PHL airport

Just Plane Fun returns to PHL Airport

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PHL JUST PLANE FUN

Philadelphia International Airport has brought back its popular “Just Plane Fun” series of summertime customer appreciation events ranging from product demonstrations and live music to make-overs and a variety of events with prizes.

The schedule changes weekly, but this week’s events include beauty makeovers and skin consultations for men and women – along with free photos – on Wednesday and live music (and dancing) on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

But wait – there’s more!

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society has a pop-up garden in the Terminal B/C baggage claim and a new exhibit just opened (in Terminal A-East) with photos illustrating a long list of Philadelphia firsts – including the first lending library, hospital, university, art museum, zoo, U.S. Mint, and children’s hospital.

PHL FirstZoo1874

First Zoo, 1874, Photo Courtesy phillyhistory.org

Photos in “About Philadelphia: A City of Firsts” also remind travelers that Philadelphia hosted the country’s first World’s Fair, and was where the first ice cream soda was made, and where Mother’s Day was first celebrated.

Restaurant Week at PHL Airport & beyond

Food, Restaurants, , ,

phl restaurant week 4

From October 20 to 27, Philadelphia International Airport joins cities around the country in celebrating Restaurant Week, with pre-selected, three-course menus for $20 per person offered at these in-airport restaurants:

· Cantina Laredo (Concourse E)

· Chickie’s & Pete’s (Terminal A West, Concourses C, D & E)

· Cibo Bistro & Wine Bar (Concourse B)

· Jack Duggan’s Pub & Restaurant (Concourse A East)

· Jet Rock Bar & Grill (Concourses B & D)

· Legal Sea Foods (B/C Connector)

· Local Tavern (Terminal F)

· Re:Vive Bar (Terminal F)

· Sky Asian Bistro (Concourse C)

· Vino Volo (Terminal A West, Concourse B, B/C & D/E Connectors)

Restaurant Week at an airport is a great idea, of course. And unlike Restaurant Week in most cities, the one at PHL Airport continues through the weekend.

But a week is so short.

And your travels may not take you through PHL.

Never fear. Throughout the entire month of October, HMS Host has brought the restaurant week concept to selected restaurants in airports around the country. See the list of participating airports and restaurants here

Yarn bombing at PHL Airport

Art, , ,

I shouldn’t really use the words “bombing” and “airport” in a sentence, but right now there’s an installation at Philadelphia International Airport created by an artist who practices the gentle graffiti art of yarn bombing: knitting, uninvited, around trees, parking meters, public sculptures and other objects.

PHL Ishknits by Jessie Hemmons, Interventions with Yarn, columns with yarn, Terminal F, ticketed passengers, PHL

As part of an exhibit of her work, Jessie Hemmons, known as ishknits, was commissioned to create colorful cozies for two columns at the PHL airport.

PHL COLUMN

PHL KNIT

Look for the wrapped columns – and the exhibit – in PHL Terminal F through December 2014.

More information about this exhibit and the PHL art program here.

Souvenir Sunday: travel-themed gear at PHL & SEA Airport

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A new shop at Philadelphia International Airport – called Pilot & Captain – is the first brick & mortar effort from the design studio The Heads of State – and is filled with travel-themed items related to what the creators call “the good old days of planes, trains & discovery”

PHL PILOT and CAPTAIN

The shop offers city-specific t-shirts, mugs, posters, notebooks and more and can be found in Terminal 3.

There’s also a new travel-themed store at Sea-Tac Airport on Concourse C called Planewear – Style is in the Air , filled with items created for the Enumclaw, Washington-based Planewear company

Planewear-storefront

Inventory includes the sassy SkyBelts, (belts made out of airplane seatbelts, which might be problematic for flight when you have to clip on the real airplane seatbelt…), Pan Am “vintage inspired” t-shirts, passport covers, luggage tags, those nostalgic Pan Am bags and kid-sized apparel.

Fresh art at PHL and SFO airports

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PHL Kinnex

7-foot-tall K’NEX exhibit at PHL Airport. Photo by Rick McMullin, Philadelphia International Airport

Fans of the K’NEX Brand building systems will be delighted to see this giant K’NEX structure that will be on display at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), post-security in Terminal A-West, through October, 2014

According to PHL play experts, a team of six designers and engineers worked together for almost 170 hours to create this 7-foot-high structure using more than 48,000 K’NEX parts.

There’s also a new exhibit at San Francisco International Airport  organized by the SFO Museum and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco that features seventy-five contemporary artworks created by some of Korea’s most respected artists.

SFO_YeeSookYoungs

Translated Vases 2014 by Yeesookyung. Ceramic shards, epoxy, 24k gold leaf. Courtesy SFO Museum

Look for Dual Natures in Ceramics in Terminal 3, Boarding Area F from Saturday, May 17, 2014 through Sunday, February 22, 2015.

In the meantime, here’s a link to an on-line selection of items from the exhibition.