Going to Atlanta

Aviva and I will be presenting papers at a conference in Atlanta, Georgia next month--the annual convention of the PCA/ACA. I've attended this conference once before (in 2003 when it was in New Orleans) and had a grand ol' time--though I spent most of my time exploring New Orleans rather than attending panels. We are hoping to do the same this year in Atlanta--attend a few panels but also spend some time with friends who live in the area, see some of the city's sites, and perhaps even enjoy some milder weather.

We'd been putting off purchasing plane tickets and booking a hotel for weeks, but we finally got our act together this morning. After looking around at various websites, we found tickets for $255, though the itinerary includes a stop-over and we'll have to suffer through a 6:10am departure. It was either that or buy a much more expensive ticket. Because the conference hotel seemed a bit expensive, and we'd missed the deadline for reduced conference rates, we also investigated a bunch of hotels. Just when it was beginning to look like we'd have to settle with a hotel that was far removed from the conference location, Aviva suggested we check out Hotwire, a site that gives you a room quote based on your specified hotel rating and the general location. Not until you submit payment do they tell you the exact name of the hotel. We plugged in our requirements and it offered a 3.5 star hotel with a pool, athletic facilities, a business center, a restaurant, and an average of 4/5 star ratings from previous guests--all within a mile of the conference site and for the bargain-basement price of $56/night! What a bargain. Needless to say, we booked the room, which turned out to be at the Sheraton. Seems like a pretty sweet deal!