You want to check-in WHAT ??????????????????????

You never know what people will try to check in before their flight. Take these strange items that members of the Virgin Atlantic Airways check-in staff have encountered:

* A bathtub.   A woman passenger who had her family carry the tub through the airport at JFK expected the item to be checked in. It wasn't even wrapped or packaged.

* A pet tarantula hidden in a woman's coat at JFK airport. * A dead cow wrapped in plastic at JFK..  

* A bag of cutlery previously stolen from a Virgin Atlantic flight at Delhi airport.  

* A bag full of sand, sea and water. You see,  a couple fell in love on the island of Grenada and wanted to check in a memory.  

* A bag of soil and coconut trees at Grenada airport.

And how does the check-in staff react to such swell stuff? A Virgin Atlantic executive put it this way: "It certainly brightens up their day." 

Trivial question

 On what sea is Poland located? (Answer somewhere below.)

Funjet Vacations is having a Disney sale

Funjet Vacations says that when travelers booka vacation package to a Walt Disney World resort at a Deluxe or Deluxe Villa Resort hotel, they’ll save up to 30 percent for stays through Aug. 13. In addition, Funjet  will include the following when a package is booked by April 30 or  a $50 discount at Moderate Resorts; an additional $75 discount on Deluxe and Deluxe Villa Resorts. Savings will automatically be included when booking a qualifying reservation. Click here or call 800-FUNJET-1.

Worth quoting

"I guarantee the flying public we will not sleep until we can guarantee that there's good safety in the control towers when these planes are coming in and out of airports." -- U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to ABC World News about several recent cases of about the several cases of air traffic controllers falling asleep on the job.  

A 2-for-1 Bahamas flight deal

For a limited time, The Bahamas is offering 2-for-1airfare or an instant air credit up to $300 for bookings of four or more nights. Book by May 9, and travel April 24 through Dec. 22, at one of 40 participating resorts and hotels throughout Nassau/Paradise Island, Grand Bahama Island, The Abaco Islands, Cat Island, Harbour Island and The Exuma Islands, among others. For a full list of participating hotels and to book the offer, visit www.bahamas.com or call 800-BAHAMAS. No blackout dates apply. Visit www.Facebook.com/VisitTheBahamas to find out who’s been there, interact with fans of the islands, and get information, photos and a free Island Guide.

Search Amazon.com for Bahamas 

Fascinating fact

Finland appears to be the country with the most islands -- 179,584. But to be fair, the number of Canada's islands has never been counted. There are an estimated 30,000 islands along the eastern shore of Georgian Bay alone. 

Half off a second room with Florida baby boomer package

Jupiter Beach Resort & Spa in Jupiter, Fla. (of all places) has a Beach Boomers package starting at $169 per night.It includes 20 percent off the resort's best available rate, overnight luxury accommodations, daily breakfast for two, two-for-one bicycle rentals, a 10 percent discount in The Spa and Sinclairs Ocean Grill as well as daily beach chair and umbrella rentals.  Encouraging multi-generation travel, the package also allows guests to book a second room at a 50 percent discount, perfect for bringing the children and grandkids.  Call 800-228-8810 or visit www.jupiterbeachresort.com and use promo code BOOMERS.

Trivial answer

Poland is on the Baltic Sea.

In Finland: Haul those wives and fling those phones!

Illustration by VisitFinland.com

When it comes to wacky events, it's hard to beat Finland. Just look at some of them:

Wife-carrying. Staged at Sonkajärvi in eastern Finland since 1992, this event is believed to date from the 19th century. If local legend is to be believed, a well-known villain Herkko Ronkainen used to swing his favorite girl on his shoulders, an act that will be duplicated by couples competing in the World Championships on July 3-4.

Mobile-phone throwing. In the homeland of Nokia, what could be more Finnish than this one? The next World Championships will be held on Aug. 22 in Punkaharju, eastern Finland. During the throw, the competitor must stay within the  area allocated. The phone must land within the marked throwing sector. Organizers say that  that “there will be no doping tests. However the jury can rule out the contestant if his/her mental or physical preparedness is not adequate for full a performance.” 

Sauna bathing contest. The 11th Sauna World Championships will be held at Heinola on Aug. 7-8. Rules state: “Competitors have to sit in the sauna with buttocks and thighs on the seat. Posture must be erect; elbows must stay on the knees and arms have to be in an upright position. "

Air guitar playing.  Masters of the make-believe gather each year at the Club Teatria in Oulu in northern Finland. There are training camps, lectures and demonstrations  as well as a competition.  The get-together will be  Aug. 19-21.

Swamp football. A  patch of muddy ground, two teams and a football are the  requirements for this one, and 2009 sees the 12th anniversary of the World Championships at Hyrynsalmi in northeastern Finland on July 17 - 18. If you lose your boots in the mud, that's toughbecause you can’t pause to change or replace them.

Other unusual events and pursuits: mosquito swatting (Lapland is prime country), milking stool throwing (farms up and down Finland), table drumming (bars and restaurants), sitting on an ant’s nest (in any forest you choose), team berry picking (Suomussalmi, eastern Finland) and a kick-sledding competition (Ylläs, Lapland).

