If you like to relax in Chicago late at night by getting sloshed at O'Hare airport, you'll like this news:

Chicago's city council has unanimously approved 24-hour liquor sales in Chicago's two international airports, O'Hare and Midway. Previously, their airports' alcohol sales were banned between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. (Monday to Saturday) and banned between 3 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Sundays.

According to the Chicagoist, "all 32 restaurants at O'Hare and 11 at Midway with liquor licenses now have the OK to stay open 24/7 to keep you drunk before you hit the sky because, hey, what could go wrong?"

And every bar in O'Hare airport has a Bavarian theme

Chicago is such a party town, you can even order beer, wine, and mixed alcoholic drinks from airport pushcarts. Gregg Cunningham, Coordinator of Special Projects at the Chicago Department of Aviation, emailed me to confirm that "there are two (2) pushcarts in operation at O’Hare International Terminal 5 by Parades bar and one pushcart at Midway in Concourse A." 

As Canadians, we have found various ways to celebrate winter. As they say, if you can’t beat the winter, might as well join it. And why not join it by celebrating that quintessential Canadian product — Icewine. Throughout the month of January, the Niagara region is putting on a host of parties to commemorate the Icewine harvest.

Enjoying Icewine at the festival. Courtesy Wine Country Ontario

It's early here on the west coast: 6:30 a.m. Not unusual for many people but mega-early for a writer. Yet surprisingly I'm up, alert, and working after an excellent 7-hour sleep.

I'm particularly surprised because I dosed myself with a sleep agent late last night.

It's nice to sleep on airport floors.     AP Photo/Seth Wenig

The stuff's called Dream Water and according to its makers, it's "the first scientifically formulated, zero calorie, 2.5 oz shot with no preservatives and natural, active ingredients that help you relax and fall asleep." The packaging says it's a "Sleep & Relaxation Shot" and that it's "DRUG FREE" so you'll "WAKE REFRESHED" (whoa, easy on the block letters there, I'm not thaaaat awake yet).

Their website (which has a photo of a student who's passed out on her books while seemingly still clutching her Dream Water container) boasts that their sleep agent is "more effective than counting sheep" which is a pretty easy claim, considering how hard it is to feed, house, and tally a massive herd of sheep. Here's the unconscious student:

If you're not getting enough action on airplanes, there's hope. Virgin America wants to be your wingman.

Virgin will soon let you send a drink to that hottie across the aisle. You won't even have to talk to him/her. Just press a button and the flight attendant will deliver alcohol to their seat.

According to a recent USA Today story, Virgin America's "passengers can use the plane's seat-back entertainment system to buy their neighbors a margarita, merlot, or maybe a shot of tequila." 

WOW. Virgin America's 'send a drink' feature is a game changer that's simply rife with possibilities/abuse.

In the popular blog, Airports Made Simple, the author writes, "See a cutie in 11B? Send her a Cosmo! Does 24E look like a Scotch sipper? Order up a shot of their best whiskey! No progress? Keep sending them over. Someone will drink them. It’s a win-win. You: big points with 11B or 24E. The airline: more money. And everyone has a good time!"

Just look at how much this woman is enjoying her free drink. She's even writing a tipsy thank you note.

Wow, here's someone you never want to sit beside.

This airline passenger drank so much alcohol, he had to be restrained with zipties and plastic tape.

According to eyewitness accounts and Iceland's Morgunblaðið newspaper (Note: the story is all in Icelandic, so enjoy), the wretchedness happened on an Icelandair flight bound for JFK. This fella drank "an entire bottle" of duty free alcohol, then went gonzo on his fellow travellers. He groped, choked, and repeatly spat on crew and other passengers. He also began yelling that the plane would crash.

You might think 'Hang on, let's not be so quick to judge. Maybe he saw something the trained pilots didn't. Maybe he saw a man on the wing who was trying to destroy the plane. In these cases, we all know that spitting is the best way to get people's attention.'

Planning any fun winter vacations?

I'm excited about an upcoming trip to Mexico. My superfine girlfriend (SG) wrote a travel story that won her a trip-for-2 to an all-inclusive resort in Huatulco. And instead of taking her boss, a family member, or some secret Craigslist lover, she's invited me to come along.

Did both these people come to Huatulco with somebody else? 

I'd never heard of Huatulco (pronounced wah-tool-co) before but the Internet assures me it's a real place. Huatulco is a new 5-star resort destination located in the state of Oaxaca (whah-ha-ka) on Mexico's southern Pacific coast, about 500 kilometers southeast of Acapulco and 900 km northwest of Guatemala City. Huatulco gets 330 days of sunshine a year and pretty much hovers at 30 degrees Celsius each day.

