Everything has been painless so far.
Got an early flight from Christchurch to Auckland. Just don’t trust the weather at the moment, so it’s better to be bored in Auckland than shitting ourselves in Christchurch.
Bags are tagged to Lax Angeles, so just a stroll across to the international terminal. Somebody told me that they are preparing the foundation for the new domestic to the international terminal, but I could see no sign of it. Best they get on with it.
Those of us who are intimately involved with Christchurch airport are painfully aware of its shortcomings. But by comparison, Auckland international terminal is just a shit hole. Seriously, this is the first thing international visitors see?
I know that I normally reserve the term shit hole for LA, and that still stands, from a city perspective. But for an international gateway airport, Auckland is just embarrassing.
For clarity, I’m referring to what is called landside, the parts open to the public. That includes the overcrowded check-in area and the slum-worthy food court.
Needless to say, we head through to airside pretty sharpish.
The entrance to customs has been redesigned, again, and it’s pretty nice. Then there is the new and improved AVSEC security check. A big chunk of real estate is used up in the roller coaster ride that is the journey of the bins to drop your iPads and lip balms into. No, maybe it’s more like the journey of your bowling ball as it is returned to you. There’s a big sweeping arc for the bins. Sorry for all the similes with the AvSec trays. Roller coaster. Bowling ball return. It even reminds me of a sushi train. I wonder if the guy that designed it was thinking about all of those things as well. Describing the mechanics takes longer than the process itself, so let’s move on.
The Immigration process is pretty standard now around the world of modern airports. Slide your passport in, look at the camera, move along please.
The international departure lounge at Auckland is also pretty modern and same-same with all the others. Lots of shiny things to attract the magpies.
Find our way to the Koru Lounge, and we can relax for a couple of hours. This is the first time I’ve been to this new lounge, and it’s nice. Bigger than the last one. Not many in the lounge, so we change seats a couple of times to find a good location. It fills quickly, so I’m glad we ‘nested’ first.
Got an early flight from Christchurch to Auckland. Just don’t trust the weather at the moment, so it’s better to be bored in Auckland than shitting ourselves in Christchurch.
Bags are tagged to Lax Angeles, so just a stroll across to the international terminal. Somebody told me that they are preparing the foundation for the new domestic to the international terminal, but I could see no sign of it. Best they get on with it.
Those of us who are intimately involved with Christchurch airport are painfully aware of its shortcomings. But by comparison, Auckland international terminal is just a shit hole. Seriously, this is the first thing international visitors see?
I know that I normally reserve the term shit hole for LA, and that still stands, from a city perspective. But for an international gateway airport, Auckland is just embarrassing.
For clarity, I’m referring to what is called landside, the parts open to the public. That includes the overcrowded check-in area and the slum-worthy food court.
Needless to say, we head through to airside pretty sharpish.
The entrance to customs has been redesigned, again, and it’s pretty nice. Then there is the new and improved AVSEC security check. A big chunk of real estate is used up in the roller coaster ride that is the journey of the bins to drop your iPads and lip balms into. No, maybe it’s more like the journey of your bowling ball as it is returned to you. There’s a big sweeping arc for the bins. Sorry for all the similes with the AvSec trays. Roller coaster. Bowling ball return. It even reminds me of a sushi train. I wonder if the guy that designed it was thinking about all of those things as well. Describing the mechanics takes longer than the process itself, so let’s move on.
The Immigration process is pretty standard now around the world of modern airports. Slide your passport in, look at the camera, move along please.
The international departure lounge at Auckland is also pretty modern and same-same with all the others. Lots of shiny things to attract the magpies.
Find our way to the Koru Lounge, and we can relax for a couple of hours. This is the first time I’ve been to this new lounge, and it’s nice. Bigger than the last one. Not many in the lounge, so we change seats a couple of times to find a good location. It fills quickly, so I’m glad we ‘nested’ first.
No comments:
Post a Comment