APR
7
2008

Houston, you have a visitor

Submitted by krake

Well, not yet.

I am currently at Graz airport, about to begin a journey to Austin, Texas, where I will be attending the Linux Collaboration Summit.
Special thanks go to the Linux Foundation for covering my travelling costs and KDE e.V. for the hotel, specifically Ian Monroe who took the burden of doing the hotel reservation.

Ah, right. Houston.
The summit takes place from Tuesday to Thursday, however I am not returning until Sunday. Interestingly any return flight earlier doubles the fair, so I basically have to stay two days longer :)
My plan is to a day trip to Houston and visit the Johnson Space Center there, though I have still to figure out how to get from Austin to Houston and back again.

Anyway, boarding will begin soon (hopefully).

Comments

Dude, don't go to Houston. Yes, the Johnson Space Center is nice, but apart from that Houston is the worst city in the US. Maybe downtown Detroit is worse, but Houston is just depressing, without all that exciting gang violence. Hot and humid, no proper city center, only accessible by car, just a huge blob of sprawl. Austin on the other hand is well worth a visit. See the campus, South Congress neighborhood, live music downtown, go swimming.

If you really must go to Houston, just drive in your rental. You poor bastard.

PS: I have to visit Houston every couple months. And I nearly moved to Austin and have visited a lot too.

By Hans Ecke at Mon, 04/07/2008 - 16:13

into Hobby (or Ellington), but you'll still have to rent a car.
If you drive, you can take either US-290 or Texas-71 (to I-10) from Austin. I find 71 the better drive. DO NOT ATTEMPT HOUSTON BEFORE 9 OR I-10 AFTER 3. This should be easy enough as it's about 3 hr to Houston. Wait until after 6 to start your return and you'll be fine. Take dinner at one of the restaurants on the south side, or visit the Kemah boardwalk for seafood and amusements.
If you want to kill another day, visit Galveston's Moody Gardens' indoor jungle and IMax. Their mid-priced restaurant is especially nice if you can time it to catch the fountain show at dusk. The Flight Museum has a nice collection of airplanes, or you could take in reminiscences of the 19th century along the Strand and old waterfront. Or the beach. Germans don't know what it's like when the water's warm. It's better south of the seawall (see Galveston, 1900, hurricane).
I hope this warning does not come too late:
A few years ago, Chancellor Kohl came for a visit, and toured the German colonies around Fredericksburg and New Ulm. As they passed exhibition trays of local produce by him, it was all so lush he couldn't resist- he reached out and grabbed a gorgeous green thing off a passing tray and popped it into his mouth before horrified onlookers...
I blame his advance man. He should have been briefed that some of these succulent peppers violate chemical weapons treaties.
It's pronounced Hal-ah-PAIN-yo for a reason... It could have been worse- habaneros are by chemical assay 20 times stronger... Mexicans eat them like candy. Gringos like me just sorta wave them over our food for flavor...

By localknowledge at Thu, 04/10/2008 - 15:02