Travelling the USA | Austin, TX
- Simon-Peter Lincoln
- Sep 11, 2016
- 15 min read
Tuesday 6th September
After a (seemingly) heavy night, Bethan and myself were a sight for sore eyes; the free drinks apparently were a bit stronger than we thought. We finished packing our luggage and went to meet up with the rest of the girls in the local Starbucks. Attillio came to meet us here and collected the keys off of us, we thanked him and requested an Uber to collect us and take us all the way to Fort Lauderdale to catch our flight to Austin, Texas. We arrived at a small terminal, however it was ridiculously busy and we had to queue for quite a while before checking our luggage. We eventually got through the super long lines and customs and Bethan and myself headed straight for food... anywhere would do! We ordered chicken quesadillas and headed back to our seats. Due to my fragile state I could only slowly eat it and ponder my bad decisions, but it was brilliantly tasty; it had to be for $10. Our time to board eventually came around and we headed to the gate; I was seated next to a couple with the cutest, smiliest dog in the world, but I was just trying to stay alive (hangover - stay sober kids). Our flight was with JetBlue and their service is awesome; we were given free drinks and snacks as well as free wifi and movies. All for $87! Bargain.
So we arrived in the live music capital of the world... Austin, Texas. Around the airport were scattered guitar statues, as well as barbecue restaurants and the odd cowboy hat; from this, we knew we were in Texas. Stepping out of the doors was like walking into an oven, Texas is hot! I found wi-fi and tried to order an Uber to take us to our new AirBnb, before I discovered the horror. AUSTIN DOESN'T ALLOW UBER! After the initial shock and discussing about how we're going to get there, we called a local cab company and jumped in one of the local cars. We drove through the city and ended up outside of a quaint little house on the outskirts of downtown Austin for $20. The area looked up and coming, however we'd not yet been in a real American neighbourhood and this was alien to us. We knocked on the door only to find that no-one was home, so we tried calling the host but with no luck. Eventually, we decided to wait, until we got a call telling us that there was a key in the mailbox and we could get in. We got into the room, dumped our stuff and assigned beds and as soon as we got settled, Andrew (one of the hosts - there are 3) showed up and we chatted to him for a while; he gave us great advise on the city and where to go to get the best food. After this, we decided to go out and to explore the neighbourhood and see if we could get some food. There's a Thai place named Thai Kun that Andrew had recommended, so we decided to give it a shot. However, on the trip to the food, it decided we'd had enough sunny weather and started to rain. Arriving at the place, we were greeted by a bar with a small food truck in the yard which sold the food. I opted for the beed parang... bad idea. While the food was delicious, it was far too spicy for me to eat and actually gave me stomach ache; the same went for Bethan and her catfish dish. The man in the food truck explained to me that what I ordered was the hottest thing on the menu, but this was a matter of manly pride. Eventually, all four of us were defeated by our meals and Bethan and I were drinking as much water (sucking ice cubes) as we could to quench the spice. I'd definitely recommend this place to eat, however, be prepared for super-spice. We had to 'eat' our food in the bar area due to the rain, but this was a blessing in disguise as we sat down next to three of the nicest people we've met so far on our trip: Meredith, Chris and Matthew. They were all in the travel industry, so we told them all about our travels around the states and other places we'd visited and they told us about their experiences in all the places they'd been to. We found ourselves sat here for the best part of two hours nattering away with this group about anything and everything, before deciding to leave as we were dead on our feet. I exchanged numbers with Meredith so that we could all meet up to see the famous Austin bats on Congress bridge and we headed back to the AirBnb to sleep.
Wednesday 7th September
Today, we decided to get up quite early and hit the Colorado river for a walk, so we were up and out of the place pretty sharpish. After googling the way, we set off on our journey through Austin. Needing some sort of sustanance after about 20 minutes of walking, we stopped at a local cycling cafe called 'Fast Folks'. This place was incredibly quirky and peaceful and even had a guy playing piano in the background. I ordered a lemonade and a blueberry muffin, as I'd eaten nothing in the morning so far; I don't usually do well without breakfast. After finishing up, we used their free wi-fi for a while before heading back out on our journey to the river. The weather was blistering at this point and we were begging for shade, but we carried on until we hit the river. There is a beautiful walk by the Colorado river that we took, but after 15 minutes the girls were desperate for a drink, so we headed for the nearest store. In this little neighbourhood we found a shop named Live Love Paddle which (if you didn't notice by the name) rents out kayaks and paddleboards for the public to use on the river. Bethan, Emma and myself thought it sounded like a good idea and decided to hire a tandem kayak for the girls and a single kayak for myself. The tamden cost $15 for the two of them, whereas the single cost me only $10; this was a massive improvement on the $30 we paid in Chicago. We dropped our stuff in a locker and shot down to the river with our paddles.
