Maybe Some Last Minute Litigation Before We Leave?

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Today is effectively the last day of our holiday, although in reality it's all a bit of a write-off as we need to be at the airport by 1.00pm. I took the opportunity for one last photography outing. Unfortunately, on the one occasion I picked a location that would not include the actual sunrise, it was when there was an amazing sunrise, but in completely the opposite direction to the cityscape that I was aiming to photograph. Some photos of the sunrise behind a building site (which was actually already at work) were not really what I was after.

The early start at the building site seemed typical. Even when I left at 5.15am, the road into Houston was already heaving. People obviously start work very early here.

I took my photos and then drove back to the hotel.

After breakfast, we went for a short walk. I'm not sure what we were expecting to see around an airport hotel, but more hotels and airport parking did not make for an exciting walk. It was 9.30am and it was already starting to get unbearably hot so we made it a short walk and then my wife went to the pool for a while and I stayed in the cool of the air-conditioned room. I put on the TV just in case I suddenly decide that I need to sue someone or I wanted to check on the side-effects of some medication that I might be thinking of taking. I put on ABC and all the commercials were for ambulance chasing lawyers, occasionally interrupted for an actual TV programme and then CNN where, as usual, they're all for various drugs. I won't miss the TV when we leave.

On the ambulance matter, one thing we have noticed is just how many battered cars are on the road. It looks like there are a lot of accidents, so a lot of work for Gordon and his mates (see Two Different States Were More Like Two Different Countries). Rather than getting them fixed, it appears that the cars just continue to be driven, even though some have pieces literally hanging off them. I am absolutely certain that many of them would not be road legal in the UK. Maybe they're just waiting for their litigation to come good?

The hotel check-out timed nicely as it was an hour before we were due to check-in. It was a very short drive to the car rental area to drop our car off, which was incredibly efficient, and we were in the terminal in no time. We'd done 1,794 miles since we'd picked the car up. Whilst the toll pass saved the worry about how to pay for the tolls (which has been a worry on previous visits to the US), I'm sure we only accrued $5 in tolls maximum, so I think we paid massively over the odds. Never mind. we will have made up for it with the fuel. Taking one of the amounts I saw advertised on the signs along the side of the road and after converting from dollars per gallon, I calculated it at £0.81 a litre. It's been many, many years since it cost that in the UK.

Sadly, it looks like we failed on the Amarillo challenge (see Two Different States Were More Like Two Different Countries). There was one last dash of hope when we got to the airport and wondered if there was a flight to Amarillo, so we could go to the gate and ask, "Is this the way to Amarillo?" But sadly not, as there were no such flights.

There were huge banners hanging from the airport ceiling shouting about it being the number one airport in America. I guess the measures are more than just the quality of the terminal décor, but Terminal D looked like a bit of a building site. That said: queues for check-in, excellent; queues for security, excellent; prices in the shops, excellent (a one litre bottle of Southern Comfort for $23); flight leaving on time, excellent. It was just let down by the time it took for the baggage to turn-up when we arrived (see Keeping up Appearances).

We also had the luxury of the British Airways lounge again, which was very civilised. There was only one British Airways flight leaving so it was very quiet in there compared to Heathrow. We could have something to eat and a drink and chill for a while.

For some unknown reason, they had the Hallmark channel on the TV, which is actually worse than the lawyer and drug commercials. Lots of very good looking people smiling and hugging each other because life is so fantastically excellent. Clearly, it's not set on the streets of Downtown Dallas (see Big and Friendly Texas, But Don't Mess With Them!). Sorry, ending on a bit of a social statement there!

We managed to leave Texas without getting sued and with no provocative conversations about guns, god, Obamacare, abortion, Donald Trump, the petrol consumption of a massive pick-up truck or any of the other matters that are definitely no go topics in this part of America.

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Photos

Early Morning Houston
Downtown Houston reflecting the sunrise behind me.

Fuel Price
According to my calculations that is about £0.81 per litre.

George Bush Airport
He is obviously a big deal in Texas (there were roads named after him as well).

#1 US Airport
Well that’s set an expectation - let’s see if it can live up to it.

Building Work
It doesn’t look like a #1 airport, but the queues (lines) were all excellent.