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Bar Refaeli Touches Down In Bikini'd Southwest Plane

"So this is a magazine," supermodel Bar Refaeli said, holding this year's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue which features her on the cover. All subscribers automatically receive SI's most popular issue, but they don't get to ride with Refaeli on SI One, a Southwest Airlines 737-300 wrapped with a shot of the Israeli model in a white bikini.

SI One touched down at New York's LaGuardia Airport, and we were probably the only ones just as excited about seeing the plane as seeing its cover girl. (The photographer next to us didn't know the Southwest markings and was continually disappointed as one after another plane passed without stopping.)

Giddily skipping about on Christian Louboutin heels, Refaeli said landing the cover was a complete shock to her -- she didn't find out until this week, when her agency coerced her to arrive in the city a few days early. The first person she called to tell? Mom. (Sorry, Leo!) This is her third appearance in the Swimsuit Issue, but she says she never contemplated being on a plane -- still, unlike most of us, the way-larger-than-life portrait didn't freak her out.

Like a pro, Refaeli gamely posed with Port Authority cops (one of whom was clutching his own camera) and the Southwest flight crew, albeit not in one of the signature bikinis she sports in SI. (Instead, she donned a Balenciaga jacket and James Perse tee. Bar and her bevy of beauties will be partying in New York tonight before boarding SI One to Las Vegas tomorrow for the Swimsuit Issue launch at the nightclub LAX.

Related Stories:
· Swimsuit Issue 2009 Locations Revealed [Jaunted]
· Following The SI Swimsuit Issue Ladies [Jaunted]
· SI Swimsuit Issue Holding Bash at LAX Inside Luxor [HC]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: 2009 Swimsuit Issue / Bikinis / Swimsuit Issue Models / Southwest / Travel News / → All Tags

Following The SI Swimsuit Issue Ladies

Yesterday, we let you know where the lovely ladies of the 2009 Swimsuit Issue got their glamour shots taken, and today we’ll let you know where to find them. They’ll be heading over to Pranna Restaurant in New York to fill up and schmooze with VIPs. The restaurant is trying to be clever with their happy hour stimulus package, but we’re thinking that the models will be treated to the full menu that focuses on the cuisine of Southern Asia.

After they’ve killed the batteries in everyone’s cameras, the models will be off to LaGuardia to board their Southwest jet wrapped in bikini imagery. Best of all, once the beauties are done with their private air charter, the plane, “SI One,” will remain in service for about a month—so maybe you’ll get a chance to see it on your next connection through BWI or MDW.

Tomorrow night, the party will get going at LAX--the club, not the airport--inside the Luxor Resort and Casino. Besides Cristal and Grey Goose, expect a lot of SoBe Lifewater flowing as well, since the company threw down tons of cash to be a major sponsor of this year’s issue. We don’t know about the after party, but the models will still be in Vegas on Thursday as well signing autographs and making appearances at resorts all over the strip.

Related Stories:
·Swimsuit Issue 2009 [Official Site]
·Pranna Restaurant [Official Site]
·Sports Illustrated Group Announces SI Swimsuit 24/7 [PR Newswire]
·Swimsuit Issue 2009 Locations Revealed [Jaunted]

Tags: 2009 Swimsuit Issue / Bikinis / Swimsuit Issue Models / Southwest / Travel News / Bar Refaeli / → All Tags

Swimsuit Issue 2009 Locations Revealed

While we did our bestest to determine where some of the sexy snaps for Sports Illustrated's "Swimsuit Issue 2009" were taken before the issue actually came out, the men's mag managed to surprise us a quite a bit with their locations.

Cover girl Bar Refaeli was snapped on the Canouan Island in the Grenadines--a ho-hum choice since the Caribbean is a Swimsuit Issue go-to location. But other models were wriggling around in skimpy suits in Riviera Maya, Spain's Canary Islands, Cappadocia (Turkey) and Naples. Tennis stars like Tatiana Golovin were indeed snapped in the Dominican Republic but race car driver Danica Patrick and the NBA Dancers (random?) were photographed in New York at a studio.

In case you want more of where the Swimsuit Issue was shot, check out the website's dedicated page to the location photos. The page even lists the accommodations used by the crew and models in each location, complete with room rates and reservations numbers. Sorry, the SI Models don't come with the room.

Up next for the Swimsuit Issue? The gals will be boarding a dedicated Southwest plane from Laguardia to Las Vegas on Wednesday night for a party at the Luxor. The plane will even feature "Swimsuit Issue imagery" on the sides of the plane. But will it have in-flight WiFi?

Related Stories:
· Swimsuit Issue 2009 [Official Site]
· Sports Illustrated Swimsuit party to be held at LAX Nightclub inside the Luxor Hotel and Casino" [We Do It All Vegas]
· SI Swimsuit Issue Holding Bash at LAX Inside Luxor [HotelChatter]