"Atlanta" a Atlanta Travel Page by C.GOROSTIAGA

This was the first time I've been to The States. I went to visit some friends in Febraury, 2003.
I had an idea about this country but I learned a lot of things that were different from the ideas I had at the beginning of this trip. I had to look for a cheap flight and the best deal was with Lufthansa. My flight departed from Bilbao airport and I had to go to Frankfurt, where I transferred to my transatlatic flight to Atlanta. There was a lot of security in Frankfurt so I had to wait for a long time before boarding my flight. The slow flight from Bilbao to Atlanta (through Frankfurt) took 12 hours or so. The return trip to Spain it was faster. I crossed the ocean, for me it was a great experience. Once I arrived, I had to pass through a lot of immigration and security scrutiny, more than in Europe.
That seemed crazy and I had to wait for a couple of hours in Hartsfield International Airport, one of the world busiest aiports. After passing security scrutiny, I had to show my tourist visa and passport at the customs office where I had to justify my stay in The States. It was unpleasant but necessary because the United States was, at that time, on the brink of war in Iraq. Once I passed through security and customs in Atlanta, I started to have a good time. At least I was in The States. The first thing that struck me, as a European, was that everything is so spread out and bigger (roads, cars, etc.). One friend of mine from Florida, Ryan took me at Emory where I would stay for a period of time.

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Since I'm a not English native speaker I learned that American English is very different from the British English which I was taught. For example "flat" equals "apartment", "toilets" are "restrooms", "petrol" is "gas", "the boot" is "the trunk", "underground is "subway", etc. Most importantly of all, if you smoke, don't ask for a "fag". In U.K. means cigarette but it describes homosexual in a pejorative way in the States! As you can see it's quite confusing for the first-time traveler to the United States and it could be embarrassing if you don't learn the lingo beforehand.