The Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is one of them. 

The terminal offers free wireless Internet access and is home to the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame and an impressive display of Alaska Native Art.

photo courtesy Kathy Gronau

Photo courtesy Kathy Gronau

It’s been a while since I’ve been up there, but I’m planning to head that way soon.

If for no other reason than to wander the terminal checking out the airport’s collection of taxidermy Black Bears, Kodiak Brown Bears, Polar Bears and a Musk Ox.

Who says airports must be boring?

If you’re curious about what happens in museums, zoos, aquariums and offbeat attractions after hours you’re in luck.  For a slide show on Bing Travel – Critter Campouts – I found plenty of places where you can camp with critters, sleep with fishes and dream with dinosaurs.

(Courtesy Georgia Aquarium)

Since then, I’ve found even more. For example, it turns out you and your friends can spend the night at the Titan Missle Museum in Sahuarita, Arizona.

(Courtesy Arizona Aerospace Foundation)

For the Bing Critter Campouts show, I was able to squeeze in 11 sleepover sites.  Some of them are just for kids. A few set aside a few nights for adults-only overnights. But most are open to families, making them an unusual alternative to at least one night in a hotel during a vacation.

Here are just two of my favorites:

Do shrunken heads snore? Do two-headed taxidermy cows moo in their sleep?

Brave souls can find out during a night inside Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Extreme Sleepover at the Times Square Odditorium in New York or at the Bedtime with the Bizarre overnights at Ripley’s outlets in Williamsburg, VA, Gatlinburg, TN, Grand Prairie, TX and several other locations. Make it to morning and you’ll get to take home a “Survivor” certificate.

And on June 30^th, after the San Francisco Giants play the LA Dodgers at AT&T Park, 400 fans will get to race into the outfield to pitch tents for the 8^th annual San Francisco Giants Slumber Party.

Evening activities include baseball, of course, as well as movies, peanuts, popcorn and pizza, games, goody bags, photos on the field and a chance to get autographs from former baseball stars.

For more surprising sleepovers, see my Critter Campouts slide show on Bing Travel.

At the John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Santa Ana, Ca., work by Anna Friesen will be on display through June 10, 2010 in the pre-security departure (upper) level near the security screening areas and on the arrival (lower) level near baggage carousels 1 and 4.

At Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) “a cornucopia of art” by artists from the Pump Project Art Complex are on display through June 24, 2010 in the East Airside Gallery, post-security by the Austin Article bookstore.

The work includes Matt Wester’s Mercy and Jai Cochran’s Double Arch.

Jai Cochran Double Arch

And here’s an interesting event for baseball fans: the Grand Prairie AirHogs have teamed up with FlyerRights.org (Kate Hanni’s air passengers’ rights organization) for a “Hogs Fly Free” night on Wednesday, June 2nd at QuikTrip Park in Grand Prairie, Texas.

In a press release that had me checking to see if it was April 1st, the Air Hogs announced that on June 2nd they’d be taking a cue from Spirt Airlines and Ryanair and charging “carry-in” fees for purses, backpacks, blankets, jackets and anything larger than the size of a baseball and also charging fans for each visit to the restroom.

They’re joking of course.  A long list of “Hogs Fly Free” Fee Exemptions says all fees are voluntary and any money collected will be donated to FlyersRights.org. Cute!

At San Francisco International Airport (SFO), there’s always that old standby – sourdough bread.

Souvenirs from SFO

The bread could come in quite handy if you find yourself in need of something to gnaw on during a long delay.   But if you know any sports fans, the under-$10 category also offers these cute options:

The Cal Bear is sort of cute, even if you’re not a sports fan.

Have you found a fun souvenir while stuck at the airport? If it’s under $10, “of” the city or region and sort of offbeat, please take a photo and send it along. Your souvenir may end up featured on a future edition of Souvenir Sunday.

(Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards at the world’s largest ski jump inside an airport)

Airports around the world are marking this year’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver with special exhibits.

Yesterday, the Reno Tahoe International Airport (RNO) opened an Olympics museum inside the terminal.

This past weekend, Düsseldorf  International Airport trucked in tons of snow to make the world’s largest indoor ski jump at an airport.

And now the Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) has a new exhibit, Champions on Ice and Snow, that pays tribute to athletes who have represented Canada at the Winter Olympics.

