Portland International Airport

Travel Tidbits: Power, art and blades

Art, Fun Stuff, , , , ,

Alaska Airlines has installed 200 extra electrical outlets/USB ports at its gates in Anchorage, Portland and Seattle to match the power outlets in its gate areas in Terminal 6 at Los Angeles International Airport and at Sacramento, San Francisco and San Jose airports.

Portland International Airport has a new printmaking exhibit titled “Cut & Print” featuring the work of 11 regional artists. Look for it on Concourse A through February 20, 2013. “Squawkin,” above, is one of six woodcut portraits in the show created by Marc Girouard, an artist who also works at the airport.

And the annual ice-skating rink at Atlanta’s Park Tavern, the historic restaurant in Piedmont Park, opens on Thanksgiving Day as the Southwest Rink at Park Tavern.

Skaters who have their photo taken at the rink and post it to the Southwest Airlines Facebook page will be entered into a contest for a pair of tickets to one of the cities the airline serves. More details here.

Fresh art at Portland International Airport

Art,

Oregon’s Portland International Airport is showcasing work from artist Marshall Roemen in the north ticket lobby.

Roemen’s site-specific installation is inspired by American author Flannery O’Connor, particularly her collection of short-stories entitled, Everything That Rises Must Converge, which she was working on at the time of her death.

Here’s a link to more images from Roemen’s PDX installation.

Curious about O’Connor’s work? It’s a good bet you’ll find her books (new or used) at one of the airport’s three (!) branches of Powell’s Books.

Virgin America’s Portlandia-themed party kicks off PDX service

aviation, Events, Fun Stuff, ,

On Tuesday, Virgin America added an 18th city, Portland, to its service network adding two daily flights from Los Angeles and two from San Francisco. As is its tradition, the airline had a fun launch event. And, as a former Portland resident, I went along for the ride as a guest.

For the launch event, the airline teamed up with IFC and its hit show “Portlandia” and invited “Portlandia” Mayor, actor Kyle MacLachlan, along as well as the real-life Portland Mayor Sam Adams, who plays MacLachlan’s assistant on the show.

"Portlandia" Mayor Kyle Maclachlan (center), real Portland Mayor SamAdams (right), Virgin America Dave Cush (left). Photo courtesy Virgin America

When it touched down at Portland International Airport the plane -named the mt. hoodie – was met by a delegation that included local dignitaries and a hangar full of people who had been invited to a Portland/Portlandia-themed party that included DJs, art projects and doughnuts, made by Portland’s infamous donut-makers, Voodoo Doughnuts.

The mt. hoodie is one of the airline’s newest airplanes. At San Francisco International Airport, it was parked next to Jefferson Airplane, the airline’s first aircraft.

(All photos, except where noted, by Harriet Baskas)

Stuck at the airport? Smart Money banks on fun

Art, Entertainment, Exhibits, Fun Stuff, , , , , ,

In response to my At the Airport column in USATODAY.com last week: How the airport experience has changed since 9/11, I got a couple of calls from folks at Smart Money who were also pondering then and now changes.

Quentin Fottrell, one of Smart Money’s Pay Dirt bloggers, wanted to know if there was anything fun to do at airports.

I put down my coffee and rattled off some of my faves, starting with the Chinese, Japanese and Hawaiian gardens at Honolulu International Airport.

 

Based on our chat, here’s how Fottrell wrote up the five other airport diversions we talked about for his Pay Dirt post:

 

“Palm Beach International Airport: Practice Your Golf

Operated by hospitality firm HMS Host, the airport provides an indoor putting green and, for $3, you can walk away with a souvenir golf ball.

Boston Logan Airport: Make Your Own Sundae

The MooBella vending machine makes Sundaes in 30 seconds. You can choose from 12 flavors on the touch screen. They’re at Terminal C near the Back Bay Café and Lean & Green food store.

Chicago O’Hare International Airport: Workout at the Gym

For $15, take a workout in the Hilton Hotel gym, which is attached to the airport, or relax in the sauna and steam room, or have a dip in the pool. AirportGyms.com has details of similar offers.

San Francisco International Airport: Visit the Museum

On Level 3 of the International Terminal, there are free exhibitions on vintage televisions and a photography exhibition on the San Francisco Seals Baseball Team from 1903-1957.

Portland International Airport: Take Your Bike Apart

After you’ve taken the cycle track to this airport, you can use the tools and facilities at this area near the Lower Terminal roadway to take apart your bike so you can bring it on the airplane.”

Thanks, Quentin!

More posh airport amenities

Music, Recreation, Spas, , , , , , , ,

From my recent Bing Travel slide show, here are a few more posh airport amenities:


 

Offering travelers the world’s largest airport slide, a transit hotel with a roof-top pool and free foot massages, live entertainment, movie theaters and computer games, Singapore’s award-winning Changi Airport consistently tops the posh chart. Posher yet: five fanatically-tended-to themed gardens displaying, respectively, ferns, orchids, cactus, sunflowers and more than 1,000 live butterflies.

Posh perusing is available at Taiwan Tayoun International Airport, which now has a library with 2000 paper books and 400 e-titles for passengers on layovers. The much larger Airport Library at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport opened last year. The “sitting area with added value” offers a multi-media collection of books, films and music about Dutch history, culture, art and literature.

Maintaining a posh state of mind in transit is easier if you look and feel great. Thankfully, spas offering manicures, haircuts, facials and back, neck and foot massages are becoming commonplace in many terminals. At Finland’s Helsinki Airport, relaxation goes a step further: a Finnair-branded spa offers a choice of spruce, stone, steam or a traditional Finnish sauna.

They say music hath charms to soothe the savage beast. So can music relax stressed-out travelers? We think so. Especially if you catch one of the regular concerts offered at airports in Austin, Nashville, San Diego or San Francisco. The poshest airport musical act may take place at Portland International Airport, where John English (“The Voice”) delivers Frank Sinatra tributes twice-weekly.

For more, see the full posh airport amenities slide show on Bing Travel – or check back here tomorrow.