Layover: Minneapolis – Saint Paul

by Annie Scott on


Ah, MSP. A layover in this sprawling north coast airport can be a great time, or abject Hell. Here are some ways to have fun if you find yourself flying into this flyover state.

(I can say that; I’m from there. And I love it. And it knows.)

Shorter (2 hour) layovers

I’ll be assuming you’re flying into the Lindbergh Terminal. If you’ve got under two hours and you’ve landed at the smaller, aggressively clean Humphrey Terminal (the HHH, after Hubert H. Humphrey), taking the light rail to Lindbergh is not worth it. You’ve got a coffee shop. Sit down and enjoy the quiet; that terminal is usually a ghost town. (That’s the reason there’s not much to do there — everything closes because there isn’t enough traffic.)
The Lindbergh Terminal is the opposite of a ghost town, which I guess would be a … town. With concourses A through G and “The Mall” in the middle, as well as a snappy little tram, it’s a bustling airport with lots of choices for restaurants and shopping. I highly recommend French Meadow Bakery and Cafe located in concourse F, which is a mini version of a favorite in Uptown Minneapolis in the Lyn-Lake area. I wish it were a sit-down restaurant and not counter service, but I can’t argue with the delicious breakfast, lunch, and dinner offerings made with organic and local ingredients. It’s an actual taste of Minnesota.

If you want to do some Minnesota-esque shopping, you can stop at Minnesota! for wooden birds and the like. Every home in Minnesota has a wooden bird. I don’t know why this is. Or, if you prefer to do as the locals would do (or you are a local, or you already have a wooden bird, or both), you can hit up Harley Davidson, Hugo Boss, or pick up some sporty stuff at the creatively named Sports Minnesota.

If you’re into drinking, nature’s cure for flight nerves, TGI Fridays has cheap drink upgrades (an extra shot for a buck or two), and Tequileria in concourse G will give you a plastic shaker if you drink enough margaritas. They serve 1800 Reposado there, which happens to be a really great tequila. Added perk of Tequileria: fun to say.

The best burger and the best beer in the joint are conveniently located together at Rock Bottom Brewery & Restaurant — and click that link if you’re going there. Free coupons.

You can also hit up Tumi in the Mall if you forgot a suitcase and feel like carrying an empty one (I’ve never understood suitcase shops in airports), or get your shoes shined a lot of places. Got kids with you? You can kill an hour or so playing with all the toys at Creative Kidstuff. Heck, I can kill an hour or so playing with all the toys at Creative Kidstuff.

Longer layovers (4+ hours)

Whether you’re at Lindbergh or Humphrey, if you’ve got more than four hours, you’re gonna want to leave the airport. Why? Because it’s easy and there’s lots to do! The fancy light rail, also known as The Hiawatha Line (after the street it’s built along), is your friend.

If you don’t care much about Minneapolis but want to occupy yourself, take the light rail over to the Mall of America. It’s like, right there. The Mall of America has four giant department stores, three floors of shops (mostly chains), a huge movie theater, an aquarium, and a freaking amusement park in the middle. With like, roller coasters and a log flume and stuff. It’s totally out of control. The Mall of America is perfect for some, but strikes horror into the hearts of others.

If you’re on the “others” team, then take the light rail the other way and head to Downtown Minneapolis. It’s great that you don’t need a car to get downtown and play.

What to do in Downtown Minneapolis? Well, there’s lots of shopping and eating, especially on Nicollet Mall, and St. Anthony Main has a number of bars and restaurants with a view of the Mississippi River. If you’re there, you should also check out Nye’s Polonaise, which was called “The Best Bar in America” by GQ, and rightly so: Polka music in one room, a piano bar, and an old-timey feel make it cozy and fun — and the food’s not bad either. If you’re looking for a great meal, though, my very favorite restaurant in Minneapolis is a hop, skip, and a jump from the light rail: Cafe Brenda. Cafe Brenda is a mostly-vegetarian restaurant with some poultry and fish options, and the food is to die for. Get the mushroom pate appetizer. Yum.

If it’s a cold month? No worries: Minneapolis is all indoorily connected with an elaborate, 8 mile skyway system — click here to download a map. If it’s warm enough to walk around outside, I recommend heading down to the outrageously large and blue new Guthrie Theater, which sits right on the Mississippi River. There are bars and restaurants inside, as well as a really cool “endless bridge” from which you can watch the water.

Other tips:

So, hopefully that helps you through the pain that is the layover — Minneapolis is a great town, and thanks to the light rail, it’s really easy to get right downtown in a jiffy. Just make sure to get back to the airport in time to catch your flight!

Train from Chicago to Minneapolis news

by Annie Scott on

As a born and raised Minneapolitan, I am very excited about the possibility of a high speed train running between the Twin Cities and Chicago.

“Plans are moving fast to spend more than $1 billion on high-speed rail between the Twin Cities and Chicago,” writes Mike Kaszuba of the Star Tribune. But he warns that we shouldn’t get too excited about the “high speed” aspect; the trains will top out at 110 mph and average 78 mph, nowhere near the 200 mph speeds achieved in Europe and Japan.

Still a lot faster than driving, is what I say. Faster would be better, but $1 billion is already a lot of money in a recession. Let’s just get the thing built.

You know what it would cost to get a 220 mph train? About $33 billion, based on estimates regarding a San Francisco to Los Angeles train (about the same distance). Fat chance we’re gonna get that! Stop fighting, guys. Build it.

