Sunday afternoon was supposed to be a nice afternoon where I got out of town and enjoyed America’s pastime with a few family members.

Thanks to the not-so-fan friendly setup at Turner Field, the nice part was immediately thrown out the window.

Since I knew things would be slowing down at the end of the school year, my sister and I got together and planned a trip to Atlanta. The goal was simple: Carry our parents and grand-dad to a Sunday afternoon Braves game.

My sister ordered a special fan combination deal through Ticketmaster where we not only got seven tickets, but seven hot dogs, seven drinks and a parking pass for less than face value. So everything appeared to be in place for a wonderful day at the ballpark with the family.

But then we arrived in Atlanta.

My plan was to reach Atlanta two hours before game time, find our designated parking lot and walk around Turner Field for about an hour. The only problem was I didn’t take into consideration the fact that Turner Field isn’t set up to be fan friendly.

The directions on the parking pass led us down streets that where barricaded by city police officers, and the cops were directing us in opposite directions. And once we were off course, no one that worked at the stadium could direct us back in the right direction.

We stopped and asked two people that worked at Turner Field where the Blue Parking Lot was, and both gave us different directions. We stopped and asked three of the Atlanta police officers, and we got three more sets of bad directions.

Already running behind schedule, I decided to ask a random person walking down the street for directions. And that’s when we finally got steered back on course.

Because it had taken well over an hour to park, it was about a half hour away from game time. The bad part was we still had to pick up our food vouchers from the will call window.

After my sister asked five different Turner Field employees where the will call window was and got the answer. “I don’t know,” my dad had already found it own his own.

That’s when things really got out of control. After standing in the line we were told to go to for more than 45 minutes, we found out that we were supposed to be somewhere else. We then had to wait an additional 30 minutes to claim the food voucher. By then the Braves were already getting beat 4-1 in the third inning.

Once you get to your seats, Braves games are still fun. It’s just too bad you have to go through everything else to get there.

Every time I go to Turner Field, I always say that I will never go back. But because I love the game of baseball, I always find my way back to Atlanta at least once a year.

Watching a major league baseball game is always fun, and a trip to the ballpark should be one that’s enjoyed. It’s too bad that the fine folks at Turner Field aren’t doing anything to make that experience a little more enjoyable.