Ivar’s

Tidbits for travelers: cool contest, cheap airport food, free Wi-Fi finder

Some news you can use today.

The folks at BoardingArea.com, a bundled collection of business travel and frequent flyer blogs (StuckatTheAirport.com actually started there) is running a contest with a really great prize: a trip for two to the Gold Coast of Australia. Deadline is March 28th.  I’m definitely entering.

JiWire rolled out a new free Wi-Fi Finder app that will allow you to search for free and paid Wi-Fi hotspots offline. Very helpful.

And if you’re out and about today, keep in mind that it’s Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream shops and free pastry day (actually sort-of free pastry morning; you’ll  need to buy a drink) at Starbucks.  It’s a fair bet that few airport branches of these outfits will be honoring the promotions, but if you find yourself at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport you can definitely take advantage of the “Flounder’s Day” special being offered at Ivar’s Seafood restaurants throughout Puget Sound.  Today would have been “flounder” Ivar Haglund’s 105th birthdays, so if you buy one entrée, you’ll get a second one for $1.05 by saying “Happy Birthday, Ivar” at check-out.  Even at the airport.

For National Clam Chowder Day: free chowder at SEA

Today, Thursday, February 25th, 2010, Ivar’s Seafood outlets in Washington and California are celebrating National Clam Chowder Day by offering a 2-for-1 deal on cups of chowder.   Happily, the deal extends to the Ivar’s Seafood Bar at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA).  “The airport Ivar’s is open way longer than the Ivar’s in town,” an enthusiastic employee at the airport Ivar’s told me on the telephone on Wednesday, “So you can get that deal starting at 4:30 in the morning.”

You’d think they’d also be celebrating National Clam Chowder Day over in Boston, where the Legal Sea Foods chain is well represented at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS).  But no.  Via Twitter, the folks at Logan Airport told me,that there was “nothing planned. But we can tell you clam chowder is an airport favorite…and available in every terminal at BOS!”