For more about Finland and it's strange events, go to www.visitfinland.com.

Calling all sophisticated ladies (some of them, anyway)

The JW Marriott Denver at Cherry Creek wouldn't think of calling this package something like Girls' Night Out. Instead, it's the Sophisticated Celebration: Ladies Night Out package. Included are a night's accommodations, a $50 spa gift card, a complimentary drink or appetizer, European-style chocolates  and breakfast. The rate is $140 per person,  a savings of 25 percent over regular pricing. That's for double occupancy; single occupancy is $225 per night.

Click here or call 303-316-2700 and mention promo code GGK. For hotel info, visit www.jwmarriottdenver.com.

Who'd have thought it?

There is a Hooters restaurant in Buenos Aires.

Warming up for July 4 at St. Pete Beach

The TradeWinds resorts in St. Pete Beach, Fla., is offering a Red, White & Boom package  July 2-7,  beginning at $528 at the Island Grand and the Sandpiper Suites. The package includes three nights' accommodations, a Stars & Stripes party and buffet for two on Saturday, July 4, and many resort amenities.

Visit www.JustLetGo.com or call 866-587-8538.

Travel tip

You know those unopened little soaps and shampoos that are yours to bring home from your hotel room? Why not give them to a homeless shelter or other organization; many can really use them. (With thanks to Debbie Collins, a guide for Paragon Tours.)

The 'ghost' of Gershwin waxes rhapsodic in Michigan

This massive Mortier Dance Organ is known as the Amaryllis. 

George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" isn't always rendered the way the great man intended. Just ask his "ghost."

In 1925, some 12 years before his death, Gershwin sat down at the keyboard of an Aeolean Duo-Art Weber reproducing piano and created an exact record -- note for note, pause for pause, inflection for inflection –- of his famous "Rhapsody," and it is msiing the dramatic but non-authentic  finish that has been imposed of it by generations of conductors. Today that piano is in an air-controlled barn at the Music House Museum near Traverse City, Mich., and Gershwin plays for visitors several times a day. This is not one of those scratchy vintage recordings; the piano is playing just as though the  composer's ghostly hands were still tickling those ivories. 

That’s just one of the strange instruments in this quirky museum, which occupies a farm near the village of Acme. The Music House is home to a one-of-a-kind collection of rare  automated musical instruments and music-making machines, created between 1870 and 1930.
“Our instruments all play by themselves,” says director Sally Lewis.
These machines are often beautiful, carved and gilded, made with rare woods and metals, and decorated with bronze, stained glass and crystal. Among them: 

* An 1899 Regina Corona music box, with interchangeable metal discs that had the correct notes punched into them.

* An immense 1922 Belgian Mortier dance-hall organ, 20 feet high and 30 feet wide, with hundreds of pipes, bells, drums and whistles that would play dance tunes using “programming” punched into folded sheets of cardboard.

* The Mills Violano-Virtuoso, an automatic violin player that made music in theaters while silent movies played. This year it will join the select group of instruments that are played for tour groups. 

The Music House Museum is on U.S. 31, eight miles north of Traverse City. From May through October, it is open from 10 am to 4 pm Monday through Saturday, and noon to 4 pm on Sunday and on weekends in November and December. Tickets are $10 for adults, $3 for children 6-15 and free for youngsters 5 and under. There is also a family rate of $25.

For more on the music museum, which also has other attractions such as a minaturized version of Traverse City's Main Street, click here. For information on Traverse City, click here or call 800-TRAVERSE.

Trivial question

What is the name of the island the Statue of Liberty is located on? (easy.) What is its former name? (Not so easy.)  Answer Tuesday.

Amtrak has a 25-percent-off deal in Northeast

Amtrak has lowered fares on its Northeast Regional runs by as much as 25 percent.  Sample fares to or from New York: Philadelphia, $34;  Washington, D.C.,  $49; Boston, $49; Baltimore, $48; Providence,  $41. Tickets must be bought at least 14  days before traveling, and there are other conditions.

For all details, click here. The home page is at www.amtrak.com.

Worth quoting

"A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.”

                                                                                                                 -- John Steinbeck

Watch Finland's bears cavort -- live

Nowadays it's easy to see the wild bears of the Taiga forest in Eastern Finland, near the Russian border. Just tune in to the Bear Cam. The camera is installed in the animal observation site of the Wild Brown Bear Co., which arranges animal watching tours. The BearCam feeds live videos between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. daily.

Click here. And if the camera isn't currently trained on the bears, there are recent videos.

Sage hotels reward military by halving price

Active and retired members of the U.S. military and first responders can qualify for 50 percent off of at the 50 Sage hotels across the country, under a program called Half Price for Heroes. Reservations can be made by contacting the individual hotels and mentioning the special rate. You can also book through each hotel Web site, using the code LPR.

For a list of Sage hotels, click here. 

What's in a name?

The Pennsylvania Dutch are hardly all descended from Dutch people. The confusion stems from the German word "Deutsch," which of course means "German."

All about the fine wines of Portugal

Among the many pleasures of Portugal are its wines. For many things about them, including a list of 50 great ones, click here.