Souvenir Sunday

Souvenir Sunday at Portland International Airport – again

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It’s Souvenir Sunday – the day StuckatTheAirport.com takes a look at the fun, inexpensive and locally-linked items for sale at airports.

Last Sunday, I shared some of the items I spotted at the Pendleton Store at Portland International Airport (PDX).

This week I’ve got a few more PDX finds to share.

PDX Moonstruck

Portland-based Moonstruck Chocolates were among the many regionally-created chocolates for sale at the Made In Oregon Shop, which also had a great section of locally-brewed beers, including this very unusual Voodoo Doughnut-inspired chocolate, peanut butter and banana ale.

PDX VOODOO DOUGHNUT ALE

And, rare among airport book shops, Powell’s Book had a good selection of used books for sale.

PDX Powells used books

Do you poke around the shops when you’re stuck at the airport? If you find a fun, locally-linked item that strikes your fancy, please snap a photo and send it along. If your souvenir is featured on Souvenir Sunday, I’ll send you a travel-related souvenir.

Souvenir Sunday at Portland International Airport

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PDX_Oregon Tablecloth

It’s Souvenir Sunday and time to take a look at some of the fun, inexpensive, locally-linked items you can find when you’re stuck at the airport.

This week’s treasures come from Oregon’s Portland International Airport (PDX), which I visited while trying to collect on all the offers included in the Portland Passport that Travel Portland is offering visitors as a perk with hotel rooms booked through its site from now through April 1st. The freebies include tasty treats such as a cream doughnut from Voodoo Doughnuts (their slogan is “The magic is in the hole.”) and a YouCanHasCheeseburger from Brunch Box, one of the 500 or so food carts in a city known now as “Food Cart Heaven.”

PDX Brunch box

For some reason, a plate of meatballs from the cafeteria at IKEA is one of the items on the passport. And while I don’t eat meat, (they offered a nice Greek salad instead) I was all too happy to make the trek out there because IKEA is just one stop on the MAX light rail before the airport.

Portland International Airport is one of my favorite airports partly because I used live nearby, but also because among the many amenities it offers is a pre-security shopping street with outlets from some of the city’s most popular local stores. And because in Oregon, there is no sales tax.

I found the Oregon-themed table cloth pictured up top at the airport’s Pendleton store, which carries a wide variety of iconic Pendleton apparel and blankets as well a nice variety of accessories and items for children.

PDX_Pendleton stuffed animals

A bit out of my price range at $185 but, as another shopper was quick to point out, definitely offered at market price, were these Dr. Martens boots, a cool collaboration between the two companies.

PDX_PendltetonDocMartens

Do you poke around the shops when you’re stuck at the airport? If so, please be on the look-out for items that are fun, inexpensive and “of” the city or region. If you do, please snap a photo and send it along. If your airport souvenir is featured on StuckatTheAirport.com, I’ll send you a travel souvenir.

pdx thermos

Souvenir Sunday: Lobstermania at Halifax Int’l Airport

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It’s Souvenir Sunday, a day to celebrate some of the fun, local and, hopefully, inexpensive souvenirs you can pick up when you’re stuck at the airport.

This week’s souvenirs come to us from the Halifax Stanfield International Airport (YHZ) in Nova Scotia.

Halifax Lobsters

At this busy Canadian airport, Clearwater Seafoods offers a wide variety of live and cooked lobsters for travelers to take home with them, along with Nova Scotia scallops and smoked salmon.

According to shop manager Michelle Porter, during the busiest parts of the tourist season (spring, summer and fall), hundreds of pounds of fresh lobster are delivered to the airport daily and the shop packs them up for passengers to take with them as carry-on luggage.

Halifax lobster prices

“We do recommend passengers carry their lobsters with them. Our Lobster can be checked if you’d prefer but we cannot guarantee that they will make it to their destination,” said Porter.

For travelers who would rather not travel with live or cooked lobsters, Clearwater Seafoods also sells lobster gummy candy and these adorable stuffed lobsters, which come in sizes large ($10.99) and small ($7.99).

halifax lobster stuffed toy

Do you poke around the shops when you’re stuck at the airport? If you find something that’s fun, inexpensive and “of” the city or region, please snap a photo, take some notes and them along. If your souvenir is featured on StuckatTheAirport.com, I’ll send you a travel-related souvenir.

