Here’s a great amenity for families traveling with small children we’re declaring “airport amenity of the week.”
At Denver International Airport (DEN), there’s now a place to rental strollers, car seats and other kid-stuff you might need for your time in the city.
Vea Kids, in the Jeppesen Terminal near passenger arrivals in the center of the Great Hall, not only rents strollers, kid-carrier backpacks and kid tents, they rent “pack n’ play” sets and sell diapers, pacifiers, bottles, organic snacks, wipes and other kid products.
You can order the gear online and the company offers free pick-up and drop-off in the baggage claim area. Here’s a link to a price list. Hours: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Friday, and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays.
For months, a countdown clock and a bed inside the main terminal at Denver International Airport have been reminding travelers that a new Westin hotel was under construction next door.
I’ll be there on Friday for the official ribbon cutting ceremony, but stopped by on Monday for a tour while workers were rushing to ready the hotel for guests.
Signs point to the plaza leading to the hotel and the transit station (which won’t open until April), but the doors don’t yet open.
When the doors do open, travelers will be able to walk directly from the main terminal, across a covered plaza, to the hotel.
Part of the hotel’s commissioned artwork, waving metal blades mimic the grasses of the Colorado plains.
The 6th floor Sky Lobby has a Sky Lounge bar and this open seating area.
The 11th floor pool offers views to downtown Denver – and the mountains beyond.
Denver International is the latest to join the pack of airports with a team of therapy dogs on duty to help relieve stress and anxiety for passengers.
Denver’s crew is called CATS – which stands for Canine Airport Therapy Squad – and each one of the dogs is registered with the Alliance of Therapy Dogs and is trained, certified and insured.
CATS dogs will be easy to spot: they’ll be wearing “Pet Me” vests.
Want a preview? Denver International Airport has a gallery of pooch pictures on line.
It’s Oktoberfest season and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport (CVG), is helping kick off the city’s 40th Annual Oktoberfest Zinzinnati today (Friday, September 18) with Bavarian pretzels, soft-drinks and a band playing polka music between 8 and 10 a.m.
Fritz, the Oktoberfest Wiener Dog Mascot, will also be greeting passengers.
You may still be picking tomatoes from the garden and getting ready for spending Labor Day weekend at the beach, but at Denver International Airport they’re already thinking about snow.
The airport’s annual Aviation Snow Roadeo takes place Wednesday, August 28 and, to compete, airport employees must complete a written test on the rules of the road (and airfield), a diagnostic vehicle inspection and a timed obstacle course.
Before they even get that far, workers complete more than a month of training, including courses on the snow removal plan, priority routes, severe weather awareness and specialized equipment training.
What happens during the snow roadeo?
According to the airport, “obstacles test the operator’s ability to maneuver their vehicles by simulating roadway barriers or hazards. Some are tests of skill and agility that include using the blade under a grader to knock a softball off a holder into a basket, placing a bucket into a barrel with the bucket of a loader, mirror clearance maneuvering, plow target and backing into an alley dock.”
The top three winners in four separate individual and team events go on to compete in the 33rd Annual Western Snow and Ice Conference and National Snow Roadeo in Estes Park, Colorado in September.
It sounds like lots of fun, but let’s all root for everyone competing to do well:
Last year, from October 2012 through May 2013, there were 33 snow ‘events’ at Denver Int’l Airport totaling 78.4 inches of snow. (The year before, there were 24 snow events with a total of 55.6 inches of snow).
So, come winter, the competitors in the “snow rodeo” could be the deciding factor in whether you make that connection in Denver – or end up stuck at the airport.
