The birthplace of Coca-Cola - Atlanta, Georgia

This trip seems to have been filled with some whimsical destination choices, based on superficial reasons. When I was researching my travels and came to the point of having booked New Orleans and then looking at where to next; it became pretty evident that just about anywhere I went from my list of options was going to take me on a layover through Atlanta. I’d considered going to Atlanta but had avoided it because as far as I could see in all of my research, there is no hostel there (I’ve been told by someone since that there is, but I still don’t believe them!) However while chatting to an American in New York City, and bringing up my slight addiction to Diet Coke, they told me that I simply had to put Atlanta into my itinerary to go to the World of Coca Cola. I conceded that they had a valid point and the decision was made. I was going to Atlanta!

I justified the cost of booking a ‘hotel’ because I was actually able to save some money because Megabus goes from New Orleans to Atlanta. The journey was extremely long at the time but as I write a couple of weeks later, it never seems like a big deal – that’s how most long distance travel is. I am able to say that I’ve travelled through Mississippi and that I’ve “been” to Alabama – our first stop was in a mall parking lot and I had time to run into Target. Our second stop was in the middle of nowhere across a highway from McDonalds, where we had 45 minutes break, so I was in Alabama outside of the moving vehicle for about an hour in total – totally counts.

I’d booked my accommodation in Atlanta based on when the Megabus was arriving; because it was arriving around 8pm and should we get delayed at all I was potentially arriving after dark. My general policy is that I don’t like arriving in foreign cities after dark and if necessary, I want to be as close as possible to where I need to be. Megabus pulled up on West Peachtree Street outside the Civic Center MARTA train (subway) stop. Aafter getting out and collecting my bag, I looked up and saw the street that I needed to walk down, about three blocks.  It turned out that about halfway along this walk there was a homeless shelter who obviously was completely full, because those who couldn’t make it in were loitering on the street. One of these character decided to pretend to be a regular citizen and when he saw me walking down the street with my magenta bag, darted over to strike up conversation “that looks heavy, how far are you walking with that? Let me walk with you, there’s some crazy fools up here.” I looked up and I could see the crazy fools and I found it hard to say no. Old mate walked the few blocks with me and as I arrived at my accommodation he asked for a dollar. Typical.

The not so pleasant accommodation

I prelude the description I am about to offer with the general point that honestly, it doesn’t take much to keep me content. This apartment was about the same as a hostel in New York City. I wasn’t expecting chocolates on the pillows, little shampoos, or room service. I was not expecting to be stalked as I headed from the bus to the apartment. After checking in and locating my room, I wasn’t surprised by the immediate observation that it was bland and run down. This was pretty much the precise of what I did expect. I’d booked this particular accommodation on the basis of two key factors. These two key factors are for me nearly always a necessity when making accommodation bookings. Firstly, at a minimum a fully stocked kitchenette. I don’t need fancy pots and pans, blenders, utensils. I want the basics – a kettle, a toaster, a plate, a bowl, some silverware. This allows me to have on hand basic items for breakfast and snacks and perhaps even dinner. The website had described that it had a kitchen in each room, listed things like microwave, fridge, burner, and even said “including dishes.” The second requirement I have is free wi-fi. I don’t need super fast connection, but I need it to be working and functional.

The short version is that the ‘full kitchen’ had a microwave, fridge, burner, a little coffee maker which requires filters and coffee beans – and that was it. Not a single other item. I was annoyed but figured I could make do; pulled out my netbook to connect to the wi-fi to discover that it was practically non-existent. She’d said it was ‘slow’ not that it was so slow and weak that I couldn’t sustain a connection for longer than 30 seconds, and certainly couldn’t load any webpages to look up where a grocery store was. I thought that maybe they’d just forgotten to restock my room, that maybe they had cleared it out of kitchen items for cleaning, so went to reception to enquire. I was told that they used to have ‘full kitchen’ available but after they started to get so many items being stolen, they just decided it wasn’t worth offering any of it. She apologised for the slow wi-fi and said they’d been having problems all week. She also suggested I come back in the morning to complain to the manager because I wasn’t the first person to complain about the kitchen situation but she was just a receptionist who couldn’t really do anything.

