Gambling

Tidbit for travelers: MREs and more at Reno Airport

Air Travel, Airport guides, Free Stuff, Gambling, Layover, Stuck at the Airport, Wi-Fi, ,

If you’re at an airport when disaster strikes, would you go hungry?

Not, apparently, at Reno-Tahoe International Airport.

According to the airport’s newsletter, there are always MREs (meals ready to eat) in storage in case there’s an emergency and people are stuck at the airport.

Happily, no recent emergencies warranted opening those packages, so as the expiration date on 1400 of the ration packages neared, the airport decided to donate the meals to the local food pantry.

MREs form Reno Airport

MREs from Reno Airport on their way to the food pantry

 

Don’t worry: the airport has ordered a fresh batch of MREs to put back in storage in case there’s an emergency in the future.

If you’re stuck at Reno-Tahoe International Airport when it’s not an all-out emergency, there’s still plenty to do. In addition to slot machines, art exhibits, pubs, free local calls and free WiFi, passengers who show a same-day boarding pass can squeeze in some free skiing or snowboarding at nearby Squaw Valley USA.

More reasons to love Reno-Tahoe International Airport

Alcohol, Animals, Free Stuff, Gambling, Wi-Fi, ,

I’m getting to like the Reno-Tahoe International Airport more and more.

Passenger amenities there include free Wi-Fi, free local and toll-free calls, gaming machines in the lobby and on the concourses, art exhibits and a growing menagerie of taxidermy animals.

Last year, a 400-pound black bear showed up on Concourse B.

Taxidermy black bear Reno Airport

Now the airport has added a display of three Bighorn Sheep species: the California Bighorn, the Nelson Desert Bighorn, and the Rocky Mountain Bighorn.

Reno Airport taxiderm BIGHORN SHEEP

You’ll find the bear behind security on Concourse B.  The Bighorn Sheep are just outside the B checkpoint.

And here’s one more reason to like this airport: travelers who show ID and a same day boarding pass can get a complimentary half-day lift ticket (night skiing included) at Squaw Valley USA, about an hour from the airport.  The offer is valid from 1 to 9 pm Fridays and Saturdays and or from 1 to 7 pm mid-week when there are night operations in effect.

Tidbits for travelers: contests for free travel

Contests, Fun Stuff, Gambling, Souvenirs,

Trophies on display at horse show

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.

AYP - Souvenir Shop - Frank Nowel 1909


(Photos courtesy The Commons, Flickr)

Happy Souvenir Sunday from: McCarran Int’l Airport in Las Vegas

Airport shops, Fun Stuff, Gambling, Shopping, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs,

It’s Souvenir Sunday! And it’s the traditional day to unpack and look over the fun, inexpensive souvenirs we’ve picked up at airports.

This week: McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas (LAS). Add a hotel and those guys trying to press nightclub advertisement cards into your hands and you’ve pretty much got the whole city experience right here. There are bars, slot machines, drunk guys arguing over who knows what, a fitness club, free wireless Internet access, and several oxygen bars where you can try to do something about that hangover.

There are also plenty of places to shop for inexpensive gee-gaws to remind you of your trip, including fuzzy dice in all colors,

Tiny cardboard slot machines filled with chocolate coins,

And, my all-time favorite:gummi poker chips.

Inedible, I’m sure, but tacky enough to get my vote for this week’s Souvenir Sunday pick.

Did you find a great, under $10, “of” the city souvenir last time you were stuck at the airport?

If so, please snap a photo and send it along. It may show up on a future edition of Souvenir Sunday.

Slot machines at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport???

Gambling

Last week I wrote in Portfolio.com about the unusual ways some airports have found to earn income – such as growing and selling hay planted on airport acreage to signing contracts to allow outside companies to drill for oil and gas underneath airport ground.

That article also noted that, for some time now, Reno-Tahoe International Airport and McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas have been raking in the bucks from slot machines scattered about inside the airport terminals.

According to a report in the Arizona Republic, the mayor in Phoenix, Arizona thinks putting slot machines at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is a great idea. But Phoenix isn’t Nevada, where gambling is legal pretty much everywhere. So to make this idea work, the city would have to create a profit-sharing agreement with a Native American tribe.

It’s do-able, but not yet a done-deal. The paper reports that the slot-machine scheme is just one of the ideas a revenue-enhancement team is exploring to help solve budget shortfalls for the entire city of Phoenix.

Got some other ideas? Casey Newton at the Arizona Republic (casey.newton@arizonarepublic.com) has offered to gather them up and forward them on to the mayor who, he says, “will give you – at his own expense – a weekend at the downtown Sheraton, complete with tickets to a sporting event or other cultural experience” if the city uses your idea.