Posts in the category "Recreation":

Happy Souvenir Sunday!

Shopping is always a great way to spend some time when you’re stuck at an airport. You just never know what you’ll find.

That’s why here at Stuck at The Airport we celebrate Souvenir Sunday every week.

This week: cute panda hats from China’s Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK). The photo is courtesy of Michael Crockatt (left), from Canada’s Ottawa International Airport Authority (left) and Carol Hutchins (right), from the Edmonton International Airport.

PEK airport seems huge  – Terminal 3, which opened for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, is the second largest airport terminal in the world – but not boring.

According the airport Web site, an entertainment center at the airport offers:

“…Chinese tea ceremony, beauty saloon [I think they mean salon, but a beauty saloon seems intriguing],  hairdressers, foot care house and so on. …There is time-meter hotel in the first underground floor,  …You can also go to the cinema hall to enjoy the latest films or go to enjoy Chinese massage.”

All that sounds great, doesn’t it?

But this is Souvenir Sunday, so let’s celebrate those panda hats (and the brave models) and let me invite you to send along your photos of a fun souvenir you’ve found at the airport.

There are just a few rules: to be featured on Souvenir Sunday, an airport souvenir needs to be under $10, “of” a city or region and, if possible, just a wee bit offbeat.

Like those panda hats!

Categories: Health, Lodging, Massages, Other Resources, Recreation, Shopping, Souvenirs
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[Update: Seems like the bridge opened Monday after all.  So you can play golf next time you're stuck at the airport.]

Looks like holiday-weekend repairs on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge didn’t work out as planned so the bridge will open Wednesday morning instead of Monday.  If the traffic nightmares leave you stuck at Oakland International Airport longer than you planned, keep in mind that there’s a golf course (Metropolitan Golf Links) on airport property.

Links from the airport Web site will get you free rental clubs and a discount on parking.

Categories: Recreation
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For the next two weeks it will definitely be spring at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport – thanks to an indoor flower garden filled with ten of thousands of lilacs and purple and white tulips in full bloom.

The garden has a flower stall and picnic tables where travelers can sit and rest and take in the fragrances and the colors – and marvel at the fact that there’s a giant garden inside the airport.

All these flowers come from Keukenhof, the world’s largest flower garden, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.

Kuekenhof, in the town of Lisse, welcomes more than 800,000 visitors every year. This is their first off-site display garden.  You’ll find it in Schiphol Plaza, the public area of the airport with shops and the entrance to the train station.

Photos courtesy Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

Categories: Environment, Recreation
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Heading to or through Amsterdam Schiphol Airport during the first two weeks of April?

You could happily spend your whole vacation at the airport, what with the massage spa, the snooze chairs, the casino, the kids play area, the museum, and all the great shops, restaurants and artwork.  They even have a YOTEL there, where you can book a room for a few hours for a nap and a shower.

For two weeks in April, the airport will also have a sea of flowers.

The blooms are courtesy of Keukenhof,  the world’s largest flower garden, which is located near Lisse, Netherlands.

Each spring, close to a million people trek out to see the 70-acre showcase of more than 7 million flowers- which include more than 1,000 varieties of tulips.

This is the first year the park is displaying some of those flower beyond Lisse.  So you can get a real taste of Holland without ever leaving the airport.

Look for the mini-Keukenhof at Holland Schiphol Plaza (before passport control).

Categories: Art, Environment, Recreation
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If you’re planning on being in New York City anytime before January 25^th, you can go ice-skating for free at The Pond at Bryant Park. (Lockers are free as well, but there is a charge to rent locks and ice-skates, if you don’t have those with you.)

(Courtesy The Pond at Bryant Park)

Tomorrow morning (Tues, Dec 30^th) MetLife has four-walled the rink so that 400 NYC school children can skate with the Peanuts gang, but Snoopy will be hanging around between 1:30 and 3:30 pm to take photos with anyone who shows up for public skating in the afternoon.

Don’t know how to skate? Free lessons are offered Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 9am – 11am, courtesy of Citi.

And – here’s the fly part – from now through January 25^th, Delta Air Lines is giving away round-trip airline tickets to any destination their fleet flies.  Ask about details when you show up and lace up.

Categories: Free Stuff, Recreation
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