Posts in the category "Souvenir Sunday":

It’s not just Sunday – it’s Souvenir Sunday! The day we unpack our bags and find all the stuff we bought when we were stuck at the airport.

This week, I roped some great stuff while spending a few hours at DFW International Airport.

There was plenty of Longhorn memorabilia to choose from -

And this chocolate bar  – which doubled as lunch.

And while the store clerk assured me those were real scorpions inside these lollipops,

I went home instead with a pocketful of these snazzy keychains.

Did you find  great souvenir last time you were stuck at the airport? If it’s under $10, “of” the city or region and, ideally, a bit offbeat, please snap a photo and send it along. Your souvenir may be featured on a future edition of Souvenir Sunday.

Categories: Airport shops, Shopping, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs
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The 2010 Winter Olympics will soon wind down and the media, the sports fans, the athletes, and those cute mascots will be clearing out.   Everyone will certainly want some souvenirs to take home and what better place to get them than at the airport?

Several Olympics-only stores at the Vancouver International Airport (YVR) have been selling Olympics souvenirs for about a year. Every non-Olympics store in the airport has been allowed to stock Olympics souvenirs as well.  So on this last weekend of the 2010 Winter Olympics, we’ll do our Souvenir Sunday shopping at YVR.

A great first choice in the under $10 category (our budget for Souvenir Sunday):  pins.

Buying and trading Olympic-themed pins seems to be an official sport now and the airport not only sells the pins but has a special pin-trading area set up in the terminal.

The now-famous $10 red mittens are also for sale the airport.  I bought several pairs of them when I visited YVR before the games and now wish I’d bought a few more.

This can of maple syrup is adorable, but it weighs in at over three ounces so don’t try taking it home in your carry-on.  Consider instead these cute Olympic-themed cold packs, which could come in handy as you begin training for the next Winter Olympics.

Have you found a great souvenir while stuck at the airport?  We’d love to see it!  If it’s under $10 or less, “of” the city or region and, ideally a bit offbeat, please snap a photo and send it along. It may end up featured on Souvenir Sunday.

Categories: Shopping, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs
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Souvenir Sunday is coming up tomorrow, so if you’re at an airport today and find a great souvenir that’s under $10, “of” the city or region, and sort of offbeat, please snap a photo and send it along.

In the meantime, today is Snack Saturday, in honor of something unique I came across while researching a story about service at very small airports.

While telling me about the outdoor observation deck (officially “The Promenade”) and the other charms of the New Bedford Regional Airport (EWB) in Massachusetts, airport manager Ed DeWitt let slip that the airport is also home to what he believed to be a “rare” vending machine dispensing Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream.

Rare?  Well, sure enough, it is.  Joseph Beaudette, the owner of Scoopless Ventures, told me that he’s placed some of these vending machines in colleges and other places in New England, but that the New Bedford Regional airport is indeed the only airport in the country that has a Ben & Jerry’s vending machine.

And here’s a twist: while at many airports ice-cream, coffee, and just about everything else costs more than it does in your neighborhood, Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream purchased from the vending machine at New Bedford Regional Airport is about 20% less expensive than at most convenience stores or carts.  And, says Beaudette, “These machines hold twelve different flavors.”

Do you have a favorite snack you indulge in when you’re stuck at the airport?  Tell us about it!  Before you scarf it down, take a picture and send it along to us here at StuckatTheAirport.com.

We’re thinking about making Snack Saturday a regular dish.

Categories: Airport shops, Food, Snack Saturday, Souvenir Sunday
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Lufthansa pilots have scheduled a four day strike beginning on Monday, February 22, 2010.  Negotiations are currently underway, but if those talks fail to avert the strike, the carrier will be forced to cancel most of its flights. And that will leave passengers stuck at the airport.

The upside? If you do end up spending more time than you planned at a German airport, you’ll be able to find plenty of things to do.

Munich Airport, for example, has an outdoor observation deck and a great indoor/outdoor beer garden with an on-site brewery.

The Hamburg Airport also has observation decks as well as the Airport Model Exhibition – a miniature version of the airport complete with buildings, taxiways, runways, landing strips, and 8,000 light-emitting diodes that light up the tiny airport’s night sky – all on a scale of 1:500.

And at the Dusseldorf, Munich, Hamburg, and Berlin airports you’ll also find Lufthansa WorldShop stores, which offer a promising spot to do some Souvenir Sunday shopping.

The airline recently opened its second WorldShop store at the Frankfurt Airport (Terminal 1, Area B) and, like the others; the store is filled with travel items, backpacks, travel accessories, electronics, model aircraft, toys, and some other fun stuff.  Shoppers can earn Miles & More award miles for items purchased here and – here’s a nice twist – also buy items using accumulated miles.

I’m especially taken with this A380 Cookie Jar

The cool container sells for about $107 – or 22,000 miles, so we can’t make it our pick for Souvenir Sunday, which usually has an upper limit of $10.  But poking around the WorldShop catalog I did find this cute guy, which sells for 9 Euros (about $12) or 7500 miles.

But since this is Souvenir Sunday and do we have that under $10 rule (which may need to be re-adjusted soon for inflation..),  we offer these items sent along by the folks at Virginia’s Richmond International Airport(RIC), where a variety of local museums are represented in the  Hudson News store in the airport’s Atrium area, next to the security screening checkpoint for Concourse B.

These items are from the Edgar Allan Poe Museum

(Beer mugs! )

(Poe action figure – with removable raven! )

Have you found a great souvenir while stuck at the airport? If it’s under $10, “of” the city or region and, ideally, a bit offbeat, please snap a photo and send it along. It may show up as our pick for a future Souvenir Sunday.

Categories: Airport shops, Airports, Bars, Fun Stuff, Layover, Museums, Observation Decks, Shopping, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs
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Airlines canceled thousands of flights this week way ahead of the snow, but a lot of people still spent a lot of time stuck at the airport.

Some travelers fumed, others took it in stride. And a lot of folks at Denver International Airport used their time to check out the art.

Denver airport’s art collection includes  26 site specific murals, sculptures and installations, as well as exhibit spaces that feature changing exhibitions.

Even better: the airport has a glossy brochure that offers a self-guided tour of all the artwork.

Here at StuckatTheAirport.com we’re big fans of free, and because the brochure is so helpful – and free! – we’re choosing it as our Souvenir Sunday pick for this week.

Have you found a great souvenir while being stuck at the airport? If its’ under $10, “of” the city or region and, ideally, a bit offbeat, please snap a photo and send it along.  Your souvenir may be featured on Souvenir Sunday.

Oh – and Happy Valentine’s Day!  If you see someone proposing at the airport, please snap a photo, get the details and let us know about that too!

Categories: Art, Souvenir Sunday
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