Re: [85attendees] Initial Atlanta experiences

["David Lake (dlake)" <[e-mail]>]

You are, of course, joking ?

I have written on 6 occasions to the CPB complaining about the 1-2 hours it regularly takes to clear American border controls.   Yet to get a reply...

Even for those of us from non-Schengen countries, the comparison between the US and just about everywhere else I've been is stark. 

Vancouver was the best "US" experience so far...

Sent from my iPhone

On 2 Nov 2012, at 23:40, "Toerless Eckert (eckert)" <[e-mail]> wrote:

> Wrt to the wait time, I would suggest you submit a complaint to
> 
> https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/list
> 
> Ask them how long you have to wait before they would considere reimbursing
> you on the ESTA fee.Tell them you are attending an international
> conference and are inclined to suggest that the conference should not be
> hosted in the USA in the future anymore.
> 
> Given how only $4 out of the $14 ESTA fee go to border protection, and $10
> are spent on marketing to get even more visitors into the lines, I would
> hope that border protection would like to receive complaints like this
> because they could leverage them to ask for more for more money in the pot
> to go to them instead of marketing. Just don't tell them that the IETF has
> already downgraded the US from mostly 2 conferences a year to only 1 so
> there isn't that much more downgrading possible ;-))
> 
> Cheers
>    Toerless
> 
> 
> On 11/2/12 1:59 PM, "Jari Arkko" <[e-mail]> wrote:
> 
>> I arrived yesterday. Some initial experiences:
>> 
>> Airport -- The airport itself was efficient and worked well, but
>> immigrations was a bad experience. We arrived a bit later than predicted,
>> and by the time the planeload of people entered the immigrations hall,
>> there was an announcement that the agents are free to go home. They did.
>> Several hundred people waited in line for that one poor one remaining
>> agent (who is in good spirits, all things considered). At some point
>> during the wait there was another announcement that apologized they are
>> experiencing "technical difficulties". It turns out that they have been
>> experiencing computer problems for some time, nationwide, but to us in
>> the queue this seemed ... wrong. I waited maybe one hour and fifteen
>> minutes, but I was lucky in how the queues got split up at some point, so
>> others probably waited longer. They increased the number of agents in the
>> end, before that I was afraid we'd be there all night. In any case, it
>> was a long wait late in the evening, after a 10-hour flight
>> sitting next to the singing golf buddies at the back of the aircraft :-)
>> 
>> Taxis -- Good availability, short ride, reasonable price, my fare was 33$.
>> 
>> Hotel -- Pretty familiar Hilton experience, but exceptionally friendly
>> staff. No hotel wireless at 25th floor (in the Hilton), but wired
>> Internet. None of the few dozen other visible networks seem to be open or
>> working, so it is either your own connectivity or the wired network. In
>> the 27th floor there is an executive lounge for Hilton regulars, open for
>> breakfast and snacks during the day. The breakfast is quite limited
>> compared to usual Hilton lounge standards, but was sufficient for me.
>> (Youghurt, pastries, bread, fruit, coffee, soft drinks, etc but no meats
>> or warm items.) The Marriott is connected by a bridge to the Hilton. For
>> the budget-minded, there's a Motel 6 next to the hotel as well.
>> 
>> Other hotel services -- there's an outdoors pool, access from level 3.
>> 
>> Food -- There is a nearby foodcourt in the Peachtree Center building.
>> Recommended for quick lunches, good variety of food options. I liked the
>> Yami-Yami Sushi in particular :-) Access the center via the the Marriott
>> which is connected to the center via a bridge. But walking on the streets
>> may be faster. There's a coffee shop in the hotel lobby with some
>> sandwiches and similar.
>> 
>> Network -- Hotel network has transitioned to the IETF. IPv6 routing
>> doesn't seem to be up yet, at least not from my room. Otherwise the IETF
>> network works great, as always! I wish the hotel wireless would extend to
>> my room so that I could use my computer's wired interface for the testing
>> that I need to do, but my requirements are probably special. (Update:
>> IPv6 now seems to work when I test again after composing this e-mail. But
>> I've also seen a network outage.)
>> 
>> Mobile networks -- I have found that it is economical to carry around two
>> devices, one with my regular SIM where I can be reached on my usual phone
>> number, and another one with a local SIM that provides inexpensive
>> network access as a portable access point. For instance, T-Mobile SIM
>> card with unlimited access (limited MBytes for 4G though) costs $50 per
>> month whereas my roaming costs in the US are 8$/MB on my regular provider
>> at home.
>> 
>> Still looking for: Restaurants. To be honest I have not seen one yet. I
>> guess there are some, somewhere :-) And I'm hoping there's a gym in the
>> hotel. I'd also love to drop by some climbing wall in the city, but have
>> not yet had time to search for one. It might of course also be that I run
>> out of time to go there. I'll try though.
>> 
>> Jari
>> 
>> 
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