HULL/20 SpacewaysSleighport Passport office

Peak cargo season, 1 November to 6 January

Santa's Space Cargo Depot.

Every December the HULL/20 Spaceport holds the North Pole Logistics Hub contract, and the whole port turns to freight. Parcels ride the sort line, the sleigh docks at 1225, and the saucer flies the mail.

Kids post letters to Santa at Gate 20. The saucer picks them up at 7:00 and 8:00 pm, every night from 1 to 24 December.

Mail a letter to Santa Watch the Depot board

Gravity not included. Mittens advised.

Poster painting: the spaceport's swooping-roof cargo terminal at night in deep snow, its hangar door open and glowing with stacked parcels, a control tower with a wreath, and a huge pale ringed planet with snow and icicles on its rings. A cargo sleigh climbs past it trailing a four-colour exhaust ribbon that runs off along the bottom of the page, and the UFO Express saucer beams letters up out of the Gate 20 mailbox.
UFO Express UFX-1225 Letters to Santa Gate 20 · 7:00 & 8:00 pm

Depot board

Tonight on the cargo deck

The same twenty windows the street sees on the garage door, five across and four high, running the depot show. It runs on your device's clock and needs nothing from the internet.

  • Next mail pickup -- Gate 20 time
  • Tonight's advent crate --  
  • Parcels sorted tonight -- A scripted count, not a live feed.
  • Gate 20 time --:-- Pacific. Read from your device.

The depot is pretend. The pickups at Gate 20 are real, at 7:00 and 8:00 pm from 1 to 24 December.

Delays are caused by snow and, occasionally, the reindeer.

The cargo deck

Five stops on the depot floor

From the sort line to the sleigh, every parcel takes the same route through the hangar. Four of these stops are pretend. The mailbox is real.

  • Porthole painting: the parcel sort line, a conveyor of wrapped parcels under string lights, a robot arm stamping one, sorting bins below and snow falling outside.

    Sort lineDeck 2, belt 1225

    Runs5 to 11 pmSpeedBrisk

    Every parcel rides past NAV-20, who stamps it, weighs it and, if it rattles, says nothing at all.

  • Porthole painting: the sleigh dock, a cream cargo sleigh with mustard nozzles parked on a lit landing pad in the snow, a fuel gantry behind and the Earth in the sky.

    Sleigh dockPad 25

    DepartsDec 24FuelCocoa grade

    Where the cargo sleigh fuels, loads and leaves. Runners waxed nightly, nozzles warmed by hand.

  • Porthole painting: the advent wall, twenty-four little cubby doors in mustard, orange, rust and teal, one open and glowing, a rolling ladder and hanging lanterns.

    Advent wallBay 24

    Crates24OpensNightly

    One crate opens every night from 1 December. Tonight's glows on the Depot board, above.

  • Porthole painting: the Gate 20 mailbox in the snow, a mustard box with a teal saucer cap and its flag up, a soft mint beam lifting three envelopes into the night.

    Gate 20 mailboxThe real one

    Pickups7 & 8 pmPostageNone

    Post a paper letter to Santa in the slot. The saucer collects every night from 1 to 24 December.

  • Porthole painting: the crew galley, a steaming chrome cocoa urn, enamel mugs in the airline's colours, star cookies, and a frosty porthole onto a ringed planet.

    Crew galleyOff the loading bay

    Urn40 cupsMarshmallowsRationed

    Cocoa on tap and star cookies on the counter, for crew on the late shift. The porthole faces the rings.

UFO Express

Letters to Santa go up by saucer

UFO Express is the spaceport's mail service to the North Pole. Post a paper letter in the mailbox at Gate 20, or write one on your phone in the Passport Office. Either way it goes up with the next pickup.

  • Pickups7:00 and 8:00 pm, every night, 1 to 24 December
  • Christmas EveLast letters are handed to the sleigh at 11:00 pm
  • PostageNone. The saucer runs on goodwill.
How to mail a letter Pickup times

HULL/20 Spaceways air mail

UFO Express

H20Gate 20, HULL/20
NPLNorth Pole

Flight UFX-1225 Nightly 19:00 & 20:00 1 to 24 Dec

On duty this season

Your holiday crew

The spaceport's own crew, in winter kit, on loan to the North Pole Logistics Hub from 1 November to 6 January.

  • Portrait of Captain Vrell as Depot Master: the calm blue-grey alien in a navy parka with a fur-lined hood and the gold winged-saucer badge, signing a cargo manifest on a clipboard in the warm hangar.

    Captain Vrell

    Depot Master

    Signs every manifest twice. Has held the North Pole contract eleven seasons running and has never once been asked to explain the reindeer.

  • Portrait of NAV-20 on the sort line: the teal-domed robot in a striped knitted scarf, a parcel under one arm and a rubber stamp in the other hand, a string of warm lights over its shoulder.

    NAV-20

    Sort line

    Stamps, weighs and routes about a parcel a second. Wears the scarf because it's festive, not because robots get cold. Robots get a little cold.

  • Portrait of the Host on mail duty: the tall green alien in a pom-pom hat and mittens, a satchel of envelopes across the chest, holding one letter up with a smile.

    The Host

    Mail duty

    Walks the letters from the box to the saucer each night and waves them off. Still very tall. Still green. Now in a hat.

  • Portrait of Marshal Juniper: a friendly reindeer in a navy flight jacket and a headset, crossing two glowing orange marshalling wands, a snowy landing pad behind.

    Marshal Juniper

    Sleigh dock

    Brings the sleigh in by hand with two orange wands and a calm voice. Has had the headset modified for antlers.

Know before you post

Letters and the depot

The depot sits on a street where people live. A few notes so that everyone, neighbors included, has a merry season.

How do I mail a letter to Santa?

Write or draw it on paper, fold it, and post it in the slot of the Gate 20 mailbox before a pickup. From 1 December you can also write one on your phone in Planet Hopper. More on UFO Express.

Do I need a stamp?

No. Postage is free, and the saucer runs on goodwill.

What happens to my letter?

The box is locked. The crew empties it at pickup time and brings the letters indoors the same night. Nobody photographs or posts them, and after 6 January they are shredded.

May I stop and look?

Please do, from the public sidewalk. If you are driving, please don't stop in the street: park legally and walk over, or slow down and wave.

Can I come up to the door?

Only as far as the mailbox. The depot is on show from the sidewalk and the crew are off duty, so there's no need to knock or ring.

Is it OK for kids?

It is made for them. Please hold small hands near the street, and keep mittens on.

Can I share photos?

Photos of the depot are welcome. Please keep other people, neighbors' homes and cars out of the frame, and please don't tag or post the location.

Does it cost anything?

Nothing at all. The depot is free, and so is every letter.

A neighb.io production

Have you written to Santa yet, neighbor?

Last letters leave Gate 20 at 8:00 pm on 24 December. The saucer has room for one more. It always does.

UFO ExpressNow accepting mail
Illustration: the spaceport's green alien host in a chunky knitted holiday sweater with a little saucer on it, waving and holding up an envelope, snow falling in front of a pale ringed planet.