what 'don't' you like about the area? (Knoxville, Kingsport: house, water heater)

[dcommander]

I have friends who are mixed race couples and, to my knowledge, I don't think they face any more prejudice in this area than they would in most any other area of the country - perhaps less than some areas. My son's best friend and his girlfriend (he's black and she's black/white) went to Wisconsin with us this summer to attend my son's wedding. There were some areas along the trip up where they were looked at as if they had two heads. I just hugged him and called him son to really confuse people!! Prejudice still exists all over the country and I've lived in areas where it is much worse than the Tri-Cities.

Now back to the original question - what don't I like about the area..... lack of affordable airline flights, limited employment opportunities/wages and of course no Publix grocery stores. hehehe

[RachelKay]

Haha, I think that's the only thing that I'll be saying "Well, back in Florida..." about. The lack of Publix!

[jabogitlu]

Come on, can Publix really be that much better than Kroger or Ingles??

Or EARTH FARE???

[dreamofmonterey]

Originally Posted by dcommander

I have friends who are mixed race couples and, to my knowledge, I don't think they face any more prejudice in this area than they would in most any other area of the country - perhaps less than some areas. My son's best friend and his girlfriend (he's black and she's black/white) went to Wisconsin with us this summer to attend my son's wedding. There were some areas along the trip up where they were looked at as if they had two heads. I just hugged him and called him son to really confuse people!! Prejudice still exists all over the country and I've lived in areas where it is much worse than the Tri-Cities.

Now back to the original question - what don't I like about the area..... lack of affordable airline flights, limited employment opportunities/wages and of course no Publix grocery stores. hehehe

I fly alot- here is one hint- drive an hour to Asheville- they have numerous (even 3x per day to Newark/NY flights)

FORGET Tri-Cities regional -last year they wanted 900.00-- for a 1 hr flight to Dulles

Drive to Charlotte or Asheville, tell your travel agent.

[mbmouse]

Originally Posted by dreamofmonterey

I fly alot- here is one hint- drive an hour to Asheville- they have numerous (even 3x per day to Newark/NY flights)

FORGET Tri-Cities regional -last year they wanted 900.00-- for a 1 hr flight to Dulles

Drive to Charlotte or Asheville, tell your travel agent.

Well how cool, great tip! Question, how much are the round trips to NY from Asheville running?

[dcommander]

Originally Posted by jabogitlu

Come on, can Publix really be that much better than Kroger or Ingles??

Or EARTH FARE???

Hahahaha, well, I've never been to Earth Fare but really looking forward to it's opening. Guess you can give me the grand tour once you get settled into your new position!

Kroger and Ingles are okay, and I like the new Food City in Kingsport - but I do miss Publix. Hopefully they will be moving into Tennessee soon and you'll see for yourself!

[dcommander]

Originally Posted by dreamofmonterey

I fly alot- here is one hint- drive an hour to Asheville- they have numerous (even 3x per day to Newark/NY flights)

FORGET Tri-Cities regional -last year they wanted 900.00-- for a 1 hr flight to Dulles

Drive to Charlotte or Asheville, tell your travel agent.

We haven't tried Asheville but have heard lots of folks who do. We usually fly out of Knoxville. Will have to check out Asheville next time.

[dreamofmonterey]

Originally Posted by mbmouse

Well how cool, great tip! Question, how much are the round trips to NY from Asheville running?

yes the flight was LESS than 400.00!(round-trip) from Asheville to Newark,or NY/JFK (in advance) but WAY cheaper than any Tri-Cties Flights- alot of travel agents dont know about Asheville airport, and how great its service is. I even flew home from NY on the same flight with Andie McDowell on the flight back (lol)...

For a 3 week advance ticket to DC/Dulles they wanted 900.00- I flew from Charlotte and saved about 400. 00, it is a 2 1/2 hour drive from JC to Charlotte though.

[dreamofmonterey]

Originally Posted by dcommander

We haven't tried Asheville but have heard lots of folks who do. We usually fly out of Knoxville. Will have to check out Asheville next time.

I am right in Johnson City and Asheville is exactly one hour drive, Knoxville rather far and alot of their flights make you lay-over in Atlanta. Atlanta airport is horrible.

[SarahSal]

[quote=dreamofmonterey;5231521]I am right in Johnson City and Asheville is exactly one hour drive, Knoxville rather far and alot of their flights make you lay-over in Atlanta. Atlanta airport is horrible.[/quote]

I couldn't agree with you more! Atlanta is absolutely awful.. In May we flew in on an international flight to ATL with our two dogs (in baggage) and after going through immigration, then customs, we collected our traumatized dogs in their cages then had to go back to an agricultural checkpoint. Then a man told us we had to surrender our dogs *again* but could pick them up in about 20 minutes. It took over an hour to collect our bags - and it was another full hour before we finally *found* our dogs after questioning numerous airport personnel. The last straw occured as we were leaving the airport and had to go through a very long line of security (with a security person screaming at everyone) just to get OUT of the darn airport. The people there were incredibly rude and we pledged to never fly out of Atlanta again..

On the other hand we love the (attractive) Knoxville airport - 1.5 hours from Limestone and we usually fly non-stop to Houston before getting our connecting flight. We spend the night at an airport motel, take their shuttle in the morning and leave our vehicle there until we return - on one occasion for a month. It's a great system. The prices are much better than the TRI and it's a totally different and easier experience than the one we had in Atlanta!

It's a real shame the Tri-cities aiport hasn't been able to get their prices down - it would be a real boon for the region.. Good for Asheville, though that they were able to! (Wonder if Andie McDowell and Asheville's film industry had anything to do with it)