The travel writing contest was held by Wanderlust and Lipstick, "Your destination for women's travel," which features travel stories written exclusively by women. The site's editor, Beth Whitman, is certainly a veteran traveller. She's been threatened by Nicaraguan motorcycle cops and had a hand grenade pulled on her in Cambodia.

Meanwhile my SG's travel story -- on how she ran in a wine-tasting marathon near Bordeaux --  beat 250 other entrants to win Wanderlust and Lipstick's first prize of a 1-week stay at Secrets Huatulco Resort & Spa. Great prize, hey?

If the end of the world really does go down on Dec. 21 -- as predicted by ancient Mayans (well, not really), New Age types and that exuberantly bearded gentleman rifling through my recycling -- it will put a bit of a damper on what has become a flourishing niche: apocalypse tourism.

After all, who wouldn't want to bid farewell to life, the universe and everything atop a spectacular mountain, in an awe-inspiring temple, or in a dank Soviet bunker? Indeed, it seems the only thing more varied than the doomsday theories attached to 12/21/12 -- interplanetary collision? Spiritual transformation? The Coming of the Great White Handkerchief? -- are the locations believers are flocking to for the big day.

One of the most popular spots, apparently, is the ancient city of Tikal in Guatemala (pictured below). Not only was it once a Mayan metropolis, but the archaeological site played the planet Yavin 4 in Star Wars: Episode IV. (In case you have a life and don't already know, it was from Yavin 4 that the Rebel Alliance launched its attack on the Galactic Empire's Death Star.)

The Death Star was capable of destroying entire planets. Armageddon would destroy our planet. Ergo, the place is reportedly crawling with wannabe Jedi knights and crystal-wearing weirdos. Heck, just last week park guards reportedly had to apprehend 13 naked women who were dancing and chanting around a fire pit near the temples. 

photo credit: chensiyuan/wikipedia

Beers are on them!

In a class action settlement last week, a Chicago judge declared that Southwest Airlines must buy up to 5.8 million beers for its passengers. The settlement could be worth $29 million USD.

In October 2007, Southwest (the USA's biggest low-cost airline) started giving free alcohol vouchers to customers who'd purchased premium-priced "Business Select" flight tickets. Each voucher was worth $5 in booze bucks...and most importantly, the vouchers didn't have expiry dates. Strangely enough (to me, at least) many passengers hung onto their vouchers instead of cashing 'em in for brews.

Then, on August 1, 2010, the airline stopped honoring these vouchers. According to a Chicago Tribune story, Southwest's new policy said that "Business Select passengers may use their vouchers only on the day of travel printed on them, essentially voiding all previously issued vouchers."

Cheap move. 

Want a fun mid-winter getaway?

It’s called Rowena’s Inn, you’ve never heard of it before, and you'll find it on a massive 160-acre estate (with its own air strip!) close to the tiny town of Harrison Mills, BC about 1.5 hours east of Vancouver along the tranquil Harrison River. 

The inn is both an inn and a group of cabins (more on those below). The inn itself looks like a giant ogre ripped a lovely Victorian manor out of the English countryside, carried it across the Atlantic, and then plopped it down in the deceptively-sleepy town of Cabot Cove, Maine where each Sunday night, Angela Lansbury solves a homicide in the drawing room committed by a fresh celebrity guest star. Except, instead of Maine, Rowena’s Inn is hidden by snow-gilded evergreen trees in the Fraser Valley of southwestern BC.

My pulse raced when I saw it gleaming in the late-morning sun.

I have always wanted an Airstream RV -- those curvaceous aluminum caravans made famous in Tom Robbins' Skinny Legs and All -- and there, nestled amongst the barbecues, patio furniture and bean-bag chairs on display at the Aeroplan loyalty program's annual media showcase, was the trailer of my dreams (pictured at left).

I could hardly wait to blurt out "How many Miles for the Land Yacht?" as I sidled up to the check-in desk in Toronto's cavernously cool Airship 37 event space.

If I was a bit brusque, then I may have deserved my hosts' smiling reply: The RV was merely for show, its adorable little kitchen churning out hot chocolate for media guests.

This was not the answer I was looking for, but my bitter disappointment was soon tempered by 1) a large mug of marshmallows with a thin undercoating of hot chocolate, and 2) a range of new loyalty-program rewards that even smelled nice.