Christchurch International Airport

Continuing from my previous post (oh no you're going to write another review), not exactly a review today but 'about' Christchurch International Airport (CHC). See the difference? :p

As the bus stopped at the international terminal it was really convenient for me as I didn't have to go to the other end. But the international and domestic terminal are connected in one airport, which is different from Auckland International Airport which I'll talk a little more in my next post.

pretty sure it's Chirstchurch Air Traffic Control Tower. don't know why the photo is blurry :(

So you thought that at 3am in the morning there would be no people in the airport and no shops will be opened and etc but I was wrong. Most of the passengers in my bus were stopping at the airport, and there were many people in the terminal sleeping or doing their own stuff.

I went on and see if there were any foods store that are opened. Most of the shops on ground floor, the floor where you check in for both international and domestic flight were closed. Not too sure about the other side on domestic terminal but I would assume that it would be the same story.

However, Long White Cafe was opened at that time. I think it is open 24hours which is really cool especially for its location at the international terminal. (I thought it probably wouldn't be really necessary as I don't think there will be any midnight flights to CHC but again I heard there's lots of passengers that "overnight" in the airport though you're not actually allowed to sleep in the airport).

Airport prices as usual, expect about $3 on top of the usual prices. Prices for hot beverages were about the same.

I had a cup of hot chocolate. The lady aka the cashier aka the barista wasn't being really friendly maybe she was tired or whatever (hey it was freaking 3am) but she told me I could help myself with marshmallows so that was nice. :D

Nothing spectacular about this drink aside from the marshmallows that I took. I swear I wished to take all of them! lol

There were plenty of seats from the main entrance of the terminal but most of them were occupied. It wasn't really crowded but most were taking few seats to lay down hence there wasn't enough. So I thought why not have a hot drink to warm myself up a little and I could sit down and relax for a bit.

And... after awhile I got bored 'coz my phone battery was running low so I had to charge it before it dies. It wasn't my first time to the airport and I knew there is more foods and seats and plugs upstairs so I went up.

Most of the souvenir shops and stuff like that were closed but some food store were opened. Should've came up earlier for more selection eh.

I was trying to find a photo of the inside of the airport on Google but to no avail. I will snap some next time ok? lol

Anyway I will try to describe the place. It's like a food court concept with shops at the side and seats in the middle. There's some really nice comfy couches for you to 'rest'. So I picked one of those really nice sofa, sat down, switched on my laptop, clicked on my anime, took out my rice ball and enjoyed like a boss. :D

One warning though, please only use the plug near those high benches and stool where they are located not the ones at the bottom 'coz I got 'warned' by the cleaner saying that it's really dangerous as someone might trip over. 

You get free wifi in the airport for 30minutes. Just clicked on the network and you'll know how to get the free wifi. Why oh why its so hard for you to provide free unlimited wifi? 

The airport got busy at around 5am. The airport started to get crowded and you see shops opening and more and more people wandering around the airport. One thing I do notice, there was more business people than travellers. Another thing was, you will often hear announcement like "please do not let your children to play at the escalator. this is a safety airport" something along the line.

Departure gate for domestic flight is at the middle of the 'food court', and international flight is at the 'right' if you're facing at the domestic departure gate or next to Travelex.

I find the staff in the airport really friendly. I went to Travelex on first floor wanting to buy some MYR unfortunately she didn't have any she told me to buy some at Auckland airport but I told her I'm flying domestic so she was like "I'm sorry but maybe you could try the one downstairs but I can't guarantee you". When I went down the staff was really nice as well 'coz I asked her lots of questions and was taking my own sweet time to decide. It may seemed like it's totally their job to give me good service but it mean something to us customers when we get good services. :)