Inbox zero isn’t in the cards for us this year. But in an effort to make some headway, here are some travel tidbits we’ve been holding onto from the past few weeks.
Philadelphia’s 52 weeks of firsts
(Woodcut by Charles R. Gardner, copyright 1931, The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company)
52 Weeks of Firsts is part of Philadelphia’s yearlong commemoration of America’s 250th anniversary in 2026.
And the first Philadelphia-based ‘first’ honors America’s first balloon flight.
The First Balloon Flight Saturday “Firstival” takes place Saturday, January 3 at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia in the Historic District, near the site where the first balloon took flight.
On January 9, 1793, French inventor and aeronaut Jean-Pierre Blanchard ascended in a hydrogen-filled balloon from what was then the work yard of the Walnut Street Prison and became the first person to fly a manned free flying balloon in the United States.
President George Washington was one of the onlookers in the crowd.
Reaching an altitude of over 5800 feet, the flight lasted 46 minutes with air currents taking the balloon across the Delaware River to Woodbury, NJ, where Blanchard set it down safely.
Some of the other home-grown firsts Philadelphia will be celebrating throughout 2026 include the first public Girl Scout cookie sale (1933), the first flower show (1829), the first circus perforance in America ( 1793), first Mother’s Day (1908) and the first World’s Fair on American soil (1876).
See the full list of Philadelphia’s 52 weeks of firsts.
JetBlue’s Boston-themed livery
JetBlue gets creative with special liveries that celebrate everything from Puerto Rico, the Boston Celtics, the New York Jets and Dunkin Donuts to its homebase, New York City.
The carrier also give a lot of love – and service – to Boston. And earlier this month JetBlue rolled out “Wicked Blue” a fun, Boston-themed livery.
In Boston and some other parts of Massachusetts, people use “wicked” to mean “very” or “extremely.”
So “Wicked Blue” is a good name for this Airbus A320 livery, which has “Boston” written across its fueslage and city-inspired illustrations, such a a lobster, inside each letter.
Online guide to art at Miami International Airport
Established back in 1996, MIA Galleries is the robust arts and exhibitions program at Miami International Airport (MIA) presenting permanent and temporary art, installations, demonstrations and performances pre and post-security at the airport.
Now there’s a handy MIA Galleries Guide , on Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app created by Bloomberg Philanthropies. The, online guide is a great tool if you’re at the airport to help find permanent and temporary installations located both pre and post-security.
If you’re not at the airport, the guide lets you see the artwork too.
