Home

10%

Atlanta.

what a time.

By David Metcalfe

February 14^th, 2018

Travel Day:

I've decided I'm not taking 6:00am flights anymore. I always end up getting delayed halfway through - arriving to my destination a hot, sweaty, tired mess. I dread 3:30am wake ups..

But I was finally out of the cold and my soul needed that.

ATL PLAYLIST:

How Many More Times - Led Zeppelin

Promise - Ben Howard

Blackbird Song - Lee DeWyze

Silhouettes - Aquillo

Naked - James Arthur

Fire Escape - Andrew McMahon

24K Magic - Bruno Mars

Havana - Camilla Cabello

Glorious - Macklemore

Praying - Ke$ha (I'm not ready to change)

JELLO - BROCKHAMPTON

Tell Me You Love Me - Demi Leavato

So Will I - Hillsong

First Day:

My first day was great. After eating my massive hotel breakfast I was out the door and onto the MARTA. I thought I would checkout midtown because there was lot in that area I wanted to see. Got off the station and to my surprise I found a coffee shop "Dancing Goats." How perfect! The sun was shining the weather was like a nice Autumn day. The locals were in scarves and heavier coats and I didn't understand. There isn't much foot traffic in the city. Which is why you don't see a ton of people in these photos.

The Mobile Collection:

The park was a ghost town but I kind of liked that. It was peaceful and quiet.

Headphones in - I was lost at this point. Discovering and seeing new things. I got back to the hotel kinda early as I knew there would be a ton of late nights this trip. Let's get funky.

Second Day:

I slept in a bit because I could. I walked to MLK and it turned out to be a lot farther than I thought. There was a lot of cool churches and art along the way.

All my photos were from my phone because I was too caught up in the moment. As you can see most of the photos were of Noelle. This is someone who I met online three years ago and have kept in touch with since. Three years of texting and Facetime calls made it feel like we had never skipped a beat. Like reuniting with an old friend. We explored Ponce City - which might be my new favourite place in America. We would be back. We swung by the airport. We drove across the city. We stopped at a brewery. We called it a night pretty quickly tbh.

Third Day:

We hit up the cutest breakfast joint in the world. It was packed so you knew it had to be good. Then we were off to the Aquarium. Fun fact: I LOVE aquariums so much but I never get the chance to see them. I live no where close to a decent one and whenever I travel no one ever wants to go. Finally my dreams came true and was completely blown away.

How cool are whale sharks?

Moving floors and glass tubes.

I dare you to find the point of focus in this next photo.

This is neat.

I started to feel a little off due to lack of sleep and recovering from my hellish travel day. But the cool air and rad places made it feel a lot better. This coffee shop is inside a storage container and probably my favourite shop of them all.

We spent the next couple hours talking to shop owners and drinking coffee after coffee.

It was foggy that day which made for amazing views of downtown. We went back to Ponce.

We explored all the shops in depth. Saw the sights and walked the belt. We ate burgers at this awesome place and made some friends out of the blue. Emotions started to kick in. We rented a bnb from the nicest couple. Cracked open a few beers, watched a couple episodes of The 100 and promptly fell asleep. This was my favourite part of the trip for so many reasons.

Fourth Day:

Rise and Shine. Up at 5:30... Okay 6:15. We were off to Asheville, NC. I had only heard of this place and creeped Instagram photos. I was so confused why such a small town was so popular across the country. We jammed to our favourite church music, discussed big life things, and danced it out to Bruno Mars. I got some serious England vibes from the hills. Oh yeah, this kid from the prairies loved every moment of these mountains.

We found some more friends. After church and coffee we stopped by one of Sierra Nevada's breweries and it was Disney Worlds of alcohol. Saw all the behind the scenes and had a few drinks. After realizing we only had a few more hours together I gathered myself in the mirror.

Another friend! We ran into Hannah who joined us for the rest of our crawl and dinner. Also it was Mardi Gras in Asheville? We started our goodbyes knowing it wouldn't be the last. The Canada headband made its way around. I stole napkins from one of the restaurants because of how soft they were. Eye contact was getting harder and harder.

Internet friendsssssss. Also hockey, how fitting.

The drive home was the hardest. Three hours felt like a thousand. How can you meet people and become attached to them so instantly - I thought. A weekend was not enough. Tears started as we drove but luckily it was super dark and half the car was asleep. Phew. I found myself at a loss for words, just soaking up the last fleeting moments with these people.

"I'm not ready for this." I mumbled under my breath as the elevator door too-quickly opened.

If you're reading this, I just want you to know how unbelievable it was meeting you. I know, you told me I couldn't say meeting you was the best part of my trip.. But it 100% was.

Atlanta isn't going anywhere.

Asheville will be just as cool next time.

But meeting someone for the first time? Well, that's a once in a lifetime memory.

It still feels so surreal that this all happened. It all happened too quickly, might I add.

I hope you enjoyed your time as much as I did and I can not wait till we cross paths again.

Here's to the beginning of our hellos and goodbyes.

Tears and all, it was worth it.

Fifth Day:

I didn't sleep as much because of a flight booking error. My second last day here turned into my last. I thought I was feeling better but I think the drugs had just kicked in. I walked around downtown and saw a few more of the things on my list. It was such a fun and peaceful day. One full of fresh air. One that my heart needed. I was kind of lost again, walking in the not-as-nice parts of downtown. Wifi was nowhere. I was yelled at by a stranger on the train, and a kid nearly ran me over with his bike when I got off.

But that's just the way it was. I drank a bunch of Coke, and strolled through the Olympic Park. Snapping pictures of the ferris wheel I got advice from an artist on how to take photos.

I let the streets literally speak to me. I said my goodbye to the skylines. I left a day early.

Sixth Day:

The last photo I took there. I was off. I decided to hang out at the airport a little early and get this post done. I knew ATL had more to offer, but I decided to save it for the next time.

You bet I'll be back.

Button Label

Years End.

Atlanta.

what a time.

2020

2019.

less can be more.

for your curiosity.

camera testing.

2018.