Tag: Souvenirs

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Angry Birds in an Airplane! Kinda Sorta.

February 9, 2012 at 11:40 AM | by | Comments (0)

We're not going to lie, but Angry Birds might still be our favorite game to play on a plane. It can be played when in airplane mode (ahem, Alec Baldwin) and is the only game that makes us occasionally laugh aloud, all while flinging birds towards mean little pigs. Well, the creators of the game have already announced opening up theme parks designed around the game, but there's more (of course).

If you're huge fan and you've already got Angry Birds flip flops, hoodies, keychains and all those little tchotchkes, our recommendation for your next layover in Helskini is to stop pulling the slingshot and hit the new shop for your favorite characters. The Finnish masterminds behind the game have opened up a little plane-shaped Angry Birds kiosk-shop in the middle of Helsinki International Airport.

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Paris Says Its, Uh, Monument is Bigger Than New York's

Where: Paris, France
January 20, 2012 at 3:46 PM | by | Comments (0)

Someone's got issues.

That was our second thought when we saw this postcard in prime position at a Paris newsagent. Our first thought was "what the hell, is this a Vegas postcard or something?"

No, it seems that size really does matter to Parisians. Not only do they feel the need to boast about the size of their, uh, tower by plastering it in all its phallic glory over every piece of tourist tat, but also they're fully invested in the "our monument is more monumental than your monument" game, even though—yes—this Statue of Liberty does exist in Paris, though realistically on a far smaller scale. We can thank Photoshop for this fantasy depiction.

Poor old Lady Liberty. What we need now is for Dubai to make a similar postcard pitting Monsieur Eiffel up against the Burj Khalifa. That'll make the Parisian smugness wilt just a little.

[Photo: juliab]

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Blast from the Past: Real Photo Postcards

November 10, 2011 at 1:35 PM | by | Comments (0)

Walk through Times Square and at almost any of the cheapie souvenir shops in the area, you'll be able to score 10 postcards for $1. A steal for sure, but a closer look at the cards reveals that they're often outdated, faded or—worst of all—boring.

Travelers from the 1900s through the 1960s would have had a heart attack over this, since back then sending a postcard meant something. It was almost required of you to mail postcards from your destinations to your family, friends and neighbors, and the quality of the card was important.

Real Photo Postcards were popular for this reason. Printing on photo paper meant the picture would be solid, with no printing dots or gradients; it was as close to actually being there (except it was black & white). We were recently presented with this photo postcard from the heyday of the first Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth. At 724 feet long and 85,000 gross tons, she was the largest ship in the world and sailing on her meant you'd be sending a slew of photo postcards.

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Best Ironic Holiday Gift to Give? Your Face, Painted on a Royal Delft Plate from Holland

November 2, 2011 at 10:48 AM | by | Comment (1)

If you have ever flown KLM long-haul, you probably already know to get psyched for the in-flight shopping to start. This excitement is not due to tax-free bottles of liquor or J.Lo's latest perfume. Well, maybe for some it is, but the magic is really in the Royal Delft souvenirs.

If mini porcelain houses aren't your thing, Dutch Tourism (@visitholland) recently tweeted to say that visitors may design their own plates using the iconic hand-painted blue and white Delft pattern. This is your chance to get your face on a plate, people! After some thinking and wandering around the Royal Delft website for gift ideas, we came to the conclusion that this might actually work for a few people on our list this year.

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A Weekend on the Isle of Man: Tracking Down Rare Money, Rare Stamps and Good Coffee

October 12, 2011 at 5:09 PM | by | Comments (0)

The Isle of Man is a mysterious place, a nearly sovereign territory out in the middle of the choppy Irish Sea between England and Ireland. What sort of people live there? What's there to see and do? These are all questions we wanted to answer, so we went ourselves...because why not? All this week we'll be sharing our experiences in this curious island destination.

The Isle of Man is not a particularly warm place. It may be an island, but keep in mind that it's an island in the Irish Sea, with a population more used to drizzle and wind than sun and gentle breezes. We went in the summer and still froze our butts off in certain areas (like the top of Mount Snaefell and The Ayres).

That said, the Isle of Man does know how to make itself special enough to warrant visit after visit, and that's by producing its own currency, its own stamps, and some unexpectedly damn fine coffee.

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This is the Geekiest Thing You Can Buy at The Boeing Store

September 29, 2011 at 11:00 AM | by | Comments (0)

So maybe you don't have $200 million to buy a Dreamliner, but do you have $75? For that, you can buy the #avgeekiest thing we've ever seen: a wired keyboard applied with a 787 Dreamliner skin.

This truly unique item we spotted in the Boeing Store at the Future of Flight Museum, so yes you can easily purchase it without any security clearances. We picked it up and had a nice little chuckle.

So why do we say it's super geeky? Well, so many reasons. Chances are it'll be used with a PC, anybody who buys it has a serious obsession with the 787 and...who buys wired keyboards anymore? Wireless or nothing, baby! Still, we wouldn't be surprised if it showed up under a few Christmas trees this year.