The river was beautiful and the best way to see it is to be on it. It was littered with turtles and the water was beautifully calm, which made for really relaxing kayaking. We headed towards the city and got some of the best views of Austin and the surrounding forests, but we only had an hour; we nearly made it to the Congress Bridge before having to head back. Arriving back at the dock, we disembarked and got chatting with the instructor about what there is to do in Austin. It turns out he was actually from Wisconsin, but lived near a beautiful natural spring pool named Barton Springs which we need to check out. We dropped the paddles back at the office, grabbed our stuff from the locker and headed towards downtown Austin. Along the way we realised that we were all starving, so we hit Rainy street to see what food places they had to offer. Emma and I love Greek food and there happened to be a little van (Austin loves it's food vans) in a food court named My Big Fat Greek Gyros, so we decided to give it a go. For $11 I got a lamb and beef gyros with feta, fries and a drink (for those who don't know what gyros is, it's like a kebab but with real meat), which, for city prices, is pretty decent. Almost bursting at the seams, we decided to head into the centre of the city to try and find a 7/11. Eventually, we found it and grabbed a few snacks and some stuff for breakfast in the morning. We'd heard of an Uber-style company named Ride|Austin, so we gave it a shot and ordered a car to pick us up and take us back to the AirBnb so we could get ready to see the bats. We all washed up and chilled in the room for a while, before ordering another car to take us back to Congress bridge before sundown so that we could see the bats in formation.
As we arrived at the bridge, we knew we were in the right place as people were gathered on either side of the road, just waiting for the sun to go down. There was one man with a toy bat on his hat who gathered everyone to one side of the bridge (why wouldn't you follow a guy with a bat on his head?) so we just followed the crowd. As we were waiting and taking pictures, the sun started to set and every couple of minutes, we'd see a bat fly from under the bridge. All of a sudden, swarms of bats exited the bridge and swarmed into black clouds in the sky. It was magnificent. I would definitely recommend for you to see this phenominon if you're ever in Austin; they say that over 1.5 million bats live under that bridge and the best part is that it's free. After the bats settled, we headed back through the city centre towards the Capitol building. Soon after we caught another car back to the place before hitting the hay.
Thursday 8th September
Yesterday, a lovely local advised us that the best time to get real texan barbecue was about lunch time as they usually sell out of meat, so we left the AirBnb relatively early to take a walk to a recommended barbecue spot. As we arrived, we were greeted by a little food van complex and a long queue outside of our destination, La Barbecue. The wait was long, but well worth it. I ordered an El Sancho Loco, which includes barbecued sausage, beef and pulled pork with pickled onions on a brioche bun. It was incredible. I'm so glad that we went out of our way to try this place and it wasn't expensive at all; for everything and a coke (glass bottle), it came to $13.50. I'd definitely recommend La Barbecue if you're ever in Austin; however, I think you'll find awesome texan barbecue in pretty much any barbecue place here.
Unfortunatly, after eating, we had to say goodbye to Heather as the heat and dehydration had got to her and she wanted to head back to the AirBnb to rest and rehydrate (fortunately, she was fine). Emma, Bethan and myself headed onwards and ordered a Ride|Austin to a place where Emma was raving about named the Cathedral of Junk. The driver of the car gave us all kinds of recommendations for the city and (as most of the drivers) was super friendly. We eventually arrived in a small little neighbourhood street that just had houses and we couldn't see this 'Cathedral'. Eventually we noticed a huge mound of 'junk' in someone's back yard and headed towards that house. It seemed closed. We sat on a bench and noticed a sign that stated that we needed an appointment. After multiple failed attempts to contact the guy who's house it was, we decided it was better if we just left. The cathedral looked awesome from the outside and I really wish that I could've gone in, but it's part of the adventure I suppose. Next time we'll know to do a little more research before heading out. We decided to head to a huge Salvation Army thrift store in the area that we noticed on the drive in. As we arrived, I was overwhelmed by the size of the place; not only did it sell clothes, but also sold furniture and other home products. Unfortunately, there was nothing that stood out to me in this place except a pair of shorts, which ended up costing me $1.61! I love these American bargains.
