Posts in the category "Fun Stuff":

Going to New Orleans?

If your trip begins on a Friday, you’re in luck.

Since September, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport has been hosting “Throw me something, Fridays” and offering free Mardi Gras beads to arriving passengers.

250-300 pounds of beads are handed out on an average Friday and on the Friday before Mardi Gras airport staff handed out 1100 pounds of beads – along with stuffed animals, balsa wood airplanes, luggage tags and other “Welcome to New Orleans” treats.

Reed Barnes, the airport’s customer service manager, told me that the purple, green and gold beads are handed, not thrown, to travelers from 5 a.m. until 9 p.m. each Friday and that “No one has to lift their shirts” in order to get some beads. “Although,” said Barnes, “a lot of guys offer.”

As airport amenities go, free Mardi Gras beads are a nice touch. Especially because the airport buys recycled beads that have been cleaned and bundled by employees from a local charitable organization.

Categories: Festivals, Free Stuff, Fun Stuff
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It’s a little corny. Maybe even a little creepy – depending on the photo you choose, but it’s really sort of fun.

KLM has a new Facebook app that lets you “stewardress” (or steward) yourself and send the photo to people you know. You can also buy products with your stewardress photo and – if you’re lucky – win some prizes.

All you have to do is log on through Facebook, upload a photo of your face and choose which of seven vintage outfits you’d like to wear.

Here’s my first try:

Try it yourself and let us know how it turns out.

Categories: Airlines, Fun Stuff
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Several airports around the country have some special treats in store for Valentine’s Day travelers.

At Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, there will be fresh, handmade, chocolate covered strawberries from local favorite Amy’s Ice Creams for sale in the baggage claim areas from February 12-14th.

In Ohio, the Akron-Canton Airport has decided that Valentine’s Day should be a customer appreciation day and so they’ll be celebrating there with free free Caribou coffee and Cinnabon minis in the morning and complimentary cupcakes in the afternoon.

The American Red Cross will be on hand to demonstrate CPR techniques (protecting hearts – get it?) and there will be prize drawings all day long. In addition to prizes from hotels, rental car agency, the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Akron Aeros, one lucky duck will win a $500 gift card on Frontier Airlines.

And although I don’t have official confirmation yet, it’s a good bet that the ambassadors at Florida’s Jacksonville International Airport will continue their tradition of giving a complimentary carnation to about 1500 arriving passengers.

Categories: Free Stuff, Fun Stuff, Holidays
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(Re-posting 2/7/12)

Thanks to ThisDayin History.com for the reminder that on this day, February 7, back in 1964, Pan Am Yankee Clipper flight 101 from London Heathrow landed at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport with its special cargo of Beatles.

According to History.com:

It was the first visit to the United States by the Beatles, a British rock-and-roll quartet that had just scored its first No. 1 U.S. hit six days before with “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” At Kennedy, the “Fab Four”–dressed in mod suits and sporting their trademark pudding bowl haircuts–were greeted by 3,000 screaming fans who caused a near riot when the boys stepped off their plane and onto American soil.

Here’s a great video using clips from that day:

Two days after their arrival at JFK, the Beatles made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.

Categories: Air Travel, Airlines, Aviation history, Fun Stuff, History, Music
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You know how sometimes you don’t even know that something exists and then, all of a sudden, it’s everywhere?

On New Year’s Day I looked out the window and saw this shark flying by:

I ran outside, snapped this photo and learned that my young neighbor had received this Air Swimmer shark as a present.

“You fill it with helium and it flies by remote control,” he told me, “I’m bringing it over to show my friend.”

Cool, right?

Well, it seems like my neighbor wasn’t the only one to get a flying shark for Christmas.

Consider this report, found in the New Zealand Herald, about a flying shark spotted way off course:

“….[F]rom a pilot on the Wings Over New Zealand Aviation Forum: ‘There I was, just cruising around at about 1500 feet above Hamilton …when I see an object that looks like a helicopter off in the distance. However, without getting much bigger (i.e. closer) it suddenly whizzes past my left wing … and although it has the same general shape as a chopper, this thing has fins and a tail instead of rotors. Despite the warning on the box of the Air Swimmer Shark (for indoor use only) someone’s $80 Christmas present (with $50 worth of helium) is drifting gently southwest over Hamilton city, climbing at about 200 feet a minute. I did my civic duty and reported it …as a hazard.”

Categories: Air Travel, Fun Stuff
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