Dear Diary: A visitor's guide for a big gameday at Georgia

Georgia and Texas will bring a highly anticipated showdown to Athens, Ga, once again. Recent years have brought many of these weekends. Georgia football is in a golden era.

The SEC is as good a conference as any. There are a lot of ways to do Athens on a gameday weekend. This one is laid out like the dream weekend for a sports fan. If you’re not careful, you can waste time and money.

Athens is a visitor-friendly city. Take this from an Athens lifer: there are a lot of options. So let me lay out the perfect weekend for you as you make your way into town for this huge match-up.

Friday

If you’re coming from out of town, getting into town earlier is better. Traffic really builds around midday. Think from 2 p.m. until around 8 p.m., downtown is full of cars. People in Athens are getting off work around 3 and 4 p.m., while school is also letting out.

Georgia students are free for the most part and are out and about by late afternoon. Plan to beat that by being in your hotel or place of residence, checked in by midday.

Parking in town is limited.

If you’re not close to town, Athens is very Uber/Lyft-friendly. If you’re near town, a quick Uber or Lyft can get you downtown pretty easily. After that, there are plenty of walkable options. There are a lot of lunch and dinner-type places right downtown that hit every type of taste bud. You can also venture to ‘Five Points’ or even away from town and eat in Beechwood or Epps Bridge.

The other alternative is to arrive late in the evening. An ideal time would be between 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. After you have dropped off your things at your place of residence, a trip to dinner would be in order.

After dinner, the downtown nightlife is just a walk away. There are two venues, the Georgia Theatre, the Classic Center, and the Atkins Ford Arena, that have a propensity for live music and other types of entertainment.

Check their schedules before arriving in town.

There are strips of restaurants and bars along Clayton Street. That area gets congested later in the evening.

If you’re looking for a sports fix, Georgia will host Georgia Tech in basketball on Friday night at 9 p.m.

Saturday

Georgia and Texas will kick off at 7:30 p.m. Take advantage of the town getting off to a sleepy start. Breakfast and brunch restaurants are a huge part of the culture of downtown Athens.

You will have options, especially if you hit the ground running in the morning. A good start time is 9 am. You’ll see low-impact traffic and dining options just beginning to bustle to life.

After breakfast, SEC Nation, the SEC Network’s traveling, live pre-game show, will be live at Myers Quad, which is a short drive from downtown. The show runs from 10 a.m. until noon.

Then, you can find some places to shop. Downtown has its fair share of shops, but Epps Bridge has multiple brand stores where you can pick up things needed for your tailgate or any pre-game festivities.

The middle of the day is when traffic becomes an issue. For a 7:30 kick, being in town and parked by around 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. is probably you’re best and most stress-free bet. As I stated, Athens is very Uber and Lyft friendly, so there are a lot of ways to move throughout the city.

Once you are parked, you can either comfortably tailgate for a few hours or hit the spots that grabbed your attention on Friday evening. There are multiple quick bite type places along the Clayton Street and Broad Street stretch of downtown.

Once 5 p.m. hits, it is safe to begin making plans to find your way toward the stadium. Traffic will be at its peak from this time until kickoff.

Traveling to your gate will take time if you are in a car. A lot of areas in town are walkable to Sanford Stadium. It is a scenic route that can take you through multiple parts of campus.

Gates usually open just under two hours before kickoff.

Get in, get to your seats, cheer really loud for whoever your affiliated team is. As the game ends, don’t be in a rush. You’re only rushing to wait.

Traffic for the first hour and a half post-game is at a standstill. If you have time and the ability, a short walk to a spot of your choice, either for dinner or beverages, is probably a good call to allow some car traffic and foot traffic to make for a less stressful experience post-game.

Sunday

Again, brunch is huge in Athens. There’s not a bad time to rise and make a decision on a Sunday morning. Moving around town is usually pretty nice.

As you depart Athens, you can make one more trip through town, as there are a lot of food options for brunch. If you’re heading to Atlanta for a flight, Sunday morning trips to Atlanta are the best traffic you’ll experience heading to the airport.

Once you’re successful out of Athens’ city limits and at your return destination, you’ve had a successful gameday in Athens.

This week has a chance to be the best of what a gameday in Athens, Ga is. Safe travels.