what great information!   I really appreciate your help, all, especially the kind offer from PeterK. I am off to Atlanta to pick up some tourbooks as well as a phrase book. Good advice Peter. I have found people to generally be quite helpful and friendly anywhere I have travelled provided I make an effort to speak their language and respect their customs and culture. Have met many wonderful people when I had that desperate look in a Czech Resturant in Pilsen, holding a menu that I had no clue what a single word was. I look forward to the trip already.