Ramble about my frustration which you may skip

It wasn’t the principle that the facilities weren’t available that I found the most frustrating – it was the discrepancy between the advertised features and the lack of clarity. I did go back in the morning, wound up talking to the assistant manager. She was trying to insist to me that ‘full kitchen available’ does not imply that there will be pots, pans, plates, silverware and so on. I actually scoffed at her. Then she was trying to convince me that they are justified in not offering those facilities because their ‘usual’ clientele is long term – so they have their own things with them. I asked her point blank if they advertise nightly rates, to which she said yes – of course they do, I was there, wasn’t I? And to this I responded with the obvious answer that if they offer nightly rates targeted to people who are passing through, and their website shows a picture of the kitchen on the website (implying this is a feature which should convince someone to book with them) and state that a full kitchen is available, then there should be an actual full kitchen available.

The irony of all this is that from a full kitchen there are only a handful of items I would have used – a plate, bowl, silverware, kettle and toaster.

It was the fact that I was affronted by the realisation that I was in a crappy part of town and therefore would want to have breakfast and dinner things available without having to walk around at night; I walked into my room and started to poke around and realised there was no actual kitchen. If I was in the middle of the action and the wi-fi was working, I could handle not having a kitchen. If the wi-fi was fine I would’ve felt more comfortable about being in a crappy part of town, because then I’d be able to look up easily where the places were I needed to go without spending time unnecessarily lost or looking around generally appearing uncertain and therefore putting a target on my back. To add to all of this was the fact that the assistant manager was generally unapologetic – essentially being very defensive, not able to admit that maybe the wording was misleading; and that when I attempted to engage with the social media representative, I was abruptly informed that they only dealt with the Savannah Suites in every state BUT Georgia. Which for me, presents the issue of whether the ‘brand’ and its internet presence (i.e. website maintenance and accuracy of information) are reliable.

Making the most of it

If this had happened to me in Europe I would’ve been ten times more frustrated because I didn’t have a mobile phone with internet connectivity in Europe. At least this happened to me in the USA where I’ve purchased a local phone and can do basic Google searching/access my social media. The evening receptionist who was significantly nicer and more useful than the assistant manager I spoke to the next day found me a map; and gave me directions to the grocery store and some general tips on which streets to avoid and to stay on the side of the road across from the park on the way to the grocery store. I was able to go out, get paper bowls, plastic spoons, cereal, milk, fruit and something for dinner that I could cook in the microwave. It wasn’t much but it would allow me to get through, even if I didn’t have a need for 25 bowls or 50 spoons.  

I decided that all I could do was make the most of the facilities I did have. Having my own space meant that I was able to pull everything out of my bag and sort through and repack properly, something I hadn’t done since Estonia when I bought my new luggage. I was able to shower when I wanted, multiple times a day if I felt the desire. I gave myself the luxury of sleeping until when I naturally woke up – in hostels, it isn’t your alarm that interrupts sleep, it is someone coming in late or leaving early or snoring or doing something to disturb. And I enjoyed television. I cannot remember the last time, ever, that I have had complete control of a television remote for three days, having come from living with flatmates in Sydney, to back with my parents for a month before leaving for my trip.

Don’t be alarmed, I didn’t just watch television for three nights!

Atlanta – beyond Pine Street.

Downtown Atlanta

Atlanta is extremely touristy. I say this without labelling it as being one of ‘those’ cities which are overrun with tourists. Atlanta is the kind of place that suits a family vacation if you have a bit of money. There are attractions and museums which are unique to Atlanta that have that slightly fun slightly educational edge. Particularly with my being present during US summer not long after the Fourth of July – there were lots of families around, as well as summer camp groups at the various attractions. It’s also a big conference venue, I’m not sure what the convention was but when you were around the large convention area there were lots of people in business dress with name tags chatting about things like where they were from and when they were flying home.

