Travel Fit

Are you someone who travels frequently?  Living life out of your suitcase as you hop one flight to the next for that urgent sales meeting, conference or client presentation?  And most seasoned frequent flyers understand that maximizing this lifestyle can be tough and if they're not careful can lead to poor eating and fitness habits.  We're looking out for our road warrior customers have rounded up a few healthful eating tips and simple exercises that can keep you on the road to "wellville!"

While plentiful food choices may not always abound in small and medium hub airports, we think you'll find these tips universally applicable when traveling.  When ordering off the menu, visiting the grab and go kiosk, or even packing your own snacks; we recommend considering the following:

• Ordering a slice of veggie pizza instead of the pepperoni.
• Selecting a baked potato as your side in lieu of the french fries.
• Pack raisins to nosh on instead of a candy bar.
• Purchase a bottle of water, not the bottle of soda.
• Ration yourself some carrots instead of cheese puffs.
• Need some cereal?  Choose the whole-grain, no sugar option instead of the sugary variety.
• An apple will be better for you in the long run instead of the fruit pie.
• Want dairy?  How about low-fat yogurt instead of ice cream.
• Opt for the turkey sandwich instead of the fried chicken.
• Have a plain bagel with your morning cup of coffee instead of the donut.
• Pretzels can provide a salty fix instead of the potato chips.
• 1% milk has less calories per glass than whole milk.
• Have a sweet tooth?  Try graham crackers as opposed to the chocolate chip cookies.

Couple these healthy food selections with these on-the-road exercises and you may just have a bit more energy than you planned on when returning home from that week away.  The best part about these exercises?  You don't need equipment to do them!

• Take the steps instead of the elevator.  Get that blood flowing.  If you're up to it, take two steps up at a a time!
• Lunges, if you do these in the hotel room after taking the stairs, you're sure to get a great leg workout!
• Sit-ups and push-ups are a great floor exercise.  Any reasonable hotel room will have enough floor space for you to throw down a bath towel as an exercise mat after you get back from meetings, dinner or the like.
• Hold up the wall!  Lean against an empty wall in your hotel room as though your sitting in a chair with your legs bent at a ninety-degree angle.  Hold this position as long as you're able without falling.  The more you practice, the longer you should be able to hold this position. 
• If you have time to visit your hotel's fitness facilities, add it to your trip agenda!  If you schedule the time and make a point to consider it a "to do," you may be more likely to stick with the healthy routine while on the road.

Bear in mind that these fitness tips are suggestions and may not be applicable for everyone.  We hope you're able to find something useful and apply it toward your healthy travel pursuits!

What tips do you have to share?  Do you have favorite healthy food choices that you've discovered in airports and hotels during your travels?  Do tell! 

Air Travel, Socially Speaking with @AAAESean

Introducing the 6th guest post in this new fly HIA blog mini-series, a discussion on how social media has altered the way we travel. Today’s guest blogger is Sean Broderick, a career aviation journalist and public relations pro who currently handles external communications for the American Association of Airport Executives, whose members represent some 850 airports. His responsibilities include managing the association’s Facebook page and Twitter feed.

Airports Shifting From Just Providing Connections To Making Them

One day this past July, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) suffered a partial power outage in two of its three terminals. The outage lasted about 90 minutes and affected certain key functions, including ticketing and concessions.

During the brown-out, followers of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) Twitter stream, @DCAirports, were kept abreast of the situation, including whether boarding passes could be printed on-site. They also were told that MWAA’s Web site was down, and that flight status checks should be done on individual airline Web sites.

This is but one real-life example of what Steven Frischling astutely notes is a shift in airport attitudes—a shift that is perhaps most visible on social media platforms. As he said in a blog post earlier in this series, “Social media has finally allowed airports to…have a voice of their own,” rather than relying on “the voices of others around them speaking for them.”

From my perspective, social media’s evolution hasn’t so much created this attitude shift as help expedite, illuminate, and solidify it. For years, airlines were the air travel industry’s principal brand-builders and loyalty-creators. From frequent flyer programs to dedicated business-class lounges, it was airlines connected with passengers. Airports simply provided a place for passengers to connect.

For a list of reasons long enough to fill another blog post, those days are over—and I think that’s a good thing. For everyone.

Airports are working diligently to onnect with their customer base, often in tandem with airlines. In the social media arena, for instance, market-specific fare sales are pushed via airport Facebook pages, which is logical. If you live in Harrisburg, does it make more sense for you to seek out good travel deals on, say, Delta’s Facebook page, or on HIA’s? Put another way, which one of those Facebook pages is better equipped to deliver information that’s relevant to Central Pennsylvania residents?

As for the airlines, they now have permanently rooted local partners—the airports they serve—cultivating meaningful relationships with existing and potential customers. What better way to jump-start a new route, promote a fare sale, or simply strengthen a connection than to tap into this pipeline?

Passengers—the most important part of the travel equation, of course—are finally getting recognized, catered to, and served by the one variable in their own travel equations that’s sure to remain constant: their local airports. Think about it: for the last 40 years, the greater Harrisburg community has been served by dozens of airlines, but only one commercial-service airport: HIA.

So how can passengers benefit from this shift? Social media is a pretty good place to start. “Like” the Facebook pages of airports you frequent, and follow them on Twitter. Yes, this basically grants them permission to market directly to you, and the smart airports will. But the really smart ones will go well beyond the sales pitch—their marketing and communications plans will incorporate customer service, partnerships with tenants (like airlines and concessionaires) that have useful information for you, and the type of general relationship-building effort that makes airports valuable partners, not just self-motivated service providers.

