Holiday gift-giving season is coming up and if you’ve got friends or family members who love to travel, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding the perfect present.
One site to try this year: Airportag, which sells throw pillows, coffee mugs, t-shirts, totes and other items with airport city codes and travel-related slogans, such as “Take Me Anywhere” and “I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list” and, my favorite, “Jet Lag Made Me Do It.”
In September 2014, airports in the United States and Canada introduced a line of collectible airport trading cards featuring iconic terminal images on one side and geographic information, facts, figures and historical information on the back.
There are now more than 60 airports with their own trading cards and this week Lambert-St. Louis International, one of the project’s launch airports, helped kick off the second year of the program by introducing a new version of its card.
The trading cards are free for the asking and many airports have a stash of them at information booths inside the terminals.
The website for the North American Airport Trading Cards series has images of the cards in the series and a map showing where those airports are located.
Here’s a current list of participating airports:
Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport (Illinois)
Airlake Airport (Minnesota)
Allegheny County Airport (Pennsylvania)
Anoka County-Blaine Airport (Minnesota)
Asheville Regional Airport (North Carolina)
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (Texas)
Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport (Louisiana)
Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (Toronto)
Bolton Field Airport (Ohio)
Boston Logan International Airport (Massachusetts)
Calgary International Airport (Calgary)
Cecil Airport (Florida)
Charlotte Douglas International Airport (North Carolina)
Chicago Midway (Illinois)
Chicago O’Hare (Illinois)
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (Ohio)
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (Ohio)
Crystal Airport (Minnesota)
Dane County Regional Airport (Wisconsin)
Detroit Metropolitan Airport (Detroit)
Edmonton International Airport (Alberta)
El Paso International Airport (Texas)
Elmira-Corning Regional Airport (New York)
Fairbanks International Airport (Alaska)
Flying Cloud Airport (Minnesota)
Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport (Florida)
Fort McMurray International Airport (Alberta)
General Mitchell International Airport (Wisconsin)
George Bush Intercontinental Airport (Texas)
Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (South Carolina)
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (Georgia)
Indianapolis International Airport (Indiana)
Jacksonville International Airport (Florida)
John Wayne Airport (California)
Kelowna International Airport (British Columbia)
Lake Elmo Airport (Minnesota)
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (Missouri)
Long Beach Airport (California)
Manchester–Boston Regional Airport (New Hampshire)
Mineta San José International Airport (California)
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (Minnesota)
Nashville International Airport (Tennessee)
Orlando International Airport (Florida)
Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (Ontario)
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (Arizona)
Piedmont Triad International Airport (North Carolina)
Pittsburgh International Airport (Pennsylvania)
Port Columbus International Airport (Ohio)
Prince George International Airport (British Columbia)
Raleigh-Durham International Airport (North Carolina)
Regina International Airport (Saskatchewan)
Rickenbacker International Airport (Ohio)
St. Paul Downtown Airport (Minnesota)
Salt Lake City International Airport (Utah)
San Antonio International Airport (Texas)
San Diego International Airport (California)
Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (Florida)
Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport (Georgia)
Southwest Florida International Airport (Florida)
Stinson Municipal Airport (Texas)
Tampa International Airport (Florida)
Toronto Pearson International Airport (Ontario)
William P. Hobby Airport (Texas)
Winnipeg Richardson International Airport (Manitoba)
The Crazy Horse Memorial, in the Black Hills of South Dakota, is a giant mountain carving begun in 1948 by Korczak Ziolkowski as a tribute to the Lakota leader.
Here’s what Ziolkowski had in mind:
Ziolkowski’s plan was to create a carving 641 feet long and 563 feet high, but that’s a really big project and there’s no telling when – or if – his family or the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation will ever get the project done.
So far, only Crazy Horse’s head has been completed, but at 87 feet, 6 inches, that in it itself is pretty darn impressive and more than one million visitors stop by each year to take a look at that and to visit the impressive on-site museums dedicated to Native American art and culture.
