Last week we took a little trip to Georgia. The state, not the country. It would be cool if we went to Tbilisi, but alas, our work opted to take us to Savannah, which was awesome. When they told us we were going to Savannah, I was excited since it has been a city on my imaginary list of cities I want to check out.
Naturally travel sometimes comes with issues. Last time, when we came home, the airport (it was a really small airport in Florida) did not know we were coming, so they had one person to check all of us in (like 200 people). Then their computers were down, and it was chaotic. Soooo, my company decided to have us fly out of a private airfield. How freakin’ cool? It was definitely cool. We skipped TSA (the security process was basically a metal detector and pat down), we skipped the whole departure process, and we just boarded the plane on the tarmac. Unfortunately, once on the plane, they informed us that the brakes were bad, and they needed a part. It would take like a few hours, or they would just get us a different plane, which would also take a few hours. So just a little delay, a few of us went to Primanti Brothers, enjoyed a sandwich and beer, then came back. The downside was that when we arrived in Savannah, instead of having a few hours to explore and then get ready for our dinner, we got there at dinner time, and basically ran to our rooms, then went to eat. Oh well, we all just rolled with it.
The next day we had some morning stuff, and then we were free to go out on our own. A few of us went to Tybee Island. Obviously a beach in November is not the best idea, plus since it was off-season, the place was kind of dead. We went to a few places, then found a place called The Sandbar, which had a sign that said “Leinenkugel Juicy Peach Buckets–$22). We went inside and found the classic divebar. The type of place where smoking is still allowed, and the bartender just gives everyone shit about everything they say. The owner goes behind the bar to get themselves a drink. It made me feel like being out at the Black Moshannon Inn (where I worked way back in the day).
What started out as getting a bucket of beers for six of us, turned into a fairly long drinkfest. The bartender (Mary) had us doing Jell-o shots….yeah, Jell-o shots, like from back in college. We learned that the island has some decent restaurants, but downtown Savannah has much better places. Unfortunately, as Mary informed us, Uber drivers will not come out to Tybee Island at night (TIP: get the driver’s cell number, and call them to get you for a negotiated price). Mary had a friend who would take us, but it would cost us $100. He showed up in a cool van with road beverages for us. Money well spent. Once back in Savannah, we found a place to eat, hit up another bar, then went back to the hotel.
Saturday morning, we did a cool team building event. I usually hate this sort of thing, but this one ended up being fantastic. We got to build a prosthetic hand through the Hands of Gratitude organization. They give these 3D Printed hands to kids with missing hands, who cannot afford, or have access to expensive prosthetics. It was fun to build, plus it actually felt good to do something useful. After that was over, Lindsey and I explored the city for a bit, went to the place where Forrest Gump was filmed (the bench he sat on was located in Chippewa Square. After that, we took a boat tour of the city, and learned all about how Savannah is a major cargo port.
Question for my intelligent friends: why do cargo ships have a submersible? All the ships we saw looked to have a mini-sub attached to them, along with a regular life-boat. My guess is the ability to go under the ship and search for damage to the hull.
Anyway, after that we went back to our room, we had to get ready for our big 80s-themed party. It was a great time, and fun to see how everyone went all out with their looks. The funny thing was how everyone was kind of bragging about how little they spent on their outfits. Mine was fairly cheap, I did the whole Miami Vice look because I had a jacket, I had to buy shoes and new white pants. I also bought a t-shirt from Michael’s. I only spent about $45. Nice! The band was called The Spazmatics, an 80s tribute band, who were very good. They were funny and energetic, which helps at things like this. They were able to get people into it right away.
The flight home was fairly normal, I mean we had a little delay because of the weight of our luggage needed to be shifted around, which meant when we landed, they had to have those of us in the back exit first. That was definitely a new one for me.
All-in-all, great trip! Definitely recommend Savannah.
