Day 16. Washington DC – Atlanta: Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA). Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). Georgia Institute of Technology. Mary Mac’s Tea Room. [Airbnb: Kahmiah’s Place]
Waking up at 7 am was a pain, so I didn’t actually get out of bed after 7:30 am. There were still some stuff lying around unpack that would never fit into my bag. I would deal with them later.
Preparation
Halfway through packing, I went for hostel breakfast. Of the 6 nights I’ve stayed here, this was the third time I had it. As they say, ‘the early bird gets the worm’, there was indeed a wider variety available now than at 10 am.
Lugging everything to the airport wasn’t too bad, even though I practically had three bags. My subway line was under some kind of maintenance, so the schedule was sparser than usual. I finally got on one and arrived at Ronald Reagan National Airport ($2.30). Because I left about 15 minutes later than expected, and the subway was running on a 20-minute interval, I was half an hour later than planned.
Screening
The screening took the longest time I’ve ever had, as the official believed I had something sharp inside my bag. I didn’t. She checked many things and kept coming back to the chocolate frog I have not yet eaten. In the end, she decided I was harmless and I finally went through. I guess the slow screening also had to do with the shutdown, as they were not paid to work during this time.
I still had more than an hour before takeoff, and I have to say that so far, all the airports were pretty efficient, as it usually takes about 5 minutes to go through security. Now I couldn’t understand why in the past, as in several years ago, I often had to wait for about half an hour.
Flight
I got another caffeine fix and awaited boarding. Then I got stopped by an attendant, asking me to either check a bag, or congregate my three bags into two. I had a terrible time doing that, but managed to fit them into two, with one other item in hand, and finally got through. I was the last one to board.
DCA to ATL was a very short flight ($88.20), lasting only a little over 90 minutes. Initially, I wanted to get some work done, but slept away the first hour. Then we were ready to land.
Snacks on Delta. 
Descending.
Though the plane was quite big for a domestic flight, with six seats in each aisle, it was far more wobbly than the four-seats-per-row planes I’ve taken in the past. I guess the turbulence was greater.
Airbnb
So I arrived in Atlanta, Georgia before 1 pm, but it took me forever to get to my Airbnb place, which also happened to be my first ever Airbnb experience. The subway ($2.50) leaving the airport wasn’t running on a tight schedule, and it took me some more time to wait for my transit bus ($0.00 for transfer). I got to my Airbnb in a sketchy neighbourhood around 2 pm. The host was very nice, and I quickly settled down in a private room. I could finally do whatever I wanted without a roommate.
Airbnb house. 
Airbnb room.
Since it was still bright outside, I decided to try a lime scooter. Bird scooter had failed to approve my driving licence, but I’d done my homework and knew that lime has the option of using a passport. Let’s hope it worked.
So it did, and soon I was zooming towards Georgia Institute of Technology, one of the main reason I stopped by Atlanta for. I rode my scooter in the campus for a while, passing by their ECE building, and went for dinner ($6.55 for 37 minutes of lime; 2.7 miles).
Scootering in GaTech. 
Blake R. Van Leer ECE building.
To be honest, riding the scooter was rather terrifying as there were many potholes and cracks on the road, and the wheels of the scooter were tiny. Nonetheless, it was still a more convenient but expensive way of travel.
Southern Food
Mary Mac’s Tea Room is a very famous restaurant, and it is huge. As a single diner, I was able to get in immediately, and the place filled up so quickly, I didn’t even know how they could deal with so many people.
Of course I order fried chicken ($13.50 excluding taxes & tips), as it was their signature dish. I also had a Georgia peach cobbler ($4.75 excluding taxes & tips). They provided iced water with lemon slice, and also some delicious bread.
The fried chicken was awesome, and so were the side dishes. In The Hate U Give, both the book and movie, Chris said that mac & cheese is a main dish, and all the other characters immediately groaned. Now that I had side dishes of mac & cheese and baked sweet potato, I finally experienced mac & cheese as a side. The baked sweet potato had something like melted marshmallow on top, and mashed with (supposedly) cinnamon. Both sides were great, too.
I was already too full for dessert, so I couldn’t really say if I enjoyed the peach cobbler or not, but I do recommend giving this restaurant a try, even if you don’t normally have fried food like me.
Summary
I ubered back to my place ($4.96 excluding tips) around 5 pm, as it was getting dark and I didn’t want to risk walking back there. Overall, the first day at Atlanta went pretty well, and I cannot wait to see more of the city.
