Day 27 - Houston

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After touching down in Houston late Tuesday evening it was a quick cab ride to the motel for a good night’s sleep. I was expecting it to be warm in Texas but I wasn’t expecting it to be so humid. I was half tempted to have a late night dip in the motel pool, but opted out due to the water colour - Texans either celebrate St. Patrick’s Day later than the rest of the US or that pool needed a good dose of napalm.

I decided to go with the cheapest mode of motel to downtown transport the following morning. The bus is slow but cheap, and it allows you to get a better understanding of your immediate surroundings. All I can say is that the area I stayed in was colourful - not in the “Wow, look at the nicely coloured houses and buildings” sort of way but more in the “Someone must have been shot here ….. multiple times” sort of way.

I managed to find the Amtrak station in downtown Houston after getting lost once or twice. I was expecting something along the lines of Grand Central in New York or Union Station in Chicago. I was pretty disappointed to find that the Amtrak station sign was a spot on representation of the actual physical station. Houston supposedly had two major stations up until the late 70’s. They kept this beauty and turned the other one into the ballpark for the local baseball team.

The actual ride from Houston to Austin was pretty comfortable. The coach or sleeper seats are slightly bigger than seats in business class. Most of the trains have a dining cart and observation deck and you’re free to walk around and chat with other travellers.

The total travel time from Houston to Austin was around 8 hours with a 4 hour stop in San Antonio for the connecting train to Austin. I think we got into San Antonio around 3AM. I was so sleepy I ended up sleeping across two fold out chairs while waiting. I would have gone for a spot on the floor but I couldn’t find space between the dead roaches.

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Comments

[s.]

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hahaha. awesome. so you are travelling by yourself or with friends? are there many other travels taking the same route as you?

[The Travelling Cue Ball]

Travelling by myself for most of it. Will be meeting up with a friend from WA in August - touring around the east coast before heading north to Canada. You bump into a number of travellers at the hostels and, in most cases, you'll be on the same bus or train to the next destination.