Free services abound at airports around the country

There's a 95 percent chance Senior Editor Christine Sarkis is thinking about travel right now. Follow her on Instagram @postcartography and Twitter @ChristineSarkis.

Christine Sarkis is an SATW-award-winning journalist and executive editor at SmarterTravel. Her stories have also appeared on USA Today, Conde Nast Traveler, Huffington Post, and Business Insider. Her advice has been featured in dozens of print and online publications including The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, and People magazine. She has also shared travel tips on television and radio shows including Good Morning America, Marketplace, and Here & Now. Her work has been published in the anthologies Spain from a Backpack and The Best Women's Travel Writing 2008. She is currently working on a travel memoir.

The Handy Item I Always Pack: The Trtl Pillow. It's easy to pack and comfortable, and makes it so I can actually sleep on flights.

Ultimate Bucket List Experience: Seeing the Aurora Borealis from the comfort of somewhere warm, like a glass igloo or hot spring.

Travel Motto: Curiosity is an amazing compass.

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Email Christine Sarkis at editor@smartertravel.com.

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There’s been a real shortage of good news about air travel this week, which is why I want to pass along this sunny-side-of-life USAToday.com story.

Columnist Harriet Baskas lists some of the free services and perks you’ll find at airports around the country. If the wave of safety-inspection-related flight cancellations continues, we’re all going to be spending a lot more time waiting in airports, which will make knowing about airport freebies even more valuable.

The list is surprisingly long, but here are a few that stood out for me:

Free phone calls: As payphones go the way of the 8-track, it gets more difficult to make calls if you don’t have a cell phone, or if your cellphone isn’t charged. However, airports like Iowa’s Sioux Gateway Airport and Nevada’s Reno-Tahoe International Airport have installed banks of phones that allow travelers to make free local and toll-free calls.
Free exhibits: Many airports host art and history exhibits, which make passing the time when you’re waiting out a delay or a layover a lot more interesting.
Free Wi-Fi: Airports are catching on that passengers really like free Wi-Fi, and more of them around the country are offering the service to the laptop-lugging masses.

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