I decided to start my explorations at Underground Atlanta, which effectively serves as a transport hub with the subway lines crossing over, and a precinct for shopping, dining, nightlife and the like. To be honest it seemed rather run down but my purpose for going there was to pop to the tourist information office and get a real map because the one the receptionist had scrounged up wasn’t very detailed. I really wanted to buy a pair of shorts because it was like, a thousand degrees, so I thought this was a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone and went  to Atlantic Station. There was a free shuttle bus connecting to it from the Arts Center MARTA train station and going around the district, which was truly a remarkable facility, running frequently in a loop throughout the whole day and evening until I think 1am. Essentially Atlantic Station is this ‘new living’ concept of an area, one of those work eat play live areas where there is shopping, dining, entertainment, apartments and office space. You could live in this one district, work there, do all your shopping and entertaining, and never need to leave and go anywhere. It's all very well kept, nicely cut grass, manicured gardens, nice footpaths.

Entrance to another world, a clean, pretty, well kept world

I spent time wandering the main downtown area, grabbing some nutritious lunch (burger and curly fries) and taking it with me to Olympic Park.

One of many Olympic tribute statues/monuments

I wrapped up the day with successfully locating a Starbucks so I could research a few things on my netbook and relief the tension in my shoulders which you get when you’re always online and go 24 hours without connecting to the internet on your laptop. My evening meal was at a place recommended by a friend who went to college in Georgia, called The Varsity, which is this giant, giant hot dog/burger fast food place which is apparently very locally known and especially busy after Varsity College football games. I can't say I thought the food was spectacular but I went more so for its place in Atlanta tradition.

My first chilli dog ever.

I saved The World of Coca Cola for my second day, mostly because there were rain forecasts that day and my general travel principle is that if you have a solid indoor plan to save it for a rainy day. I’d considered also going to the Georgia Aquarium but ultimately decided to save my dollars. The World of Coca Cola is honestly one of the best ‘attractions’ that I’ve ever experienced, from a perspective of value for money. Entry was sixteen dollars. In context, some museums cost twice this price.

Just one tiny section of a giant room of Coca-Cola memorabila

For my sixteen dollars, you had a guided introduction in this giant room of Coca-Cola memorabilia, a short film, a series of museum like sections which explored things like the wider Coca-Cola brand, the history and the manufacturing process. There was a room where they played on a loop some documentaries and Coca-Cola commercials. There was an ‘attraction’ of a 3D film/shaking chair type experience. And the highlight is the tasting room – where you can sample an unlimited volume of soda from around all continents of the world, all of the different variations of soda brands and flavours which fall under the Coca-Cola company banner. Upon departure I was given a glass bottle of coke as a souvenir. Overall, I found the experience to be a really  excellent balance between history and fun, and well worth the entry price.

Tasting Stations - sometimes you had to fight through people to access!

My afternoon consisted of laundry (yay) and a late lunch/early dinner, going to a nearby restaurant called Gladys and Ron’s Chicken and Waffles for dinner; named for Gladys Knight as the owner is her son. I had to wait a while to be seated but once I was, the food was absolutely delicious, although I still find the combination to be a rather strange American thing. I had a piece of fried chicken breast, a waffle and a side of yams; and took a to-go slice of sweet potato cheesecake. I spent the evening lounging around enjoying on my big bed and watching television – which I’m not afraid to confess!

Thanks Gladys and Ron for the deliciousness!

Wrap-up

I didn’t hate my time in Atlanta, despite my initial frustration. It had highlights (like The World of Coca-Cola and delicious food) that made up for the absolute crappiness of the conditions. I won’t desist from letting people know about the disappointing start, because I can be rather stubborn when I’m convinced that I am in the right and in this situation, I know I’m in the right! But I’m glad that I was able to turn it around and not let it sour the whole experience. I can’t say that I’d go back to Atlanta in a hurry, not even at a 5 star hotel, but I’m glad that I went and had the experiences that I did.