LAN Airlines surprises restaurant-goers with free tickets to South America

by Libby Zay on

Last night, LAN Airlines surprised nearly 200 unsuspecting patrons at Nuela restaurant in New York with free round trip tickets to South America. The Oprah-style giveaway kicks off the company’s Only in South America campaign, a multi-year effort to promote travel to the region.

In the midst of busy dinner hours, guests at the South American restaurant in Manhattan’s Flatiron district were directed to look under their tables for a major surprise. Moments later, everyone in the restaurant was holding a voucher for a ticket to any LAN destination in South America, including destinations in Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Peru.

“It was a genuine pleasure to see the restaurant full of dinner guests enjoying South American dishes all of a sudden receive the unexpected news that they were getting the chance to travel to where our cuisine originates, just because they were at the right place at the right time,” said Chef Adam Schop. Schop was recently awarded Star Chef’s 2011 Rising Star award, and New York Times touted his arroz con pato (duck paella) “best tasting dish of the year.”

Those who weren’t lucky enough to be gifted with tickets can still enter an online sweepstakes to win tickets to Quito, Guayaquil, Lima, Santiago or Buenos Aires by following @LANAirlinesUSA. The contest ends October 13th.

Nomadic Matt is giving away free airline tickets to readers

by Libby Zay on

Travel blogger Nomadic Matt is celebrating five years of globetrotting by gifting his readers with free airplane tickets – including one for an around-the-world trip. The transient sightseer accumulated 350,000 miles on American Airlines over the past year, and decided he’s going to give away the tickets because he wants to make other people’s dream a reality.

One lucky winner will get a ‘Oneworld Explorer‘ round-the-world ticket, which has a stipulation that the traveler must touch down on at least three continents. Not bad! A second place winner will get a roundtrip business class ticket to anywhere in the world, while a third place winner will receive two economy class tickets to the destination of their choice (again, anywhere in the world).

The best part is that contest entrants don’t need to make a fancy video, write a blog, or go through a time consuming voting process. All you have to do is become a fan of Nomadic Matt on Facebook, which will allow you to see a contest form. Fill out the form and choose where you want to go, and if you win (a winner will be chosen at random), Nomadic Matt will send you there! It’s that easy.

[Photo courtesy Nomadic Matt]

Video of the Day: Cruise ship belly flop contest

by Mike Barish on

I’ve never been on cruise but we cover them pretty extensively here at Gadling. Everything I know about the cruise industry I’ve learned from Saturday Night Live. So, you can imagine my confusion when I saw this video posted online today. Apparently, Royal Caribbean ships have belly flop contests. And, apparently some people film them. From the massive crowd watching each flop as if it’s Game 7 of the World Series to the painful water landings to the ultra-perky MC, this video has everything that you need to either brighten your day or send you into a shame spiral after you realize that you scored every single belly flop as if you were an Olympic judge. We apologize for stealing ten minutes of your life.

Spend a month at the museum – literally!

by Kraig Becker on

Have you ever walked the halls of a particularly great museum and wished that you could just stay there forever, soaking in the art, historical displays, or scientific demonstrations? Then we have just the thing for you, as the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago is hosting its second Month at the Museum contest. The winner gets to live at the museum 24/7 for a full month.

Applications are now being accepted for Month at the Museum 2, with the winner living, breathing, and eating science every day for 30 days straight. While taking up residence at MSI, the person selected will be blogging, tweeting, and posting videos of their experiences at the 14-acre facility. And once the museum closes for the night, they’ll have the run of the place to explore to their heart’s content.

If you’re interested in becoming this year’s temporary tenant, you’ll need to be available to move in from October 19th to November 17th. You’ll also be outfitted with a number of tech gadgets to help you serve as the museum’s ambassador for the month, and you’ll receive $10,000 cash for your trouble as well.

Last year, Kate McGroarty won the job and her experiences are still archived online here. It seems she had a great time and enjoyed her stay at the museum. Perhaps it’s your turn this year?

Drink your way to Portugal with this new contest

by McLean Robbins on

If we weren’t traveling and writing about it for a living, we think it would be pretty cool to be a spirits writer. I mean, we get paid to travel and they get paid to drink.

Now, you can put your amateur mixologist skills to the test with Sandeman Port’s newest contest, where the winner will snag a five night trip for two to Oporto, Portugal.

To enter, create an original drink with Sandeman Founder’s Reserve Port ($16-$18 per bottle). Photograph your drink and e-mail it to The Don (that’s Dailo Calado, an acclaimed Portugese mixologist and cocktail expert). The company and Calado will judge your drink of choice on taste, creativity, and originality.

The grand prize includes airfare, hotel accommodations, breakfast and dinner daily, a tour of the Sandeman Port Wine Museum, two city tours and oh-so-important travel insurance.

Like most contests these days, you can enter on Facebook between now and June 15.


Psst – if you prefer wine, we’ve got another trip contest idea from a wine company that can take you to New Zealand.

[Flickr via flydime]