Re: [85attendees] Initial Atlanta experiences

On Nov 2, 2012, at 9:59 PM, Jari Arkko 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 :-)

Yes, IIRC Atlanta is one of the few airports that puts you through a metal detector after getting off the plane and before exiting the airport. No matter that you certainly went through a similar check before you got on the plane, and that you didn't do anything while in flight, they want to check you *again* on the way out. I've always wondered why Atlanta was special here vs. JFK, SFO, etc. Perhaps it started when the Olympics were in Atlanta and never went away? 

- Mark

> 
> 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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