Auckland Airport Needs a Butterfly Garden

28 May.

I don't like airports. I don't really enjoy being stuck in a loud, crowded place that feels dreary and dirty. I can't go anywhere. It's an enforcd pause. The thing about the word 'pause' is that it implies (at least to me) a kind of relaxation, the same kind of relaxation that is amiss in airports. In Auckland, I always feel that I'm just waiting around for so long, yet when I finlly get anywhere, it's all so anticlimatic. I'm nervous about checking my bags and going to the gate for domestic flights, as though my insecurity and punctuality are warring inside my head. I don't mind flying (except for the lack of legroom but I'm not about to pay an extra 5000 dollars just for some leg space). It's just that airports fill me with anxiety, whether I'm flying international or domestic.

Or so I thought. Maybe it's just Auckland. Although I don't remember Sydney being all that nice. However, Singapore airport seems quite nice. I didn't even go to the mall part. The air-conditioning is a blessing - it's 33 degrees celsius at 7:30pm! The skycars that travel between the terminals awaken the writer and sci-fi fan in me. They're so slick and snazzy looking. Also, the airport is remarkably quiet, save the iPod buzzing in my ears. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that it's nighttime on a Thursday, this airport is massive and it isn't a holiday of any kind. Perhaps. That said, it doesn't have the claustrophobic feeling of Auckland airport. It's clean and perfumed (smells a bit like Jessie's perfume) and the trolley carts are Segues! Heck, I'd go so far as to say, "It's nice".

Now that I'm slightly more at ease, I must say that "travelators" are silly. Perhaps they're useful for the elderly or small children, but when a healthy adult rides along it and I can out pace him whilst walking on the carpet, it's just silly. Or when people grab a trolley, load it up with their bags and then step on the "travelator", it makes me a little sad to see that people can be that lazy. The trolley is already doing most of the work for you. And what's with the people who get on the things and then proceed to walk along them? If you are going to be silly enough to use them, at least use them properly. Yes I am that contradictory.

The man who was praying in front of the window has just left. If I were a paranoid person (and a racist) I might htink that things were going to go boom.
But I'm not paranoid.
I'm cynical.

On happier notes, on the plane I watched Doctor Who, The Big Bang Theory, and Attack the Gas Station! Read about a third of The Whisperers, the new John Connolly novel. No Gaiman/Pratchett yet, mostly because Connolly's book is less travel-friendly due to being much larger.

More fools on "travelators".

I have an apple in my bag. I'm growing hungry again - gods know why; I ate less than two hours ago and it should be 12:10am on my body clock. Curious to see if I can get it to Germany. Probably get nicked by some hungry customs officer, although it's quite possible that it's only NZ that is that paranoid about bio-security.

Thanks to everyone for the nice farewell texts.

Had enough with th air-con now. I'm chilly.