Southern Belle
GENERAL INFORMATION
VISAS: UK passport holders can visit the USA without a visa under the Visa Waiver Programme – but they must obtain ‘ESTA’ authorisation before travel. https://esta.cbp.dhs. gov/esta HOW TO GET THERE: British Airways and Delta both operate daily services between London-Heathrow and Atlanta. Flying time: eight hours 45 minutes. GETTING DOWNTOWN: Atlanta’s Hartsfield- Jackson Airport is located 10 miles from downtown. Its new international terminal shortens the time it takes from landing to leaving the airport by up to 30 minutes.
LOOK TO BOOK America As You like It 020 8742 8299l The 14-night Rhythms of the South fly-drive starts from £1075pp in March 2013, with flights, accommodation and car hire.
www.Americaasyoulikeit. com
North America Travel Service 0113 246 1466 The Carolina's and Country Fly-Drive is a 14-night/15-day itinerary which starts and ends in Atlanta, and inludes Tennessee, North and South Carolina. Prices from £1945pp.
www.northamerica
travelservice.co.uk
ATLANTA
BY STEVE HARTRIDGE Atlanta, which has regularly found itself at the crossroads of American history, is today central to any touring itinerary of the US’s southern states. The region's main gateway city, Atlanta is the obvious launching point for an exploration of the South. Not only is Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport the country’s busiest, with flights to 150 US destinations and 80 international destinations, but several major interstate highways intersect near the city's downtown. For example, it’s just a three-hour
drive to the Civil Rights attractions in Birmingham, Alabama, and five hours to the colonial charm of Savannah and Georgia’s beaches. But visitors shouldn’t be so eager to pick up their rental cars, said Brandon Barnes Director, International Tourism Sales at the Atlanta CVB. “Atlanta is a city where you could easily spend two or more nights at the start of a driving tour of the region…there are a wide variety of attractions and it is a very easy city to explore,” he added. Civil War history and ante-bellum
architecture, the 1960s struggle for Civil and Human Rights, classic US literature, iconic ‘Americana’ – and more – come together in a city that was the most recent US host of the Olympic Games (1996). Atlanta is full of surprises: not only is it the only US city to be rebuilt virtually from scratch – after being scorched by General Sherman’s Union army in the US Civil War (1860-65) – but it also produced one of the best-known US novels (Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell), is the home of the world’s most popular fizzy drink (Coca Cola) and is where the first 24-hour news network (CNN) built its studios. "These attractions make Atlanta a very appealing stopover, either at the start or end of a touring itinerary," says America As You Like It’s Cath Pusey. “The majority of clients choosing a holiday to the South do so because they want to experience the region’s renowned hospitality, but also its history and culture, and Atlanta is a great place to discover all of that. “Atlanta features in all our fly-drives to
the southern states and it more than holds its own as a standalone city break, even for a family-focused holiday because there is something for everyone. The World of Coca-Cola and the CNN Center are great for kids, but there’s also the Georgia Aquarium and the Atlanta Botanical
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www.sellinglonghaul.com
“Atlanta is a very easy city to explore. Many of its main visitor attractions are clustered together in Centennial Olympic Park, close to downtown hotels”
Gardens. On top of that the shopping, dining and nightlife are great and then there's nearby Stone Mountain,” she added. While many of the defining acts of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement took place in neighbouring Alabama, Atlanta was the home of the movement's most famous son, Martin Luther King Jnr. At the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site visitors can explore his birth home and drop into the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he held services. Also visit the King Centre, where the crypt and gravesite of Dr King and his wife Coretta Scott King and MLK’s Nobel Peace Prize are located. East of downtown the Jimmy Carter
Presidential Library and Museum details the life and work of the 39th president and Atlanta’s second Nobel Prize winner. Also on the ‘must list’ for most UK visitors will be the Margaret Mitchell House. The Gone With The Wind author lived in the basement of the three-storey house in Midtown while writing what would become the best-known novel centred around the US Civil War. The house offers tours, a museum and a gift shop. For more memorabilia on the film, suggest the Gone With the Wind Museum at nearby Marietta. On display are vintage collectibles, the honeymoon gown worn in the movie by actress Vivian Leigh, signed first-editions of the book, and much more.
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