Most importantly, remember that social media is, well, social. Provide feedback, both positive and negative, via the channels that airports use. Participate in the process, and they’ll be obliged to reciprocate. The result will be a better-informed traveler—and a better travel experience.

Which airports and airlines are you actively engaging with on Twitter and Facebook? Where are you turning to to find answers to your air travel related questions?

Air Travel, Socially Speaking with @flyingwithfish

Introducing the 4th guest post in this new fly HIA blog mini-series, a discussion on how social media has altered the way we travel. Today's guest blogger is Steven Frischling

is an airline and aerospace focused emerging media consultant, building and deploying strategies for airlines, aircraft manufacturers and the travel industry. He writes Flying With Fish a blog that has somehow managed to evolve into something far beyond what it was planned to be.

I sat down to write about travel and the importance of social media a few days ago. Once I finished the piece I realized I had over analyzed what I had written like is often done when pitching a corporation rather than having a conversation about the subject as a whole.

Others in this series by Harrisburg International Airport's series on social media has transforming how we travel have discussed the tools of social media. Tools, such as Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, Blogs, etc etc etc, are important, they are not what makes social media … connecting and engaging is what makes social media effective.

Since HIA is hosting this series, I am going to focus on airports.

Most people never view an airport as a business. An airport to most travelers is a building, with some runways, gates and it’s a place you go through, but it is not generally viewed as a business. Airports need passengers to survive, especially airports that compete with other airports for traffic.

Where I live, the closest airport to my house lost its last airline in 2004 when US Airways Express terminated the service. The airport I prefer to use, Tweed-New Haven Airport (HVN), has now been left with a single airline, US Airways Express, since Delta Air Lines pulled out in 2006. These airports are fighting for passengers and their survival against larger airports such as Hartford's Bradley Airport (BDL) and Providence's TF Green Airport (PVD) … and in turn TF Green fights for passengers with Bradley Airport and the much larger Boston Logan Airport (BOS).

To compete, airports must find out the needs of their passengers, not only those in the 'home area' but also those coming to their region. social media opens up a whole new door for airports to explore travelers, build relationships with those who use or may use their facility, and improve the overall travel experience. I have often wondered if my 'home airport' would have a larger passenger base if they actively sought out passengers, recruiting them away from Hartford, Providence and White Plains (HPN). Frequently when speaking with travelers in my area I am met with "New Haven still has an airport?"

So how does an airport using social media change the travel experience? From the outset it is proactive. It puts the airport into a conversational space where they are able to alert travelers to their presence and recruit passengers for them.

While smaller, regional airports such as Harrisburg, Akron-Canton (CAK), Charlottesville (CHO) and Dallas Love Field (DAL) are able to connect with regular travelers, turning locals into brand ambassadors… larger airports that often seen as the 'large faceless corporations' of the airport world are also doing an excellent job in engaging.

For me a major airport that is shaping the way social media should be used by major global hub airports is London's Heathrow Airport. Heathrow Airport is a massive airport with airlines from every inhabited continent and yet those involved with Heathrow's social media are able to connect, be helpful and at times even playful with their passengers … all while helping build the airports brand image in, a city with five international airports, along the way.

A recent experience that brought a smile to my face upon landing at Heathrow and receiving a message saying "Welcome to Heathrow! There are Crunchie bars waiting for your at WH Smith." While this may seem odd … a few hours earlier, while boarding a flight to London Heathrow I sent a message out on Twitter saying I was on a certain British Airways flight to Heathrow and I couldn't wait to pick up a Crunchie Bar … the folks at Heathrow timed their message to when they knew my plane was at the gate.

Airports are the gateway to a region and an airport's ability to create content and interact with passengers directing them to hotels, restaurants, attractions, allows for an interactive opening with the social media programs in place by tourism boards, local attractions and the chambers of commerce. This flow of conversation gives travelers’ access to instant local insights and suggestions … something that never happened during the planning and transit stages of travel before.

Social media has allowed airports to become full partners with the airlines and those who support travel to a region in being proactive and reactive to travelers needs. Social media has opened the floodgates for airports to become competitive in recruiting and retention or passengers from not only the local population, but also those who visit. Social media has finally allowed airports to explore new revenue streams and have a voice of their own, not the voices of others around them speaking for them.

For airports … social media has been a fundamental game changer for their benefit and the travelers who use them.

Happy Flying!

Have you had an airport engage you on Twitter? Which airports do you fly to/from aren't using social media, but you wish they did?

Where the Wild Things Are, Aviation Edition

Max was swept up and lifted high in the air...

In the spirit of the new movie, Where the Wild Things Are, opening in theaters tomorrow, we went on a hunt for the wild things that have occurred in aviation and been caught on film! These amazing and at times, crazy, feats are nail-biting, white-knuckled, heart-stopping and above all else, wild!

This pilot accomplishes a touch and go maneuver while his plane is nearly side-ways from an overbearing crosswind:


These wild stunt pilot, decides to fly under a bridge, upside down!


How about skydiving from one plane into another? Yes, a plane-to-plane stunt, midair!


Planes aren't the only aircraft prone to wild stunts! This helicopter's antics are jaw dropping. (Note: Be prepared for stereotypcial cheesy background music!)


The F-15 in this airshow video leaves the crowd with their mouth agape!


And one last video, a view of an aircraft carrier landing as seen from inside of the cockpit! (Note: Not for those prone to motion sickness)


Do you have any great aviation "wild rumpus" footage that you've caught on "tape"? We'd love to see them, feel free to embed them in your comments on this post, or email them to info@saraa.org.