The exhibit includes skates worn by Kurt Browning, a four-time World Champion figure skater, skis that belonged to alpine skier Anne Heggtveit, and a reproduction of a sweater, hat and mittens worn by “Canada’s Sweetheart” Barbara Ann Scott, who won a gold medal in figure skating in 1948.  Life-size action photos of athletes such as a speed-skatering Gaétan Boucher, who won three medals at the 1984 Winter Olympics, are also included.

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Look for Champions on Ice and Snow at Toronto’s Pearson Interational Airport in Terminal 1, near Gate 120, domestic departures, through June, 2010,

The folks at Alaska Airlines are.

Today (Tuesday, February 2, 2010), airline representatives will be at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) and Portland International Airport (PDX) asking passengers to help cheer on speed skater and Pacific Northwest native Apolo Ohno by “Apolo-izing” themselves with free stick-on Apolo Ohno ‘soul patches.’

And don’t worry if you’re not planning to be at either of those airports on Tuesday.

Like the folks pictured above, you can go on-line and “Apolo-ize’ yourself anytime with the handy Apolo-ize tool.

It’s particularly exciting out at the airport.

Vancouver International Airport will be the first stop for more than 230,000 Olympics-bound athletes, officials, coaches, support teams and out-of-town visitors, and it is taking its role as the city’s front door very seriously.

Vancouver International Airport officials have been traveling to other Games to get a first-hand view of how airports handled the onslaught of athletes and spectators. And the airport prep team has gathered tips and advice from airport officials in Sydney, Salt Lake City, Athens and other cities that have hosted previous Olympics events.

Find out what Vancouver Airport learned about selling souvenirs, security, and how to handle the biggest Olympics travel day – the day after the closing ceremonies, when everyone tries to go home – in my column Vancouver Airport puts on its Games Face, on MSNBC.com.

This past December, right before Christmas, Germany’s Düsseldorf International Airport (DUS) hosted a circus competition in the shopping arcade with contortionists,  jugglers and trapeze artists.

Now comes word that on February 6^th and 7^th, 2010, the airport shopping arcade will be the site of the world’s first airport indoor ski jump.

They’ll be trucking in a heap-o-snow and making a real ski jump.  Then, they’ll have snowboarders and ski stars perform all sorts of stunts.

They’ve even drafted former British Olympic ski jumper Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards to open the event.

Edwards was the somewhat inept skier who somehow made it to the 1988 Calgary Games.

And although he finished last in his events, he became a goofy, folk hero.

In addition to the ski jump demonstrations, the airport will be hosting a travel show and offering  sports demos, comedy and musical performances, and free airport flights and tours.

Can’t wait to see what they come up with next!

We want Wi-Fi

Slowly but surely airports large and small are getting with the program and making free wireless Internet access available in the terminals.

The latest major airport to join the party: Boston Logan International Airport (BOS).

Hooray!

Packing tips from Olympic athletes

Curious about what some Olympic athletes do when they’re traveling – or getting ready to travel? Them you may in interested in the video clips the folks at VISA (a 2010 Olympics sponsor) have posted of athletes talking about what they pack, how they prep for a trip, how skier Ryan St. Onge just had to have an airport burrito, and what Olympic Hockey player Angela Ruggiero packs in her carry-on.

Just as interesting, is the fact that the credit card company is giving away a trip to the Olympics – for life. To enter, you just need to charge something on a VISA card.

Seat tax on Air France for Seatmates of Size

And, just a day after announcing that it was introducing “the lightest and most comfortable short-haul seat in the world,” on some of its planes, Air France announced that passengers who cannot fit into a single seat (on any Air France flight) will have to pay for a second seat – at 75% of the cost of the first seat.

The new policy applies to tickets purchased beginning February 1^st for flights April 1^st and beyond.

Think the new rules may apply to you? Here’s the policy for Passengers with High Body Mass.

What do you think? Should seatmates of size be asked to pay for more than one seat?

Seattle is pretty proud of Apolo Anton Ohno, who began his speed-skating career here when he was just 14 and went on to win numerous world and national championships and five Olympic medals.  (Oh yeah, he was also on the Dancing with the Stars TV show.)

Now he’s getting ready for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics games.

To cheer him on, Alaska Airlines has painted one of its Boeing 737-800 with a giant image of Ohno and, during the unveiling yesterday at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, handed out Ohno trading card, copies of Ohno’s signature bandana, and press-on faux facial hair (in honor of Ohno’s infamous “soul patch.”) .

Sadly, I missed that gala event, but like everyone else I can now “Follow Apolo” on a special web site that will track his progress.