Souvenirs

Souvenir Sunday: airline-branded gifts

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Getting ready to start shopping for the road warriors in  your life?

Don’t forget the on-line web pages for airline and aviation gear, including model airplanes, travel gear, gadgets and a variety of fun and offbeat items.

In the United Shop, you’ll find all manner of Polaris-related items, including those comfy Saks Fifth Avenue duvets ($59.99) and upcycled messenger bags made from banners that advertise Polaris service.

The Delta Shop has lots of apparel, toys, drinkware and other branded items, including this Boeing 717 1/100 model, which sells for $350.

And the Alaska Airlines shop sells everything from branded golf balls, glassware and apparel to model airplanes and a pilot hat for kids.

 

Not a fan of these airlines?  Check the website of your favorite carrier and there’s likley to be a section for swag.

 

Phoenix Sky Harbor has a holiday gift catalog

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I’m a big fan of doing all my holiday shopping at airports and this year Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport has made it super easy and ultra-enticing to head there to get presents for everyone on my list.

The airport has created its own holiday catalog featuring items available in the shops at Sky Harbor. Flip through the catalog and you’ll see the price, airport shop name and location listed with each gift idea.

Arizona-centric and local gifts are featured and you’ll find items from local retailers such as Bunky Boutique and Roosevelt Row, holiday cookies from Tammie Coe and growlers of local craft beer from O.H.S.O Brewery.

There’s even a page featuring cactus candy and a variety of Arizona-themed chocolate ‘poop’.

It is only Tuesday, but this airport holiday catalog is definitely in the running for Airport Amenity of the Week.

 

Souvenir Sunday at Honolulu’s Daniel Inouye Airport

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It’s Souvenir Sunday – a day to look at some of the inexpensive, locally-themed gifts you can find when you’re stuck at the airport.

Here are just a few Hawaii classics  from Honolulu’s Daniel Inouye International Airport:

 

 

Next time you find a charming or unusual locally-themed item for sale at an airport, snap a photo and send it along. If your item is featured on Stuck at The Airport, you’ll receive a special souvenir.

Snoballs and a 747 at San Francisco Int’l Airport

Food, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs,

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By rights, I should save these for Souvenir Sunday, when this blog – StuckatTheAirport – features neat treats you can buy at airports.

But I’m not so sure about where to categorize these

I found them for sale in a shop at San Francisco International Airport on my way to United’s 747 Farewell flight.

The shop I passed lured me in  – and kept me looking – with all manner of true locally-made gourmet treats, including coffee and chocolate.

Then I found these “old fashioned” Hostess Snoballs and Twinkies.

I almost bought them to put on a shelf somewhere and test that “never goes bad” rumour, but passed.

But I didn’t go home souvenir-less.

When I boarded Flight 747 for United Airline’s farewell flight for its final 747 I found this on my seat, filled with some other “old” food (Pop Rocks, for one..) and a few other back-to-the-70s souvenirs.

 

 

Souvenir Sunday at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

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

This week’s treats come from one of my favorites: Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.

 

 

 

If you find a great souvenir at an airport, please snap a photo and send it along. It may be featured on a future edition of Souvenir Sunday here on StuckatTheAirport.com.

Souvenir Sunday at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport

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Etsy at an airport?  We’re used to finding Etsy artists and their wares on line. But there’s an Etsy shop filled with Texas-made treasures inside the new United terminal at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.

And since it is Souvenir Sunday – the day we look some of the fun, inexpensive and locally-themed items you can buy at airports – here are some more snaps of items I spotted at IAH during a recent visit.

 

(Why is this flavor of Skinny Pop not sold in my town??)

And… (bonus!) here’s the Souvenir Sunday pick from IAH from my last time through:

At one Italian airport pesto is exempt from liquid ban

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Here’s a great – and tasty – airport amenity:

Italy’s Genoa airport has come up with great way to encourage – and allow – passengers to carry  jars of pesto in their carry-on bags, despite the ban on pastes and liquids that would normally cause those souvenirs to be forfeited.

Under the airport’s new Il Pesto è Buono (pesto is good) campaign, departing passengers may carry one or two jars of pesto in their carry-on bags on direct flights leaving the airport, but only if those bags have a “Il pesto è buono” sticker on them – which can be ‘purchased’ by making a donation of a least 50 cents a jar to a children’s charity called Flying Angels .

Here are some of the program’s rules for flying with pesto:

  • At the security checks, the passenger will have to extract the jars from the luggage and place them aside in the bowl, informing the security staff
  • The jars will be checked and then returned to the passenger
  • This process is only valid for jars containing “pesto genovese.”

An airport press officer told The Independent that the airport worked out the program with ENAC, Italy’s civil aviation authority, and chose pesto “Firstly because jars of pesto were among the most commonly confiscated objects at airport security, and also because pesto is the most famous food product of Genoa – it’s one of the symbols of the city, every Genoese family has their own recipe, and it’s one of the most famous sauces in the world.

This is definitely the airport amenity of the week!

Fiesta Friday: Found at Cancun Int’l Airport

Shopping, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs, ,

It’s been a very long time since I’ve traveled through Cancun International Airport and last time I was there the shops and restaurant offerings were sort of pitiful.

But, things have definitely changed.  Not only is there a now-classic, giant Duty Free shop, but a fair number of shops offering Mexican candies and snacks.

 

And, here’s a classic to add to my running list of chocolate ‘poop’ for sale at airports.

 

Spotted at United’s Terminal C at Newark Liberty Airport

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This week I had the pleasure of touring the restaurants and shops at United’s Terminal C at Newark Liberty International Airport with Eric Brinker from OTG, the company that has been transforming traditional airport concourses into snazzy iPad-adorned destinations.

Stay tuned for a more detailed report on what’s there- and especially what’s about to be there – but as it’s Friday I wanted to share these two pictures of items I spotted on my tour.

Above are some fun candies sold alongside vinyl records and turntables at the gift shop next to the CBGB L.A.B.

Below, LEGO airplanes you can buy with cash – or United airlines miles – at the Miles Shop inside the terminal. You can also use your miles to pay for food and drinks purchased in the terminal.