Photo from the State Library and Archives of Florida via Flickr Commons
holidays
I tell all to the Roaming Gnome
Travelocity’s Roaming Gnome is a busy fellow. But I’m honored that he took time out to include me in a series of holiday interviews in the Window Seat blog.
RG: Where are you off to this holiday season? New York City? Tahiti? Poughkeepsie?
HB: Our family gathers in a suburb of Washington, D.C., where Christmas morning comes fast on the heels of that age-old holiday tradition: Christmas Eve poker.
RG: As the expert – if you had to be stuck at an airport during the holidays – which one would you choose? (I’d go wherever there’s frozen yogurt!)
HB: As an airport aficionado and creator of StuckatTheAirport.com, nothing pleases me more than being stuck at an airport during the holidays. For people-watching, any airport would fit the bill, but beyond that, I’d want to be somewhere such as Philadelphia International Airport, where there are plenty of shops and usually a good schedule of planned holiday entertainment,
RG: What’s the one thing you can’t travel without? Me- my wit and good looks of course!
HB: I always pack a lightweight silk sleep sack, because especially during the holiday travel season, you just never know where you might end up sleeping. Two other lightweight must-haves: my patience and my sense of humor.
RG: What’s your favorite travel tip? I always say leave early in case there is a line at the airport bar.
HB: I keep an extra $20 bill tucked into a corner of my wallet. It’s my “mad money:” If I get really irritated or weary – or mad – while traveling, I use that $20 to buy myself a frivolous treat.
RG: Brilliant! Mad money could come in handy for my favorite guilty pleasure – airport and travel shopping. (I own a neck pillow in every color.) How many gifts will you be purchasing from SkyMall and/or Hudson News this year?
HB: Oh! For years, I’ve done all my holiday shopping at airports. That used to mean everyone got a shot glass and a pack of gum. The shopping scene at most airports is much better these days, so friends and family no longer heckle my gifts.
RG: Fun travel fact: I easily fit in overhead compartment bins. What’s your fun travel fact
HB: I’ve been touring and writing about airports for more than 15 years, so can tell you where the best restaurants – and restrooms – are at almost any airport.
And… I too would fit easily into overhead airplane bins, but flight attendants don’t usually let short people travel that way.
RG: No, I don’t suggest it for humans – it’s a bit stuffy. I’ve traveled at various times of the year, but holidays are my favorite times. When else can you see holiday sweaters and poodles on layovers? What’s your best holiday travel story?
HB: Unable to sleep while on a Christmas weekend get-a-away at a park lodge in Washington state, I grabbed a book and settled in by the grand fireplace in the lobby. About 5 a.m. I was joined by a slow moving, somewhat-Santa-looking fellow who poured me a cup of hot coffee from his thermos and then took off. Not sure if he left by the chimney..
RG: That was either my friend Santa, or one of my fellow garden gnomes. Santa and gnomes have similar beards. Shall we spend Spring Break together? I do a wicked cannonball.
HB: And I once won second place in an oyster-eating contest where the goal was to be the fasted to eat a dozen oysters- with your hands behind your back.
RG: I’d like to try that! My hands are cemented to my sides, and I love to eat!
Ramadan at the airport
Ramadan – a special religious month for over one billion Muslims throughout the world –
begins this year begins on August 1st and ends on August 29, 2011.
This year, as it has in past years, the TSA is reminding both its workforce and non-Muslim travelers that “passengers may be observed in various areas in the airport – including in security checkpoints – or on aircraft, engaged in religious practices and meditations during Ramadan.”
On its website, the TSA includes a list of activities that passengers observing Ramadan will likely be engaging in.
[The message seems to be: Be respectful. And try not to overreact.]
Passengers observing Ramadan will abstain from any food, water, smoking or vices of any kind.
Passengers observing Ramadan are more likely to engage in prayer at airports or on airplanes while traveling than during other times of the year.
Before prayer, Muslims go through ablution, i.e., a cleansing or washing of certain areas of the body that is usually done in private if possible, but may be observed in airport restrooms.
Passengers observing Ramadan may be seen reading, listening to or orally reciting the Holy Qur’an at airports and on airplanes.
Passengers observing Ramadan may carry prayer beads and “whisper” prayers constantly.
Rock out for Mardi Gras at Lambert-St. Louis Int’l Airport
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is participating in St. Louis’ Historic Soulard Mardi Gras celebration with a display of historic posters and the unveiling of five new Mardi Gras-themed rocking chairs.
The chairs were painted by local artists and will join the fleet of Lambert Rocks chairs.
The airport is also showcasing official Mardi Gras Posters that date back nearly 30 years.
Look for these colorful, festive displays in the lower level of Terminal 1 and the upper level of Terminal 2
“St. Louis Mardi Gras events began in February and will culminate with the River City Casino Grand Parade on March 5 and the Lumiere Place Light Up the Night Fat Tuesday Parade on March 8.”
Santa’s helpers at Spokane Int’l Airport? The TSA.
This weekend I was an embedded elf for the Spokane Fantasy Flight to the North Pole.
The event, now in its 12th or 13th year, scoops up 60 disadvantaged children from the Spokane, WA area and brings them to the airport for a very real flight to a very realistic-looking “North Pole.” There, they find reindeer, an all-you-can-eat buffet of candy, gifts galore, oodles of elves and, of course, Santa and Mrs. Claus.
For me, the real magic took place at the security checkpoint at the Spokane International Airport.
While ‘regular’ Saturday afternoon passengers were trying to catch their flights, the TSOs (Transportation Security Officers) on duty cheerily processed dozens of kids taking their first airplane trip and 100 or so chaperone-elves decked out in outlandish, heavily jingled-belled costumes.
Even the enhanced pat-downs seems downright jolly .
