Nelson airport: the fourth busiest airport in New Zealand. About half the size of the Ithaca airport and the "security checkpoint" consisted of scanning my boarding pass and telling me which direction my gate was. Somehow, though, it was the first place I actually felt a bit of the Christmas spirt. (A difficult thing for a northerner when your days are piled high with sunshine and beaches.) The decorated Christmas trees, the live jazz pianist playing Christmas carols, the enclosed space from which you couldn't really tell the weather outside, the families actually meeting travelers at the gate when they arrive; it was lovely. I felt like I was a bystander in the scene at Hethrow airport in Love Actually. And now I get to meet my family when they arrive! Unfortunately Christchurch is slightly bigger, so I can't wait right at the gate, but I will see them through the next door at baggage claim!
A 50 minute flight hardly gives you enough time to look through the in-flight magazine before you land again, but it turned out to be quite an enjoyable one for me. I sat in my assigned seat (though there were several people who moved to the empty seats up front) and an older genteleman motioned that he was supposed to sit in my row at the window. As I stood to let him in, I realized I had actually read his lips rather than listening to his voice when he talked. After we settled in I noticed he had a small whiteboard and a dry erase marker with him. I got excited, thinking perhaps he was deaf, but then realized I know AMERICAN Sign Language and even if he was a deaf Kiwi who did sign, he would most definitely not use ASL.
