria’s broom-free version of curling.

Entertainment is offered daily, except Mondays, starting at 6 pm, with a wide range of live musical acts, including jazz, swing, gospel, rock and pop bands and, every Thursday at 6pm, a DJ spins tunes for the skaters on the ice. Each Wednesday starting at 4 p.m. an evening of family-oriented fairytale performances and magic shows is scheduled.

Sound like fun at the airport? Munich Airport’s Christmas and Winter Market is open daily from 11am – pm through December 30.