Antipodean ease

Auckland airport (nahh, i'm not still there):  one of my strongest memories of my times in NZ  has been the ease and generosity of Kiwis.   while experiencing it in a small town is a sweet surprise, to have a similar experience in the International terminal of a major airport is even more pleasing:

the Air New Zealand employee who offered to make a call for me to inquire about carrying bottles of duty free gin (presents for Anna) onto the domestic flight from Melbourne to Launceton.  In the states, once thru Customs and Immigration, duty free liquids have to be packed into checked luggage.  Can you say "gin-soaked clothing?"

inquiring about the above at the Duty Free shop, both the manager and the woman employee offered to put their names on the receipt so that if i weren't able to carry the two bottles thru onto my domestic flight in Australia, they would refund my money. Imagine that at an airport in the states....  not likely.

the woman security officer standing at the metal detector who offered to hold my silver-buckled belt when i forgot to remove it before approaching the detector.  the simple fact of NOT having to remove shoes when going thru security.

I feel i can breathe again, that small daily requirements (especially at an international airport) do not carry the sense of imminent danger should i inadvertently do something "wrong."  LIfe here -- to generalize about NZ and Australia, but these are both places where i've spent a lot of time since 1965 -- does not seem to be lived on the defensive. I more and more understand my brother saying that when he returned home to Sydney he felt he had just "been let out of prison." 

Here, the common response to any spoken thanks on my part is "not a problem..." The only place i have this same experience is home in Boulder...

Taking off for Melbourne, looking down at a pleasant green and gently rolling landscape, with an inviting delicate and human scale, i smile.... it just makes me smile in familiar comfort, seeing the land where i experienced -- again -- such easy generosity.

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Flight:

and we took off for Melbourne.  the seatback video monitor:

the seatback screen  offers not only movies, music and all the other distractions (including seat to seat texting -- now where was that attractive woman sitting?) that have replaced books as reliable travel companions, but travel info from Lonely Planet guides for all Qantas destinations.  For Hobart, the Tasmanian capital there are sections on Eating, Accomodations, Sights, and my personal favorite: "Dangers and Annoyances."  Such an Anglicism, "annoyances;" I half expect it to list "aggressive squirrels" and "ill-behaved children" instead of the usual cautions about not wandering around drunk if you are a single woman.  It's mentioned so lightly...


The oddities of International travel

Sitting next to two engaging older women from the UK, bound for Hong Kong and home after 4 months in NZ, they ask about my travel plans and point out an ad for Banff and Jasper BC in the airline mag.  Well,  i JUST HAPPEN to have photos from the 2006 motorcycle trip i made up there with my German motorcycling partner Thomas from Hamburg (with who, oddly enough, I've done more miles and kilometers than anyone who lives in the States).

So, T: I'm sitting on an Aussie plane flying across the Tasman sea from NZ to Oz, showing two British women photos of a Canadian motorcycle trip on  German motorcycles taken by a German and an America  on a Japanese computer while feeling great affection for you and missing your company. Can't always complain about the 21st century, can we?

two of the photos i showed them, the Grand Tetons....