Photo of the day (5.12.09)

by Grant Martin on

I found myself outside of the Minneapolis – Saint Paul international airport for one of the first times in my life this past weekend, in stark contrast to the dozens of times that I’ve passed through it’s flagellating halls.

It’s actually quite nice. During the spring and summer times, the land of 10,000 lakes boasts myriad picturesque landscapes, including the above shot taken by Patrick Powers over at Flickr. Nice shot, Patrick.

Got any cool photos that you’d like to share with the world? Add them to the Gadling Pool on Flickr and it might be chosen as our Photo of the Day. Make sure you save them under Creative Commons though, otherwise we can’t use them!

Budget Travel: Minneapolis, Minnesota

by Josh Lew on


Minneapolis. What comes to mind? Prince’s purple jumpsuit, Francis McDormand’s accent in the movie Fargo, the Mall of America and six months of winter.

Perhaps the larger of the Twin Cities (Saint Paul being the smaller) is not on the tourist map, but it often gets props for being a nice place to live. (Forbes called it most affordable city to live well. The Minneapolis suburb of Plymouth was rated the best place to live by CNNMoney).

So it’s a fine place to live. But why visit?

First, there is the food…then the live music, the art, the coffee shops, and, of course, the fact that Minneapolis is second only the New York in number of theater seats per capita.

Bring your coat (and if your ears are delicate, a hat as well) during the winter, but don’t expect ice fishing weather from April to October. That is when the city’s lakes, trails, and outdoor events make it a budget traveler’s dream destination.


Get In
It will soon be cheaper to fly to Minneapolis. Southwest will be launching flights to and from Chicago Midway in March. From Chicago, you can get a connection to any city in the US that Southwest flies. That will drive down airfares to MSP, once a stronghold of Northwest. Names like Megabus, Greyhound and Amtrak are also players in the transit game. Minneapolis sits in the cross-hair made by Interstates 35 and 94. It is reachable by car in a day from virtually anywhere in the Midwest.

Getting Around
The bus and train system is better than average for a mid-sized city, but still far from perfect. This is a driving city, especially if you want to take advantage of outdoor activities. Summer is bicycling weather and most of the urban destinations are within pedaling distance of one another. Buses and the new light rail system both allow bikers to bring their wheels on board.

What to do
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is free every day and often holds special events and exhibits. The nationally famous Walker Art Museum has free admission on the evening of the first Thursday of every month (with plenty of events and activities on offer). The adjacent sculpture garden is open year round, but is mainly a summertime attraction. The Como Zoo (actually in Saint Paul) does not charge for entry and is known for its polar bears and penguin exhibit. It is also free to peruse the art galleries in the growing hipster hot-spot of Northeast Minneapolis (Nordeast).

Theater prices can vary greatly. The Orpheum and Guthrie put on world-class stage productions, but tickets are highly priced unless you luck out in the rush line. There are plenty of other professional theaters and live music venues. These vary in size from a few thousand to a few seats. City Pages (print version is free at pretty much every restaurant, coffee shop and bar in the city) has a complete list of weekly events plus a collection of liberal editorial rants and naughty adverts in back. There is no better source for what happening and what’s cheap each week.

What to do (summer)
An evening stroll around Lake Harriet or Lake Calhoun, capped by a stop at one of the neighborhood bars or cafés in the area, is a pleasant (and cheap) way to spend a few hours. If you are on the prowl, such a trek can easily be seen as a chance to check out some attractive joggers. If that’s too low-brow, there’s the Shakespeare in the Park series during the summer and $2 movies at the historic Riverview Theater near the Mississippi River Road.

Where to Eat
Ethnic eateries line University Ave in St. Paul (from the State Capital to Snelling). These offer a filling, good meal for under 10 dollars. There is a similar strip in Minneapolis on Nicollet Ave. Sandwich shops, bistros, and cafes offer cheap fare throughout South Minneapolis and near the University of Minnesota.

Where to Drink
Nordeast is one of those hip artsy neighborhoods. Though its desirability is growing, there are still plenty of spots catering to the “I’m hip and creative but rather poor” crowd. Lots of these have live music or events on the weekend evenings (and good people watching every night of the week). If you are looking for some fun of the beer-in-a-pitcher variety, virtually any venue on or near the U of M campus will do.

Minneapolis offers a genuinely laid back trip. Cold weather or warm, there is plenty going on. And no, not everyone talks like Francis McDormand in Fargo.

More Budget Destinations on Gadling

MSP has a fun game on Concourse F

by Annie Scott on


Traveling through MSP over the holidays, I came across a bunch of kids going nuts in the hall on the way from security to Concourse F. Kids usually know what’s fun, so I stopped to see what they were doing.

There was a series of moving posters on the wall, like the one you see above. All looked like red umbrellas, but when the kids touched them, the pieces of the umbrella would scatter like dry leaves. Naturally, kids had their coats off and were circling them overhead, whooping the poster panels cowboy-style.

The neatest thing was, if you touched just the bottom of the umbrella, or just the middle, only that part would break apart. The motion sensors integrated in the projection were that specific!

The whole thing is an advertisement for Travelers Insurance (note the red umbrella logo). Click through the gallery to watch the kids play, and next time you have an MSP layover, go check it out on Concourse F!
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