After about an hour in this store, we decided to head back towards the AirBnb to get ice cream. We ordered a car and we were dropped off at a small ice cream store named Spun. This place is quite unique and nothing like I've ever seen; they literally make the ice cream there in front of you, using their pre-made 'cream' and liquid nitrogen. Emma and I opted for the dark chocolate with shortbread and Bethan went for cake flavour with a sort of blueberry compote. It was delicious! I could've easily gone back for seconds if it was not for the high price; for three scoops, it cost me about $7. If you're just visiting I would say go and visit Spun, however, I think it was a bit too expensive for a regular thing. Now feeling a lot better and more hydrated, Heather came and joined us at the ice cream place and grabbed herself an ice cream before we headed back to the AirBnb. After a quick rest and a change of clothes, we all headed out to an open art gallery on the other side of downtown Austin called HOPE Outdoor Gallery. This was probably one of the more impressive things I've seen since arriving in Austin as it was an abandoned site that was designated for street art (grafitti to some people). You didn't have to be a professional to take part, you just needed a spray can and bit of wall (easier said than done). Some of the artwork was stunning and it makes me really appreciate the imagination and skill of the artists. We stayed here for a while just admiring the art and taking photos before heading off to find the local Wholefoods. We decided that we needed to find some sort of breakfast for the morning, but got distracted at the amount of free samples they were offering; I think we left the store quite full. After buying what we needed, we headed to a local park and just sat for a while, eating and talking, before ordering another car to take us back to the AirBnb.
Friday 9th September
Day 4 in Austin we decided to have a bit of a lie as we wanted to have a chilled day and hit up Barton Springs, the natural spring pool on the outskirts of the town that the Kayak instructer told us about. We all got our swimming costumes and towels ready and order a car to take us to the place. For residents, the entry fee is $3, but for non-residents it was $8; fortunately, we walked up to the counter and they charged us $3... we must look Texan. The place was incredible, beautiful forests with a long natural spring pool and grass bankings to relax. We laid our towels on the banking and got changed into our swimsuit before taking a plunge. Now this water was nothing like the ocean in Miami, it was FREEZING! Due to it being a spring, the water is constantly flowing in and out of the pool, so it never has time to sit and get heated by the sun. Once you're in the water, it's not that bad, it's just the initial entry. There were easily over a hundred people here, but the pool is so big that everyone has space and it's not overcrowded. The more exciting of the people were on the diving board performing all kinds of flips and dives into the water; it was really cool to watch. It was easily 32°C (90°F) out of the water, so we had to quickly shuffle along the stone floor as it was way to hot to walk on. We sunbathed for about half an hour before I was dripping with sweat and had to get back in the pool. This was repeated about 3/4 times before we decided to leave as we were all starving.
We ordered a car and headed to a cafe in downtown Austin. Once we arrived, we headed inside, checked out the menu and headed straight back out. The place looked really nice, however it was a little out of our pay range (budget travellers remember?). From here, we decided to take a walk down 6th and see if there was anything on there that might catch our eye and it wasn't long before we noticed a small, very american burger joint named Hut's Hamburgers. I ordered the Wolfman Jack, which was a burger with sourcream, green chillies, jack cheese and bacon. It was delicious and only cost me ~$10.50 with a drink... absolute bargain! I'd definitely recommend Hut's as it's cheap and the decor inside justs screams America; it's littered with football flags and has signs all over the walls. We left this place and carried on walking down 6th Street to check out the different souvenir shops and trying on the Cowboy hats. We stayed in the area however as we had booked to see a Shakespear production later on in the evening. When the time came, we made our way to Wholefoods as the play was on a rooftop terrace of the store. We sat in a little makeshift theatre in the blazing sun to see Shakespeare's The Twelfth Night (or, what you will), a production which I hadn't really heard of, but I was excited to see this. The actors came out and from the offset I knew this was going to be great, they were so funny and explained the Shakespearian lingo to us so we could follow the play. They had an inhouse band, who were also actors and they accompanied the play with great music, that suited it to a T. I was in stitches throughout the whole performance as they modernised the acting itself, but kept the old timey vocabulary. There was one guy who looked the spitting image of Will Smith and acted like him also. If you ever get the chance, I'd definitely recommend going to see Present Company perform; plus, it's free! They recommend tipping, but it's not necessary. It's a great way to spend the evening. From here was took a nice walk back to our AirBnb, through 6th street which was super lively, it got us excited for tomorrow night as our plan is to hit Downtown Austin at night!
