An English point of view
I used to subscribe to the Economist magazine but in my drive to absorb every article, I’d end up with a constant inch-thick stack of them on the to-read pile. Picked up an issue recently (excellent like always) and they are currently doing some very nice city guides which are available online. The cities they cover in the US are NYC, DC, Chicago, SF, LA and Atlanta. That’s it. Pretty nice company. So checking out the Atlanta pages they’ve got some pretty useful information.
Discussions of the airport are accurate and informative, but the best part I noticed is under the tab “Insider Tips”. Check out the subsection on business etiquette: they mention that if you plan to give a gift of a bottle of wine, you can’t buy it on Sundays; how to get the tea you expect and the importance of college football. Each of the twelve points are worth noting for visitors.
There’s a nifty local reading list, a guide to tipping (double the tax and add a few bucks), and the sightseeing and restaurants definitely concentrate on downtown, midtown and buckhead. With quotes like “rush-hour lasts from about 7am-9am and 3.30pm-6.30pm”, this is an extremely useful guide for the international traveler to our fair city.
October 12th, 2006 at 6:42 pm
That’s a rather heady list of cities in which Atlanta is included, and leaves the rest of us dumbfoundedly scratching our heads. You mention the inability to purchase a bottle of wine there on Sundays as though this limitation is expected and accepted in ALL major cities. It simply proves that you can build a skyscraper in a truck stop, but it still is just a truck stop. Another thing: Atlantans who write for local or national publications need to stop referring to our west coast cities (mainly my beloved San Francisco) in the same breath as Atlanta, as though an attempt is being made to juxtapose the cities together culturally, thereby improving your national image. I’ve seen a fair amount of this, lately. Anyone who BEGINS to suggest that Atlanta has anything in common with SF, or any other major western metropolis, for that matter, simply reveals that they’ve either never been out here, or is utterly ignorant. The mere fact that the article you refer to can’t come up with any better “inside tips” than foodies can’t purchase wine 1/7 of the time, college football, sickly sweet tea, and traffic jams supports my point entirely. What you need is a “Useful Guide for Visitors from Macon”, rather than constantly pretending that “international travelers” flock there for your fascinating “sightseeing”. In other articles, you offhandedly talk about your museums, galleries, theatres, and restaurants as though you’re under the impression that you live in Manhattan. I’m not saying that there’s anything particularly wrong with your community; I simply object when you desperately attempt to lead others to believe that it’s a sophisticated hotbed of cultural birthings, rather than a rather quiet, pleasant, southern collection of rooftops going about the business of conservative, simple living.
W
October 13th, 2006 at 1:41 pm
“…need to stop referring to our west coast cities (mainly my beloved San Francisco) in the same breath as Atlanta…”
Humperdink! Humperdink! Humperdink!
October 13th, 2006 at 5:03 pm
Doesn’t W understand that Atlanta and San Francisco will soon be merging? I mean, the sprawl has gotten so out of control that we’re now referred to as part of the San Franlanta region!