Hi there
Stock photo. Los Angeles International Terminal
Just a word for the wise, or the maybe-not-so-wise when they're leaving the United States for a visit to New Zealand -
What to wear at your departing airport when it's an American summer, especially in August....?
Don't wear summer clothes.
When I was sitting in the Air New Zealand departure area at the Los Angeles International Terminal, I glanced at the people around me. It was so easy to spot the smug Southern Hemisphere know-it-alls, myself included. We'd exchanged our California summerwear for puffer jackets, fleecy trousers, clod-hopper trainers, our pockets a-bulge with mittens, woolly beanies, and cough drops.
Many Northern Hemisphere people appeared to have come straight from someone's backyard pool party: floaty chiffon-y dresses, light cardigans, Jandals ('flip-flops' or 'thongs' if you're from some other parts of the world), shorts, Hawaii shirts....
No-no-no. No.
I can understand that many first-time long-distance travellers don't know how chilly it gets on a plane that might take 14 hours to reach its destination, but to not check up on the weather season at plane's end is totally wrong.
June, July, August are New Zealand winter months. It's topsy-turvey to the Northern Hemisphere. In many areas, we have snow and winning Olympic snow-board athletes. Even in places that don't get snow, we're still winter-cold, especially in Wellington with its gale-force winds and seemingly forever-rain. And, more advice, be careful travelling the West Coast of the South Island in winter.
I guess it's all because we are close to the South Pole...
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