Atlanta Travel

[Steve Yasick]

Happy Holidays from Team 85! We're in the process of planning travel for the championship event and would like to know how other teams have chosen to travel while in Atlanta. Were you able to walk from your hotel to the location, or would you suggest booking a charter bus to travel around Atlanta? Let me know what you Atlanta veterans would suggest...

[StangMan]

It depends on where you stay. The Marriott Marquis is across town and requires a charter bus. The Omni CNN Centre is located approximately 2 minutes (walking distance) away from the Georgia Dome (competition) and Georgia World Congress Center (pits). It was a really nice 5-star hotel and it was said some celebs were there when we were there. However, Atlanta is known for it's excellent Rapid Transit Authority, MARTA, which connects every corner of town for like $1.50 per ride on bus or light rail, which goes right to teh competition. Hope this helps!
Alex

[Steve Howland]

Originally Posted by StangMan

It depends on where you stay. The Marriott Marquis is across town and requires a charter bus.

We stayed there last year and walked to the competition everyday and did not find it a problem - probably a ten-minute walk but it seemed much most cost-effective to walk (especially considering we could barely afford nationals last year and charter buses are about $1000 a day, I hear). The walk was very safe and well lit at night, so that was not even a concern, and it seemed much more convenient because sometimes part of the team left earlier than the rest, which would be difficult with one bus.

[Cory]

We walked from the Marquis too... It wasn't a long walk, and it woke us all up

MARTA was offering a weeklong pass for like $7 which seems like it would be a very good deal.

The only kind of transportation we needed was from the airport to our hotel, and back at the end of the week, and we just got one of those airport van services to take us.

[Sean Schuff]

Last year our team flew into Atlanta and took MARTA (local light rail) directly from the airport downtown to within two blocks of our hotel. We stayed at the Wyndham which is about a half dozen blocks from the Georgia Dome. Very walkable. We had actually reserved a minivan to run errands in (to get stuff to repair our robot should it happen to, gasp, break!) and wound up returning it the next day because we really didn't need it.

Venue location (very close to a lot of things) and MARTA make getting around Atlanta very easy - at least from our teams point of view.

Hope this helps.

Sean

[AmyPrib]

Originally Posted by Steve Yasick

Happy Holidays from Team 85! We're in the process of planning travel for the championship event and would like to know how other teams have chosen to travel while in Atlanta. Were you able to walk from your hotel to the location, or would you suggest booking a charter bus to travel around Atlanta? Let me know what you Atlanta veterans would suggest...

Depends on where you stay. I'm not too familiar with all the hotel locations, but I'm sure you could find something online. The Omni Hotel is a 2min walk from the competition site - it's right behind it. There are other hotels nearby that people walked from. Othewise, there's a pretty good train system that takes you thru the city, and it's quite cheap. I think you can get to most of the "attractions" and things around Atlanta using that. Unless you are going out of the city, you should be ok walking or using the train. You can try www.itsmarta.com which should be their site. There's a lot of info on there too.

I'm sure others will have plenty of recommendations/suggestions based on their stay.

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by Steve Yasick

Happy Holidays from Team 85! We're in the process of planning travel for the championship event and would like to know how other teams have chosen to travel while in Atlanta. Were you able to walk from your hotel to the location, or would you suggest booking a charter bus to travel around Atlanta? Let me know what you Atlanta veterans would suggest...

Steve,

If your team is flying down to Atlanta, I really see no reason to charter a bus. Last year all the hotels available through THS were either within walking distance of the Georgia Dome, or right on the MARTA (Subway) line. MARTA had passes specifically designed for FIRST that lasted either 4,5 or 6 days. These passes were around $7-13 and provided unlimited travel for your stay. There's even a MARTA stop at the airport, which saves the expense of a shuttle.

Also, unlike many other cities, the subways in Atlanta were safe and clean. A pleasure to ride.

[Elgin Clock]

http://www.centennialpark.com/images/Downtown%20map.pdf


Everything is within walking distance.

We stayed at where it says Peachtree plaza, in the topish rightish corner and it was either a 15 minute walk from my room to my pits, or a 10 minute subway ride.

The only reason it was 10 minutes on the subway is because you had to go south, then west and transfer to go that west.

It's not bad once you get used to it, but just don't forget which way you are going, or you may get into some trouble with your teammates for leading them off the correct train...

Also, a map of the actual Georgia World Congress Center (pits) and the GA Dome (stadium) complex can be found here.

http://www.gwcc.com/images/gwccmap.pdf


Good luck in 2005, and if you need help navigating Atlanta, just ask any team you see if they were there in 2004. BY three days of being in Atlanta, you pretty much know your way around.

[Mike AA]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

http://www.centennialpark.com/images/Downtown%20map.pdf


Everything is within walking distance.

We stayed at where it says Peachtree plaza, in the topish rightish corner and it was either a 15 minute walk from my room to my pits, or a 10 minute subway ride.

The only reason it was 10 minutes on the subway is because you had to go south, then west and transfer to go that west.

It's not bad once you get used to it, but just don't forget which way you are going, or you may get into some trouble with your teammates for leading them off the correct train...

Also, a map of the actual Georgia World Congress Center (pits) and the GA Dome (stadium) complex can be found here.

http://www.gwcc.com/images/gwccmap.pdf


Good luck in 2005, and if you need help navigating Atlanta, just ask any team you see if they were there in 2004. BY three days of being in Atlanta, you pretty much know your way around.

I second that, and what the others have said. I personally usually walked but a couple times took the MARTA to comp and at night took it to the different atractions. The pass was well worth the money and I would highly suggest it rather than renting a van or bus. $7 x 20 = 140 vs. bus= $hundreds ?

-Mike - Team 1654 In Holland Michigan

[Koko Ed]

Take MARTA it's smarta!

[Alaina]

I liked taking the MARTA. Except that one day when I realized I had left my pass in my hotel room and had to walk back to hotel to get it...Then the hotel people were nice enough to drive me back to the MARTA station...
Plus on Thursday and Friday it gets really crowded because of people going to work and such.
But other than that, I highly reccomend staying at a hotel near a MARTA station rather than near the Georgia Dome.

[slickguy2007]

Nah... don't worry about getting a bus or anything it isn't necessary. We stayed at the Marriot Marquee last time and we walked everyday. We thought it was pretty cool too because we got to walk through the city area and then through a park. If you want a convenient place to stay I recommend the Omni. Can't wait to see everyone at Atlanta again.


GO TEAM 1403!!!!!

[J Flex 188]

the only reason team 188 and west hill used a bus is because we took the 18 hour bus ride down there in the first place

it seemed much easier just to walk everywhere =). though at the times we did use marta, it was great.

[Tuba4]

If you are flying into Atlanta, a multi day MARTA pass is the very best deal for travel. Last year we used our MARTA passes to get from the airport to the hotel as well as traveling back and forth to the competition site. We spent less than $200 for a MARTA pass for all team members and mentors versus renting two vans at a cost of over $300 each for Wed through Sun.

Even if you are staying at the Omni right at the Dome, I would wager a multi day MARTA pass would still be cheaper than the airport shuttle, $7 vs probably $12 to $15 each?!?

[Erin Rapacki]

Travelling in and around Atlanta was very cheap and very easy. The hotels that FIRST offers in their packages are typically all under a 20 minute walk from the Georgia Dome. I had a Segway with me last year, I highly recommend it!! The MARTA was easy to find and travel to and from the airport with, so no shuttle bus was particularly necessary (unless it's included with your hotel accomodations, then go for it!)

Atlanta was fun.



erin