Work on the mountain sculpture is moving forward and among the souvenirs visitors can take home are rocks:
To make sure those souvenir rocks make it onto the airplane and back to your home, though, the memorial has a helpful sign to remind you to put the rocks in your checked luggage. And then, presumably, on a scale…
(Photos by Harriet Baskas)
Thousands of people heading to Philadelphia for this weekend’s Papal Visit will be passing through Philadelphia International Airport.
The airport is ready with a special web page of helpful travel information, extra services and, on Monday, September 28, a free Papal Visit luggage tag for anyone who spends $25 or more in participating retail shops.
The Pope will surely have a car service to meet him when he arrives, but everyone else should consider taking the SEPTA train into town. Especially because on Saturday and Sunday your special One Day Papal Pass for travel on the Airport Rail Line will also be a souvenir.
What can you do to entertain yourself on a long flight to say, New Zealand?
Watching movies will fill a few hours. So will sleeping, eating and reading a book. But then what will you do?
Tourism New Zealand suggests you pack your colored pencils in your carry-on and spend some time coloring.
Kids do it all the time, but now that coloring has become the latest stress-reducing, mindfulness-inducing trend for adults, Tourism New Zealand is sharing some lovely line-drawings by New Zealand artist Gabby Malpas to get your started – and get you in the mood for a New Zealand adventure.
There are four free images that can be downloaded here, but to get you started, here’s the Hobbiton (of course) coloring page
Sunday is Souvenir Sunday – a day to take a look at some of the iocally-themed gifts you can buy when you’re stuck at the airport.
This week’s items come from Boston Logan International Airport, where we found lobsters galore:
It’s Souvenir Sunday – the day StuckatTheAirport.com takes a look at the fun, inexpensive, locally-themed items you can find at airport gift shops.
This week’s treat comes from George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, where we spotted these cool spacemen pens on a cart filled with souvenirs inspired by NASA’s Johnson Space Center and Space Center Houston.
During the party held to welcome EVA Air’s new Hello Kitty-themed jet at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport on Friday, a wide variety of Hello Kitty-themed items were on display.
The food and toilet paper were designed to be used on board, but samples likely end up going home as souvenirs (which is probably why there are two rolls in the lavatories). But many other items are available for purchase only on Hello Kitty-themed flights.
Here are some of my favorites. (More to come..)
Hello Kitty barf bag
Each Sunday, Stuck at The Airport takes a look at some of the fun, inexpensive and locally-themed items you can buy when you’re stuck at the airport.
This week’s treat comes from Los Angeles International Airport, where we spotted this great selection of Los Angeles Dodgers gear – a reminder that airports are usually a great place to purchase sports-themed souvenirs from a variety of local teams.
Play ball!
Seeking souvenirs….
We’re seeking more snaps of some of the inexpensive, locally-themed and, ideally, a bit offbeat, souvenirs you can buy at airports. So please take a photo of something you spot (or actually buy) next time you’re stuck at the airport.
If your souvenir is featured here on Souvenir Sunday, we’ll send you a special travel-themed souvenir as a thank-you.
On Sundays Stuck at The Airport takes a look at the souvenirs you can pick up when you’re stuck at the airport. But here’s an example of a “souvenir” one traveler gave to Miami International Airport:
The photo shows a giant version of one of the checks a passenger had to pay Miami International Airport and the Miami -Dade Police Department – for $83,581 and $5,653 respectively – as civil violation fines for making false bomb threats in an airport last October.
According to MIA airport, the threats, which the passenger later said were jokes, shut down parts of MIA for hours, delayed flights and disrupted the travel plans of thousands of passengers.
This is the first time the airport has pursued restitutions for a false threat, but airport officials say it won’t be the last.
And in light of last week’s rash of airline bomb threats – there’s a good chance other airports – and airlines – will be following suit.