concordmonitor.com wrote A day in Columbus

Now that Skybus offers $10 flights out of Portsmouth, you can check out Ohio on the cheap

By KATE DAVIDSON

Monitor staff

December 16. 2007

I was halfway through my Kentucky Bourbon Eggnog ice cream at Jeni’s Ice Creams in the artsy Short North neighborhood when I started planning my next day trip to Columbus. What would I have to save for next time, and who could I recruit to come back with me?

It was only 3 o’clock and I had already explored the downtown, wandered through the historic German Village, mingled with vendors at the city’s 130-year-old public market, visited the largest university in the country and checked out William Wegman’s acclaimed photos of Weimaraners at the Wexner Center arts gallery. But there was still plenty more on my to-do list.

My day trip was made possible by bargain tickets from Skybus, the Columbus-based airline that offers the first 10 tickets on every flight for just $10.

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1. Check in online early. It will get your into a faster boarding group.

2. Try to sit towards the front if you want food. We sat around the back on our flight out and middle on the way back and both times they had already ran out of a few food options.

3. Uh… that’s about it. Really, it’s the same as any other plane I’ve been on. Just much much cheaper. ;)

Hope you have a good time. Let us know what you think!

recordonline.com wrote What to do with $10 flights to Columbus

December 04, 2007

But what about Columbus itself? After all, it is the state capital. What’s there to attract visitors?

Well, for starters, it’s home to Ohio State University, meaning local alums now will have a direct and cheap way to fly in for reunions and games, and parents of current students could only be a $10 ticket away from checking to see their sons and daughters aren’t getting too caught up in extracurricular activities. (Rolling Stone magazine four years ago rated Columbus No. 10 in the nation for campus scenes that rock.)

For those into historic preservation, there’s the German Village, a restored historical German community. Beth Ervin, a spokeswoman for tourism group Experience Columbus, said while the community is preserved, the population is much more diverse there today.

If art is more your thing, Columbus’ Short North Art District offers galleries that feature just about any medium, from glass to ceramics. Last year, AmericanStyle Magazine placed Columbus ninth on the list of top arts cities in the nation.

And, of course, everybody knows “Jungle Jack” Hanna, director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo, from his many appearances on “Late Show with David Letterman” and other programs. Fans now can fly to Columbus and catch one of his personal appearances.

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heraldtribune.com wrote What is there to do in Columbus? Shop

The question, of course, is what to do once you’ve flown the new budget airline from Punta Gorda to Columbus.

If a snowstorm sweeps through Ohio, like this week, the answer is simple: bundle up and gawk at the winter wonderland.

Under two inches of snow, even a used car lot looks magical to a Floridian.

If it’s not snowing, your fellow Skybus passengers recommend that you bundle up and … go shopping.

Columbus boasts Ohio State University — The Ohio State University — along with German Village and the state Capitol, but people steer you away from downtown. One by one, they say the magic word: “Easton,” as in the Easton Towne Center, a high-end shopping complex near the Port Columbus International Airport.

Easton is as fake as the 100-foot Christmas tree in the town square, but it’s breathtaking fakery. Red-brick stores with 30-foot ceilings. Upscale restaurants, bakeries and coffeeshops. A ginormous AMC movie theater.

Maybe people from Columbus are saving downtown and the university for themselves. Why else would they be giving directions to Easton?

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“The most painful additional charge”

“And forget speaking to an airline employee about your individual circumstances and why, for example, you couldn’t make that Thursday flight.”

“If you book a flight to San Francisco, for example, you’re going to San Francisco – (actually, on Skybus, the smaller Oakland airport) – even if it gets hit by a quake that levels everything but San Francisco International.”

“Skybus passengers do everything but fly online at Skybus.com, where the company’s services, fees and policies are all spelled out and phone numbers are as elusive as peace in the Middle East.”

“Skybus also has other quirks that you won’t see on other airlines.”

This does not seem like objective journalism when the goal is to compare Skybus to Delta. I guess overly emotional articles are nothing new, but this one seems a little worse than usual.

Thats ok – Cincinnati can keep their flights from the most expensive airport in the country, I will laugh all the way to the bank.

cincypost.com wrote Wallet-friendly skies

By Greg Paeth

Greater Cincinnati has been targeted by Skybus in full-page newspaper advertisements highlighting the $10 fares. Port Columbus International Airport, about a two-hour drive from most of the region, is close enough for travelers to drive to escape Delta Air Lines’ fares at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, which government data show are regularly the highest in the nation.

“The reaction in Columbus has been astonishing,” Tenenbaum said. “Prices tend to be 50 percent less than people are paying on other airlines out of Columbus.”

Kent Landers, a spokesman for Delta, which has its second largest U.S. hub at the Cincinnati airport, suggested that comparing Delta and Skybus is like comparing apples and oranges.

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Coremodels wrote What I’m amazed by is that everytime I read these, some out of towner fills me in on something about Columbus I have absolutely no clue about.

We have a Bruce Lee Legends of Martial Arts Museum??? Really???

I had never heard of it before either. But here it is!

http://www.thebruceleemuseum.com/about.html

Early Television Museum

We have a Bruce Lee Legends of Martial Arts Museum??? Really???

Someone somewhere is really trying to get that to catch on…

The Washington Post wrote Hello, Columbus

By Andrea Sachs

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Columbus is a full-blown metropolis, with enough attractions to cram a week’s itinerary and overwhelm a day’s calendar. The Arch City has the requisite diversions: culture (Columbus Museum of Art, Wexner Center for the Arts), sports (Blue Jackets hockey, Bruce Lee Legends of Martial Art Hall of Fame Museum), nature (Olentangy River Greenway) and “theme” neighborhoods, such as German Village and Victorian Village. However, when time is short, you have to be shrewd and even selfish with your hours. Yes, a tour of the Ohio Statehouse would enrich my brain, but honestly, I’d rather see Fluffy the snake at the Columbus Zoo, said to be as long as 31 children. (Would love to have witnessed that measurement.)

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inrich.com wrote You’ll love Columbus

So you’re flying Skybus? Use that layover time to get out and explore Ohio’s capital city

Sunday, Sep 30, 2007

By KATHERINE CALOS

Short North Arts District refers to a mile-long stretch of High Street between the downtown Columbus Convention Center and Fifth Avenue.

Thirty years ago, the area was in steep decline.

Now it has become one of the trendy spots in the Midwest, with about 150 independent art galleries, specialty shops, restaurants, pubs and clubs. In Richmond terms, it’s like a combination of Carytown’s shopping district and the downtown art district at the heart of the First Fridays Art Walk.

In Columbus, the art buzz builds on the first Saturday when the monthly Gallery Hop brings about 10,000 people to High Street between 4 and 10 p.m. Street performers add to the lure of gallery openings.

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http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/da2183afd28a4110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

I’m still looking forward to my Feb flights to LA and SanFran.