If you stop and look around you should be able to find an exhibit case at many airports filled with some of the items the US Fish & Wildlife Service has confiscated from travelers.

(Confiscated wildlife products, JFK. Courtesy US Fish & Wildlife Service)

Sadly, smuggling endangered species – and items made from the parts of endangered species – is big business.  Wildlife inspectors around the country are kept on their toes inspecting cargo shipments and suitcases for everything from bags of writhing snakes to dried sea horses and mounted sea turtles.  And, according to this AP article, Bizarre Finds Normal for Airport Inspectors, last year the inspectors at the airport in Anchorage, Alaska made more seizures than JFK airport in New York.

There’s the case of the women who tried to hide a bear gall in her bra cup; the sad tale of the live monkey shipped with snakes, and the chronic sea horse importer. Every time Chris Andrews opens a package or inspects a passenger in his job as a U.S. Fish and Wildlife inspection officer at Anchorage’s Ted Stevens International Airport, he chances an even more bizarre find…… He says that some of the saddest cases he’s seen involve live animals shipped as cargo, including a monkey in a cage shipped with taped-up snakes. The snakes got loose and killed the monkey.”

Sad, yes; but really sort of fascinating.  The article goes on to mention snake wine, elephant toenails, and jars of bear fat.  I’m not even sure I want to know what these items might be used for, but it’s intriguing to read about how crafty some of these smugglers get with their contraband.

And, speaking of crafty. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) now has those nifty Step ’n Wash units in 72 public restrooms at the airport.

These Step ‘n Wash units are self-retracting steps that are secured beneath restroom sink counters to make it easier for kids to reach the faucets and wash their hands.

Great idea!

Categories: Bathrooms, Smuggling

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

Today marks the grand opening of The Palm Bar & Grille in the pre-security area of Terminal 4 at JFK International Airport , the airport where an air traffic controller is in hot water over letting his kids on the mike in the control tower.

This is the first airport location of the famed New York steakhouse, and it joins a line-up of dining options in Terminal 4 that also includes the first U.S. location for the Seafood Bar by Caviar House & Prunier and two new post-security, sit-down restaurants Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar and Tigin Irish Pub & Restaurant (scheduled to open May 2010).

And down in Texas, the popular Houston-based Pappas Restaurants has just opened Pappasito’s Cantina in Terminal A (by Gate 28) at DFW International Airport. The Tex-Mex menu includes fajitas, enchiladas, tortillas and, of course, margaritas.

Categories: Airports, Alcohol, Food

“Travel/Places,” a new exhibit at Austin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) combines hand-scripted, journey-related quotes with illustrations of places traveled.  10 members of Austin’s Capital City Scribes contributed 12 works to this exhibit, which includes a piece by Abigail Hutchison incorporating the travel quote attributed to Saint Augustine: “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page,” and this piece by Dee Day titled “Gone to Texas.”

You can see – and read – the entire “Travel/Places” exhibit in the Austin airport’s Airside West Gallery,  post-security, on the concourse behind the BookPeople bookstore, across from Gate 11.

Also, if you missed it at the Albuquerque, Pittsburgh or Atlanta airports, you can now see Nancy Judd’s Recycle Runway exhibit at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The exhibit includes dresses and accessories made from items such as aluminum cans, water bottles and junk mail. Highlights include a Rusty Nail dress made of, yes, rusty nails, a Red Glass Gown made of crushed glass, and this Faux Fur coat made of videotape.

Look for the Recycle Runway exhibit in Phoenix Sky Harbor’s Terminal 3 through August 8th.

Categories: Air Travel, Airports, Art

Here’s a nice story I found in this month’s PDXaminer, a newsletter for the people who work at Portland International Airport (PDX)

Two employees from Portland Habilitation Center (PHC), the company that provides the janitorial services at the airport, came up with an idea that does something nice for kids going into foster care while recycling luggage that police have determined is neither lost or stolen, but for one reason or another, abandoned at the airport.

Instead of throwing all that luggage away, the PHC employees donate some pieces to Oregon’s Department of Human Services Foster Child program so a kid who ends up in foster care with his or her belongings in a paper bag can at least have a suitcase where they can keep their stuff.

(Courtesy PDXaminer)

Good thinking!

Categories: Baggage