Saturday 10th September
For today, Bethan had booked us a bus to San Antonio to spend the day there and see the sights. So we got up early, got our stuff together and headed to the bus stop in the centre to get our Megabus. After waiting in line for about 15 minutes, we were told by the driver of the bus that he wasn't going to San Antonio and we had actually booked the tickets for 9:50 in the evening, but to come back at like 6:30pm (confusing right?). It would've cost us more to change the bus time and we would've had less time, so we decided it the best idea to just not go. We called Megabus customer services to try and get our money back, but they can't as it's their policy. It was an easy mistake and we decided to look past it and figure something to do with our day. Before long, we decided to take a walk to a (seemingly) local crazy golf course named Peter Pan Mini Golf. Originally, the day was grey and almost stormy, but as soon as we decided to walk the sun came out and by the time we made it to the course, we were dripping with sweat. We paid $7 dollars for 18 holes (pretty average) and decided it would be more fun to take the harder course. It was all out in the sun, with very few spots of shade under trees, so by the end, we werejust puddles of sweat; I'm sure I must've lost weight. Bethan won the game by a long run and I came dead last, I really sucked!
From here, we hit a Maccies to sponge off the wi-fi and to try and find a local mexican. Before long we had found a place back on 6th Street named Tamale House, so we ordered another car and headed there. As we arrived, we were greeted by a pretty empty place with quite a full (and cheap) menu. I ordered a deluxe beef taco, the la pastor taco and a soda and it came to just under $10. The food was amazing and they didn't hold back on the guac or anything else. I felt really content afterwards and was ready for a night on 6th. We took some photos as the place was beautiful and we headed back to the AirBnb to get changed for the night. After showering and getting ready, we chilled in the house until about 6pm, at which point we ordered a car and head to local bar to watch the Texas Longhorns college game. I'm a big American Football fan, and it was great to see the city rally behind their college students. The Longhorns ended up winning 41-7 against UTEP (University of Texas in El Paso) and once the game was over, we headed out to check out the different bars in the area. After a short walk up the strip, we noticed a bar with a mechanical bull and headed straigh on inside. They say 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do', well, 'When in Texas, do as the cowboys do!' It was hilarious on the bull and I thought I was pretty good at it, but the guys in the place really wanted to see the girls on it and was tipping the bull operator when Emma was on it. We left shortly after our turn and headed into a bar with a bit of live music; we didn't stay for long however as we were all hungry, so we decided to head for food. The girls opted for a Jimmy Johns, whereas I opted for a place called P Terry's. I ordered a double with cheese and bacon that only cost me $5.20 and was by far the best burger I've had in my time in the US. If I can recommend anywhere, it would be this place! Definitely try it! We headed up to the Capitol Building again to sponge the wi-fi before ordering a car to take us back to the AirBnb, where we hit the sack pretty immediately as we were all shattered from the day!
Sunday 11th September
Today was our last day in Austin before heading over to Sin City, the Entertainment Capital of the World... Las Vegas! We started the day by having another lie before heading back out to the Cathedral of Junk, we had actually managed to book an appointment this time. We'd agreed to meet up with Beth (one of my friends from back home) at midday at the place, so we slowly got up, got ready and headed out to the place. We met up with her outside and headed on in the Cathedral. It was bizzare but incredibly interesting to be there. This man had spent the best part of 27 years building this place out of junk and random artifacts that you could find on the corner of any street in the UK. From CD's hanging on the ceiling to staircases made of tyres, this place was unique. I really enjoyed being here and it was interesting to see what a bit of junk can create. The place is certainly not a piece of junk; if you get the opportunity and you're into art, definitely give this place a look, it's incredible. From here we headed out to the local Walmart to get some snacks and some drinks for Vegas, however we didn't know that supermarkets don't sell spirits on Sundays, so we had to just stick to the snacks. We headed back to the AirBnb to pack the rest of our stuff before ordering a car to the airport to catch our flight to LAS VEGAS BABY!
The only problem I found with Austin is that everything is so far apart! You cannot get around without using the cab/rideshare companies, and Uber/Lyft are banned here. I would recommend Ride|Austin or Fasten as there are always codes to get cheap rides with them.
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