Souvenir Sunday – favorites from 2012

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It’s always fun to go poking through the shops when you’re stuck at the airport. For Souvenir Sunday, here are some fun chocolate items we found at airports and air travel-related events this year. More tomorrow….

United Airlines white chocolate

This white chocolate airplane a tempting treat at the International Flight Services Association exhibition, held in Long Beach this year.

 

Chocolate Bull one

To celebration the Calgary Stampede’s 100th anniversary, Calgary International Airport had this almost life-size, 880-pound, all chocolate bull on display. They planned to shellac it and bring it back next year.

hersheys-kisses-chocolate

For Valentine’s Day, the Food & Shops at LaGuardia Airport’s Terminal B gave out chocolate kisses to travelers.

 

Souvenir Sunday: scratch and crumple travel gifts

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Don’t tell my friends and family, but pretty much everyone on my list – including me – is getting some sort of scratch or crumple map from me this year.

Yes, everyone is happy to have Google maps back on their iPhones, but these crumpled/stuff-able city maps seems like they’d be loads of fun. They’re printed on some sort of fibrous, rip-resistant, waterproof material and are available for New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Barcelona and Tokyo for about $20 each.

Some people keep a number tally of how many countries they’ve been to; this scratch-off map let’s them keep a visual tally. About $24.

I found these – and lots of other map and travel-related goodies that will end up in gift boxes this year -on the Uncommon Goods site, although I suspect you’ll also find these items in some other on-line and ‘in-person’ stores as well.

Now.. back to shopping..

Souvenir Sunday: scorpion pop from Tucson Int’l Airport

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It’s Souvenir Sunday – the day when StuckatTheAirport.com takes a moment to celebrate the fun, inexpensive and local souvenirs for sale at airports.

This week’s souvenir comes to us courtesy of David Parker Brown, of AirlineReporter.com, who recently visited Tucson International Airport. 

The airport’s holiday entertainment line-up includes performances by bands and orchestras from local middle and high schools and you’ll find some great art pieces scattered around.

And, if you stop to do a bit of shopping, you’ll come across these lollipops with scorpions inside.

Thanks, David, for snapping this photo for Souvenir Sunday.

Souvenir Sunday needs you: if you find something for sale at an airport that’s fun, inexpensive, “of” the city or region and a bit offbeat, please snap a photo and send it along. If your souvenir is featured on Souvenir Sunday, I’ll send you a travel-related thank-you gift.

Souvenir Sunday: cardboard airport from Heathrow

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Dancing Turkeys at Heathrow Airport. Courtesy Andy Catterall

These dancing turkeys were spotted at Heathrow Airport on Thanksgiving Day and luckily they didn’t gobble up all the cool souvenirs to be found in the shops, such as this cardboard airport.

The package says this is for kids and I bought two sets, for about $9 each. One I tried to put together – and failed. But the one pictured here I’m saving as a thank-you ‘prize’ for the next reader whose photo nomination of an airport souvenir that’s inexpensive, local and bit offbeat is featured here on StuckatTheAirport.com.

Souvenir Sunday: Kangaroo jerky at Melbourne Airport

Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs,

It’s Souvenir Sunday, the day that we take a look at the offbeat and inexpensive souvenirs you can find at airports.

This week’s souvenir comes from my good buddy Roz Sobel, who found Kangaroo Jerky for sale -spicy! – at Australia’s Melbourne Airport, which has a golf course next door that advertises a “feature” hole (the 16th)  that places players less than 200 feet below the flight paths of aircraft, “including the daily flights of 747s,” and a nearby pet hotel offering luxury suites with TVs.

Have you found a great souvenir at an airport? If it’s fun, inexpensive and “of” the city or region, please snap a photo and send it along to StuckatTheAirport.com. If your souvenir is featured on Souvenir Sunday, I’ll send you a special travel souvenir.

Souvenir Sunday: chocolate airplanes & Aeroflot give-aways

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I’m still snacking on the packaged samples and sorting through the screen cleaners and assorted geegaws I picked up in Long Beach, Calif. last month while attending the APEX (Airline Passenger Experience Association) Expo and discovering the adjacent exhibit hall for IFSA, the International Flight Services Association.

Here are two items I wish I could have taken home as souvenirs: a white chocolate airplane and a sampling of the toys and games Aeroflot hands out to its youngest passengers.