Celebrities

When you’re stuck at the airport think: What would Dr. Seuss do?

Celebrities, History

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Photo courtesy the Springfield Museum

Today, March 2nd, is the birthday of Theodor Geisel, the author and illustrator better known to all of us as Dr. Seuss.

In addition to classics such as “The Cat in the Hat” and “Green Eggs and Ham,” he wrote the life/travel advice poem titled “Oh! The Places you’ll go!,” which makes it clear that Seuss knew how easy it is to get stuck at the airport.

You’ll be on your way up!
You’ll be seeing great sights!
You’ll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.

You won’t lag behind, because you’ll have the speed.
You’ll pass the whole gang and you’ll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you’ll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don’ t
Because, sometimes, you won’t.

Here’s a link to the entire poem.

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Sweet Baby James to the rescue at JFK

Celebrities, Music,

I love this story and now I love James Taylor (even more).

According to this story, officers (and I bet they’ll turn out to be fake officers – or soon-to-be unemployed officers) at JFK airport convinced a tourist to give her $140 iPod to a cab driver in lieu of payment for the $49 fare from Manhattan. The woman’s credit card had been declined by the cab’s reader.

After reading about the incident – and the fact that the young woman had lots of James Taylor songs loaded on her music player – the singer decided to buy her a new one.


Air France Pope-plane

Celebrities, Events,

The Pope has popped over to France to commemorate the 150th anniversary of St. Bernadette’s vision of the Virgin Mary.

Lots of folks are pretty excited about this trip, including the folks at Air France. That’s because on Saturday and Monday (September 13th and 15th, 2008) Air France will be transporting Pope Benedict XVI to Lourdes and then flying him home to Rome.

For the event, the airline has rearranged an Airbus A321 with 3 cabins for the Pope, his delegation, and the more than 70 journalists going along for the ride.

Air France says the crew – two pilots and eight flight attendants – will change on each flight, so that the largest number of staff will get to travel with the Pope.

Here’s the itinerary: on Saturday September 13th, the aircraft will take off from Paris-Orly at 4:30 pm and land at Lourdes-Tarbes at 5:50 pm. On Monday September 15th, the aircraft will depart from Lourdes at 1 pm to reach Rome-Ciampino 1 hour and 50 minutes later.

This isn’t the first time a Pope has flown on Air France: Jean Paul II took two flights on an Air France Airbus A310. In September 1996, he travelled from Reims to Rome, after commemorating the 1,500th anniversary of the baptism of Clovis, and from Paris to Rome in August 1997, after the World Youth Day held in France.

The Beatles, Jimmy Durante and more … at JFK

Celebrities, History, , ,

The New York Times has a great slideshow celebrating the earliest days of John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).

Built on “six square miles of swampy sand, part of it the site of a once-fashionable golf course…” in its first few years the airport welcomed everyone from Gregory Peck and Pope Paul VI to, of course, the Beatles!’

(Photo: The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey)

There are more photos here – including Jimmy Durante and Sammy Davis Jr.

Jerry Lewis, guns, and deer

Celebrities, Guns, ,

Actor and comedian Jerry Lewis was on his way to Detroit last Friday when he got nabbed at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas for having a gun in his carry-on baggage.

Maybe he was really on his way to Flint.

According to the Flint Journal, at Flint’s Bishop International Airport recently a “wayward shot” flew by some workers when “a public safety officer at the airport was shooting at a deer that had gotten onto the airport grounds.”

No one was hurt, but the Journal reports that the airport is “developing new rules on how and when wildlife will be cleared from the airport property — including possibly keeping shooters farther away from buildings and limiting shoots during local business hours.”

Good idea.

Jay Leno’s take on the naked American Airlines guy

Celebrities

I’m not sure how Terry Maxon and the folks at the Airline Biz blog do it. But long before the Tonight Show airs out west, they’ve got the (very funny) text of Jay Leno’s take on the American Airlines flight that had to make an emergency landing because a guy took off all his clothes and went running up and down the aisle.

On behalf of those of us who have to get up early in the morning, thanks!

Politics at the airport?

Celebrities, Politics

A while back I wrote a column for USATODAY.com about airports that use celebrity voices to welcome visitors and remind them of security regulations.

Now it seems that Colorado’s Aspen/Pitkin County Airport is considering pulling one of its celebrity announcements – at least until the presidential campaign is over.

According to the Associated Press, someone complained that the airport’s recorded messages made by GOP presidential candidate John McCain “may give him an unfair boost” in the campaign.

Check out the AP report and the original column.

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