Arriving--Despite its size, Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport (tel. 404/768-4100) is well planned and easy to get around in, with six concourses, dozens of restaurants and retail shops, facilities for travelers with disabilities, car-rental desks, and banking and currency-exchange facilities. If you are confused by all the concourses, terminals, and trains, and need some help, look for 1 of the 10 Hartsfield Host desks. Friendly volunteers staff the desks and will help you with anything from finding your gate, to choosing the appropriate ground transportation, to locating the lost and found.

The airport has its own website, www.atlanta-airport.com, where you can check the status of flights for most major airlines, find maps showing how to get to and from the airport, check traffic conditions on the interstates leading to Hartsfield, and find a list of concessionaires and a list of emergency contacts. You'll also find an array of airport facts on the website. For example, there are more than 30,000 parking spaces--still not nearly enough.

The following major car-rental companies are represented at the airport, and they are reachable via their toll-free numbers. These include: Avis (tel. 800/331-1212), Alamo (tel. 800/327-9633), Budget (tel. 800/527-0700), Dollar (tel. 800/800-4000), Hertz (tel. 800/654-3131), and Thrifty (tel. 800/367-2277).