Atlanta: Day 1 - Part I

Before I share my adventures of a week in Atlanta with you, I feel the need to preface the tales by sharing the fact that while I have traveled alone (e.g., flew on a plane by myself) quite often, my travels usually involve going to visit friends or relatives so I'm never lacking company. This trip, however, was primarily for a technical writing conference held by the professional organization that I am a part of. No one I know was going to be there. The few that I knew were members had gone last year to the one in Philadelphia and weren't planning on attending this one. I was a bit uneasy about that especially when deciding on whether to stay in the hotel the conference was being held (which was graciously offering a conference special on room rates) or staying elsewhere and renting a car. I ended up with the former. When reflecting back on the week while my mobility was somewhat limited, I'm glad I did. You will soon learn why if you stick to my daily tales of a lone Midwestern girl in a big city in the South.

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Day 1 started relaxed. I arrived at the airport at 10 am for my noon flight (I'm a bit anal. I would rather be really, really early and seated at my gate than arriving late and rushing) and as I walked into the terminal, no one was at the check-in counter so after dumping off my suitcase and getting my boarding pass (and saying a quiet prayer that the suitcase will be in Atlanta with me), I hauled out my quart size bag of liquids (most of them were packed but I still needed my Purell and mascara) and skipped to security....where no one was in line. As I was putting on my shoes, I made a comment about this to a female TSA person that was nearby and she said that I did arrive at a good time because they had been quite busy earlier. I took it as a sign.

With only my beloved traveling bag slung over my shoulder, I headed to my gate where I settled in and watched, of all networks, CNN on the terminal TVs. As is my usual flight procedure, I head to the powder room shortly before they start boarding and then stand and stretch my legs for the upcoming flight until my zone is called. Even though it's assigned seating, I'm still amazed at how many people amass by the door.

After a mere 1.5 hour flight in which I had the opportunity to enjoy two small bags of peanuts and a glass of Coke, we arrive. Now was the time I started getting a little squirrely. Despite the poor signage (which seems to be quite popular in Atlanta), I found the carousel that my luggage would be on which happened to be right in front of the doors that I would exit to get on The Link which "links" the airport to all the downtown hotels. Perfect! I found the shuttle...now just hope that my luggage shows up. Not to long afterwards I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw my royal blue baby with the yellow electrical tape around all the handles come around so I grab it and head out to the shuttle area. So far, so good.

I had already paid my shuttle fee online so I was good to go on the next available shuttle. I didn't mind the wait since I got to stretch my legs and watch airplanes take off although it was rather humid which I had not grown accustomed to yet...nor the sun for that matter.

With my tip money already in my pocket, I hop onto the Link when it arrives and settle in for what I hope to be a scenic tour of downtown but as my luck would have it, my hotel was the first one so I had to kick the beef jerky eating guy on the seat next to me out as I hopped out. I give Muhammad (I don't actually know his name but I'm pretty sure he was Middle Eastern) his tip and thank him and head into the hotel.

The Hyatt Regency has kiosks that you can use to check yourself in so as I'm using it, it tells me it can't complete the transaction and to see someone at the front desk. They had an employee loitering around these kiosks so when she saw me leave, she told me to just go down to Tiffany at the end and she will help me. Unbeknownst to me, there was a line of people now waiting for front desk assistance and I got yelled at. Well, not really yell per se but the idiot guy in the front (whom I saw throughout the conference and always gave him the "stink eye") said "Ma'am... (his first mistake) there is a line here." "Oh!" says I. "I thought you were in line for the DIY kiosks" and head to the back where the kiosk attendant then gets my attention, waves me forward again and removes one of the ropes so I can squeeze right through and to Tiffany and as I go by, I say "Are you trying to get me into trouble again?" to which we both laughed and she rolled her eyes.

So what issue did my reservation have that prompted me to visit the front desk? I'm not sure but I think I got moved to a different room than what I received when I registered. On the website, I got a king bed. In reality, I got two doubles. She said I could move to a king the next day but it wasn't that much of a big deal so I kept my little 2 bed room for the 4 nights (pictured very darkly to the right...or as a friend once said, darkly lit).


When I checked in, I had about an hour or so before the conference festivities started so I unpacked everything and go reacquainted with cable TV (although it didn't have my Food Network) and Atlanta newscasts (more on that later) and all the while, this big blue bottle of Dasani was staring at me like a body of water in the desert. I hadn't eaten since my cereal breakfast and the two small bags of peanuts nor had I drank anything since the pop on the plane. The sign on it stopped me though. Was this bottle $6 or was this free but all future bottles were $6? I learned on this trip that I am incredibly frugal when it comes to food on vacation so I didn't take a chance and just left it there.

When I arrived it was sunny and warm but as it was for most of my week, Atlanta seemed to be right on the jet stream path in which afternoon thunderstorms (and severe ones at that) were possible. Great, thought I. I just need a tornado to hit while on the 21st floor of a 22 floor building. Thankfully when the Sunday evening storm blew in, I was 2 floors underground, immersed in technical writing stuff but below is a view from my room with it sunny, stormy, and then sunny while stormy (I dug the purple sky).






Next: Day 1 - Part II