Yet for the weary and ever so slightly jet lagged traveller, one whose clothes are starting to become self-aware, things are different but slightly familiar at the same time; speaking the same language and driving on the right side of the road certainly helps.
First impressions are always important. For instance you can tell a great deal from the nature of the customs officers. They are very revealing about the country as a whole. Of course I'm generalising here. Well just a little bit....
For example, the Austrian customs officers, in my experience, are officious so you never quite shake off the feeling that you are not entirely welcome. New York immigration control? Brusque and direct. Even our own are a little stand-offish. You're never going to get a welcoming hug and a kiss on the cheek from a customs officer but a smile and a 'Welcome home' wouldn't go amiss.
New Zealand, on the other hand, couldn't have been friendlier. We actually had a chat with the border control chap. A proper conversation. OK so it was about sewer engineering but you have to start somewhere! I think we are going round for dinner a week on Tuesday.
Even the bio-control desk had a bit of a laugh and joke with us. Finding a seed in the tread of a running shoe in Austria would have probably got you shot. Not here. What followed was a conversation about the relative merits of shoe sole design, a bit of a joke about why did I feel it necessary to bring quite so many pairs and then a thorough clean of the offending shoes. Impressive, they look brand new and left me regretting that I didn't bring more pairs. It's a long way to come but if you want any shoes cleaning this is definitely the place to come! The whole experienced screamed 'Welcome to New Zealand - have a great time!'.
And so we do. And will. And with that we took a taxi to our hotel, marvelled at the unusual parking lot, and fell fast asleep.
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