"You all know where you're headed?" - the truth of Southern hospitality

From the moment we landed in Atlanta, to the time we returned to Kansas City, we were stunned at the reality of "Southern Hospitality." I just assumed that even if it were true that people in the south were more gracious, that it wouldn't be true in a metropolis like Atlanta. I am happy to admit that I was mistaken.

Many people of every ilk and status went out of their way to see if they could help us or just to exchange pleasantries. Needless to say, extroverts such as Sophia and myself were nearly in heaven with all of this assistance. And, as evidenced by the previous post, I needed all the help I could get.

Upon exiting a downtown shop one day, a person passing by the shop noticed us coming out the door and backtracked just so he could open the door for us! We were nearly speechless. Sure, I can chalk some of this up to the fact that Sophia and I were all alone in this big city, and doubtless appeared to be in need of some extra care. Still, people were just as generous with their offers of guidance and even unprompted friendliness when Erick was with us too.

There was, however, one glaring exception to this phenomenon. Ikea. You can imagine our disappointment when we found the people at Ikea to be less than helpful. Just barely civil, really. It probably wouldn't have been as painfully obvious if we hadn't had such a wonderful reception in every other area of the city, including the shuttle that would take us to and from Ikea! Oh well. It really just made us more grateful for the hospitality of the rest of the city. I do want to say that we know it isn't an Ikea-wide problem. Last year, when we were in San Francisco, the help we received at Ikea was great.

Here is how Sophia spent the entire 90 minutes while we were at Ikea.


Some of the hospitable Atlantans were friends. A good friend of ours from college has relocated to Atlanta to be with his wife. It was one of the reasons I wanted to travel along with Erick. They are great people, and it's always a pleasure to catch up with friends. Sophia immediately took to them. We had a wonderful evening visit.

Here are Eric, Courtney and Sophia


There are many other stories I could tell about the generous spirit of the locals, but some of these stories fall under the category of the spell under which Sophia threw the city of Atlanta. So I'll save that for another post.