Souvenir Sunday

Souvenir Sunday at Anchorage Int’l Airport

Airport shops, Airports, Smoking, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs, ,

It’s Souvenir Sunday – a day to take a look at some of the fun and inexpensive items you can pick up when you’re stuck at the airport.

This week’s treats come from Anchorage International Airport.

From the wide variety of Alaska-linked items for sale in the airport gifts shops, we chose a few favorites, including these tiny figurines of Alaska Bush Babies,

this Alaska sausage with added reindeer meat.

And easy-to-carry, single-serving portions – just $2.95 – of yummy salmon jerky.

Did you find a great souvenir when you were stuck at the airport? If you find something that costs around $10, is somewhat offbeat and “of” the city or region, please take a photo and send it along.

If your souvenir is featured on StuckatTheAirport.com, you’ll get a travel-related souvenir in your mailbox as a thank-you.

Souvenir Sunday: Alaska Aviation Museum

Air Travel, aviation, Aviation history, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs,

The Alaska Aviation Museum in Anchorage, just down the road from the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, may look small from the outside, but don’t let that fool you.

The museum is jam-packed with restored vintage aircraft, flight simulators, two theaters featuring Alaska aviation films and three hangers filled with bush pilot, military aviation and commercial aviation memorabilia, including items related to Alaska Airlines and other airlines integral to a state with limited ground transportation options.

The museum also has an active restoration hanger and a well-stocked aviation-themed gift shop where I found a few Souvenir Sunday treasures, including these stickers –

And this great 3-D float plane puzzle:

Souvenir Sunday: maps

Maps, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs

On Sunday here at StuckatTheAirport.com, we take a look at the fun, inexpensive things you can buy at airports. Things that I find and things that you find.

This week, a few items I wish we could find at airports…

First up, playing cards with maps on them.

On the Muji website I found snazzy-looking map-themed playing cards – London, Paris and Tokyo.

Probably not useful for making your way through a city, but entertaining and easy to pack.

These Crumpled City maps, found on the Palomar site, though would be totally useful.

They are soft, indestructible and invite being crumpled. And they come in a bag.

Available cities: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Chicago, Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Florence, Hamburg, Helsinki, Lisbon, London, Milan, New York, New Zealand (Auckland, Wellington, Queenstown), Oslo, Paris, Rome, San Francisco, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Venice

I want them all!

Souvenir Sunday: socks at the airport

Health, Safety, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs, ,

Every Sunday here at StuckatTheAirport.com, is Souvenir Sunday. The day we look at some of fun, local and inexpensive items you can pick up when you’re hanging around an airport.

But here’s something cheap – free, actually – you can pick at just about any airport that you’d be better off leaving behind: germs.

(MRSA Photo Credit: Janice Haney, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

In working on another topic for next week’s At the Airport column on USATODAY.com, I’ve been e-chatting with a podiatrist who has important advice for anyone heading to the airport wearing flip-flops or sandals: put on socks!

“When the TSA has every single person remove their shoes and stand barefoot in the same place where hundreds of prior people have, you create a scenario where infection has the potential to spread,” warns Dr. Nirenberg. “Persons with fungus, warts or bacterial infections are still told to remove footwear and these could be spread to people who have breaks or fissures in the skin of their feet.”

Ick!

Sure, you want to get through the security line quickly. But when you’re dressing to go to the airport wear put on some socks. If you forget and find yourself standing barefoot on that mat with the white foot outlines on it, your next stop should probably be an airport shop where you can buy yourself an inexpensive pair of souvenir socks.

Souvenir Sunday: Junior Wings

Air Travel, Airlines, family travel, Fun Stuff, Kids, Kids travel, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs, ,

Each Sunday StuckatTheAirport.com takes a look at the souvenirs you can get when you’re stuck at the airport.

This week, the souvenirs come from the sky, courtesy of Fly the Branded Skies, an airline-focused website that has a section devoted to the junior wings just about every airline used to hand out to young passengers.

Delta and a few other airlines still do hand out junior wings, but instead of metal the modern-day wings are plastic or, in some cases, merely a sticker.

Souvenir Sunday at Beijing International Airport

Air Travel, Airport shops, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs

It’s Souvenir Sunday, the day we celebrate the fun, offbeat and inexpensive items you find yourself buying when you’re stuck at the airport.

This week’s souvenir comes to us courtesy of Michael Crockatt, who works at the Ottowa International Airport (YOW).

He spotted this cute hat at Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK)

A while back Michael sent us a photo of panda hats caps also spotted at PEK, so we’re glad he had a chance to go back for another visit.

If you find a great souvenir at the airport that’s inexpensive (about $10), “of” the city or region and, ideally, a bit offbeat, please snap a photo and send it along. If your photo is featured on Souvenir Sunday, I’ll send you a travel related souvenir as a thank-you.

Souvenir Sunday at San Diego International Airport

Shopping, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs

Last week, as part of the Arts in the Airport conference held in San Diego, I had a chance to join a formal tour of the art collection and temporary art installations at San Diego International Airport.

Along the way, I took a few moments to poke around for souvenirs to share with you for Souvenir Sunday, the day StuckatTheAirport.com features inexpensive, local and somewhat offbeat things you can buy at the airport.

I found this cute ship in a bottle –

And this sweet Padres bear –

But my favorite was this whale-shaped travel purse.  A perfect accessory for a night on the town.

Have you found a great souvenir while you were stuck at the airport? If it’s inexpensive, local and somewhat offbeat, please take a moment to snap a photo and send it it along.
If your photo is featured on StuckatTheAirport.com, you’ll receive a special travel-related souvenir of your own.

 

 

 

Souvenir Sunday at Vancouver Int’l Airport

Air Travel, Airport shops, Airports, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs, ,

Each Sunday here at StuckatTheAirport.com is Souvenir Sunday – the day we look at fun, inexpensive and somewhat offbeat items you can pick up at the airport.

This week’s treats come from Vancouver International Airport.

I found this cute pink octopus at the airport’s Vancouver Aquarium shop:

A souvenir shop offered up these cute moose Mounties –

But my pick for Souvenir Sunday this week are these corny Bear Breath Mints:

Do you poke around the shops when you’re stuck at the airport? If you find something fun, inexpensive (around $10), and “of” the city or region, please snap a photo and send it along.
If your souvenir is featured on Souvenir Sunday, I’ll send you a fun air travel-related gift.

Souvenir Sunday: travelwear from SUX, SEX, GIG, SIN and PEK

Airports, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs, Stuck at the Airport, , , , , ,

Each Sunday the focus here is on fun and offbeat stuff you can buy when you’re stuck at the airport.

This week, we take a look at some fun and offbeat stuff you can buy and take to the airport.

Air Wear, whose products are found on-line and in a shop at Los Angeles International Airport, has a fun line of travel bags, notebooks, coffee mugs and assorted travel accessories bearing logos for airport city codes around the world.

Right now the catalog includes logo-emblazoned items for airports in more than 130 cities. Included on the list are classics such as JFK, SFO and LAX, but GIG (Rio de Janeiro), MAD (Madrid), PEK (Peking) and SEX (Sembach, Germany) are also on the list.

Surprisingly, there’s nothing on the list from Sioux Gateway Airport in Sioux City Iowa, where the airport code is SUX. But that airport has its own line of SUX-memorabilia.

Don’t see your favorite airport on the Air Wear list? Don’t worry. For an extra design fee that’s a smidge less than $10 they’ll put the airport code of your choice on any of their stock items.

Curious about how airports get their codes?

Here’s a fun 300-second explanation from our buddy Kevin Maxwell: