Wheeled suitcases are favored by travelers for their maneuverability.
But during Octoberfest season, a Munich Airport (MUC) installation is proving that wheeled suitcases can also make music.
Sponsored by German brewery Paulaner, the SoundTrack installation between Terminals 1 and 2 at Munich Airport is a walkable track made of acrylic glass with milled grooves.
If a traveler walks along the track with their wheeled suitcase and sets their stride to a strip of lights, the tones made by the wheels on the track will ‘play’ the melody of the well-known Oktoberfest song Ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit. During Oktoberfest, whenever the tune is heard, festival participants are supposed to raise their mugs.
The installation works a bit like a record player, with the wheels of the suitcase serving as the ‘needle’ that reads the grooves on the record.
Click on the video below to see how the Suitcase Soundtrack was made and how it works.
Airports, airlines
offer holiday cheer for stressed out flyers.
This holiday season you’ll likely find long lines at security checkpoints, crowded gate areas and fully packed planes. But you’ll also get holiday treats, fun activities and perks. We’re updating our list.
Through December 26, more than 110,000 square feet of covered space between Terminals 1 and 2 is once again transformed into a pineforest surrounding a giant ice rink.
The market also includes more than 40 booths offering handicrafts and traditional Christmas treats, live music, kid’s activities and free ice-skating.
At London’s Heathrow Airport, British Bake Off winner Candice Brown and food artist Michele Wibowo teamed up to create a giant gingerbread model of the entire airport. Look for the airport terminals, the runways, control towers and thousands of details and decorations.
Fans of the airport’s popular and heartwarming series of holiday ads will even spot miniature versions of stuffed bears Doris and Edward Bair.
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport is holding a pop-up Holiday Marketplace from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. on December 18, 20 and 21.
Vendors will be offering many “made in Cleveland” and “made in Ohio” goods in the Main Terminal Food Court and on Concourses A, B and C.
For most of December, diners at OTG’s Marathi Indian restaurant in Terminal 1 at Toronto Pearson InternationalAirport will receive complimentary spice kits and a recipe for Chicken Biryani.
Marathi’s chef, Paul George, hails from India and is well known for his specially-curated spice blends. His spice blend for Chicken Biryani includes Fennel seed, Shaijeera, Cumin, Cashmirchilies, Black cardamom, Green cardamom, Cinnamon, Cloves, Javathri, Nutmeg,Bay leaf, Star anise, Black peppercorn and Poppy seed.
The selfie-friendly Snoopy statue on the mall at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is wearing a festive sweater this season, complete with 3D decorations, crocheted by local textile guilds.
And through January 6, Denver International Airport is offering free ice-skating with free skate rentals on the plaza between the main terminal and airport Westin. To keep spectators and skaters warm, there’s free hot chocolate and cider beginning at noon on Fridays.
Alaska Airlines will celebrate National Ugly Sweater Day on December 21 by offering early boarding on all Alaska and Horizon Air flights to any passenger wearing a festive holiday sweater.
Alaska Airlines offers early boarding on Dec. 21 for guests wearing holiday sweaters.
And bonus: United Airlines will be giving 2,500 bonus award miles to passengers who will ‘miss’ December 25 because they’re booked on the carrier’s seven international flights that depart on December 24, but don’t arrive at their destinations until December 26.
In honor of LGBTQ Heritage Month, and in celebration of this weekend’s 2018 Los Angeles Pride Parade, Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) is setting the lights on the iconic entrance pylons at LAX to red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet – the colors of the pride rainbow flag.
They’ve also updated the icons on the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and Van Nuys Airport (VNY) social media accounts to reflect support for Pride Month.
“At Los Angeles World Airports we are proud to join with Mayor Garcetti and the city family to celebrate LA Pride and promote the message that everyone is welcome in Los Angeles and to our airports,” said Trevor Daley, Deputy Executive Director for External Affairs, LAWA. “On behalf of the entire LAX family, we stand strong with the LGBTQ community locally and throughout the world.”
July 20th is the 40th anniversary of the moon landing and there will be loads of celebrations and commemorations around the country. You can read about many of the events on the NASA Web site, but two events of special note are the Summer Moon Festival in Wapakoneta, Ohio (Neil Armstrong’s home town) and Splashdown 2009, on the USS Hornet, the ship tasked with plucking the Columbia capsule containing the three astronauts out of the Pacific Ocean.
The Summer Moon Festival (July 13 -20, 2009) seems especially intriguing, because in addition to the World’s Largest Moon Pie, the town is promising visitors that they’ll get to see (and nibble on?) a life-size statue of an astronaut made entirely of, you guessed it, cheese.
This “sample” cheese astronaut is “just” 40 pounds, but I’m sure you get the picture…
(Photo courtesy The Cheese Lady: www.sarahcheeselady.com)
The USS Hornet’s Splashdown 2009 event (July 23-26) will be fun as well, especially if they display this photo of then President Richard Nixon telling jokes to the astronauts while they were in a quarantine capsule (in case they had “moon germs”) on the USS Hornet.
Photo from the book Hornet Plus Three: The Story of the Apollo 11 Recovery, by Bob Fish.