[Photo: Jaunted]

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Forgot Your Elvis Souvenirs in Memphis? It's Now or Never at the Airport Shop

August 5, 2011 at 11:43 AM | by | Comments (0)


Elvis is at the B Gates

Did you go to Memphis and not buy a caseload of Elvis memorabilia? A brave decision, and one that probably won't fly so well with the folks back home. Luckily, you have an escape clause—and you won’t even be charged for checking it into the hold.

Instead of the usual boring souvenir shops, see, Memphis airport has an Elvis shop. That’s right, a shop that stocks purely Elvis memorabilia, from magnets and t-shirts to clocks, Christmas ornaments and cookie jars.

The memorabilia is all official Elvis gear, so it’s the same stuff you can find at Graceland. And yes, there’s a mark-up, but it’s not as much as you’d think in all cases – about $1 more for Elvis emery boards and magnets, and about $5 more for anything bigger. We arrived three hours early for our flight and ended up taking home the Elvis clock – made out of pink glass—that we’d admired at Graceland but wondered how we’d fit it in our case. Simple, in the event: we just took it on the plane in addition to our already bulging hand luggage.

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Let's Hear It for Tacky, Souvenir Fridge Magnets

July 18, 2011 at 4:20 PM | by | Comments (0)

What do you collect when you travel? It's okay if you stop into a souvenir shop and drop a few dollars on a trinket to add to your collection; it's another notch on your worldwide bedpost, when another mini spoon gets added to the cabinet or another patch sewn onto a beaten backpack. Our thing—if we must confess—is sending postcards back to family, which they then collect for us. Regardless, we're fully aware that magnets may be the most popular souvenir tchotchkes, considering how cheap they are, how easy to buy and transport and the fact that they can actually serve a purpose.

Sometimes though, there's just a souvenir magnet so tacky it begs belief that it even made it up for sale. We found it on the Isle of Man this past weekend, in the capital city of Douglas.

It's our belief that the worst souvenirs are to be found for sale on islands, and there's a persistent fascination with naked butts on such trinkets (not to mention on postcards). This thing—with its uneven, half-assed quality (ha) is so bad that it's approaching the point where it reverts to being good again.

[Photo: Jaunted]

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Northwest Airlines Lives On at the Airport Gift Shop

June 24, 2011 at 11:15 AM | by | Comment (1)

It’s been quite some time since Delta gobbled up Northwest Airlines. The combined airline was quick to repaint planes into Delta colors, change signs at airports around the world, and everything else that needs to be done in an airline merger. However, Delta must have forgotten to consult airport gift shops, because just the other day we spotted a little bit of Northwest Airlines at Kansas City International Airport.

We were busy reading magazines and not paying for them when we decided to peruse all the overpriced toys and airline collectibles. Lo and behold, we were excited to discover what has to be one of the last Northwest Airlines things available for sale in the entire world. Alright, we might be exaggerating, but when have you found a complete Northwest Airlines play set available at the CNBC Store for just $19.99?

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Made in America Souvenirs Are Now the Only Option at One Smithsonian Museum

June 16, 2011 at 9:27 AM | by | Comments (0)

The Smithsonian Institute has plenty of museums and history to explore the best America has—and had—to offer, but unfortunately the museum gift shops weren’t necessarily showing off some of the country’s finest collectible thimbles and overpriced t-shirts.

Senator Bernard Sanders—he’s an Independent from Vermont—wasn’t too pleased about all the products made in China and elsewhere, so he kind of flipped out, saying that items sold at the National Museum of American History should probably be made in America.

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Is Your Passport Made of...Chocolate?

June 2, 2011 at 5:09 PM | by | Comments (2)

There are cheesy souvenirs, and then there are chocolately souvenirs. If you travel through any standard US airport regularly, you'll recognize the cheap square chocolates to be found in the gift shops, chocolates usually mass produced and wrapped with pictures of landmarks from whatever city the airport's in. It's pretty much the laziest gift you can buy and bring for someone, and it's always overpriced. Until now.

At JFK recently, we spotted this: the Chocolate Passport. It's brilliant. The package is a great gag gift with a somewhat sincere angle, if you can handle that it's full of the same cheap chocolate as the other options on the shelf.

At $19.99, it's a whole lot cheaper than a real passport, but truly you haven't lived until you've got and fully enjoyed both.

[Photo: Jaunted]

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How Much Royal Wedding Crap Can One London Souvenir Shop Hold?

April 6, 2011 at 8:40 AM | by | Comments (3)

We're under four weeks away from the Royal Wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton, and yet it's funny how long we've already been over it. Of course the souvenir shops of London are just revving up and accepting pallet after pallet of crap souvenirs made in China, all to unload for 300% their wholesale price on tourists with royal stars in their eyes.

For research's sake, and also to slake our curiosity, we stopped into a tiny souvenir shop near the Marble Arch tube stop to see exactly what sort of random items now bear the royal couple's faces, and exactly how much of this stuff they've managed to stock. Prepare to be shocked.

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