Austin, Texas

Austin was never going to be a proper tourist visit for me, I wasn’t so much interested in the sights of the city, as much as the music and nightlife that it’s more famous for, or at least more famous to me for. I wanted to go to Texas and it seemed as good a town as any to chose.

I arrived fairly late at the train station, which typical of most American train stations is in the middle of nowhere. There were no taxis, no buses, no information in sight. I asked a couple who seemed to know what they were doing, it turned out they were English and from the Lake District. They walked me to my bus stop, ensured I had the right change and waited for me to get on my bus. Shame they didn’t get on the bus with me and let me know which stop to get off at. I got off too soon and ended up walking around an area I was sure I was going to get abducted in - not sure why now, it was perfectly safe. Maybe it was something to do with the fog forming, the lakeside road and just the odd truck going past. But I made it to the hostel in one piece and joined a group of fellow travellers on the patio, drinking wine.

We all agreed to go into town and jumped into taxis to investigate 6th Street, which is the main street with bars and live music. It certainly did have loads of bars and every one had the potential to host bands. Not all of them were that night, but we did see some cool ones. It was a bit like Bourbon Street in New Orleans - with the neon lights, tons of people walking the street and people encouraging you go to their bar, just a lot less seedy.

The next day I met up with a friend who I’d met in New Orleans and I knew was coming to Austin. It was great to spend the day with a fellow Englishman, who has the same sense of humour, understands the references you make and also understands your accent. Not that it’s a problem when people don’t understand what you’re going on about, but when they do it makes it much more fun. We decided to get food and agreed upon a local Mexican cantina for a late lunch, with it being Texas, the ‘local’ food is either Mexican or BBQ, and as the cantina was around the corner we plumped for that. Thankfully the menu was in Spanish with slightly vague English translations and a waitress who spoke English, though with a heavy Spanish accent, so we could at least semi-understand what was going on. At first I thought that we would just be pointing at random things, as many Mexicans don’t speak any English (and I don‘t speak a word of Spanish, apart from cerveza!), but it was just about OK. I had the Flautas de Pollo - which I’m still not exactly sure what they are, but were good, though probably not the most exciting thing on the menu. But I’m certain my experience of Mexican food will increase once I get to Mexico - I‘m refusing to go to McDonalds if the food gets too scary!

That evening, we met up with some more hostel people and drank a beer or three on the patio outside the hostel. Which was very civilised, it faces the lake and is really peaceful, apart from the bunch of backpackers who are there. We again headed in Austin’s 6th Street and tried a different selection of bars. With it being Sunday night, there were a lot more offers of free drinks to entice people in, which didn’t bode well for the next morning. But we all agreed it was a great night, good music, good company and a lethal mix of drinks!

I only spent two nights in Austin, as Thanksgiving was coming up, which meant travelling was going to get really difficult closer to the holiday. So I had to leave on the Monday as the next train was the Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving and the busiest travel day in the States. As my train didn’t leave until late in the afternoon, we headed out to Zilker Park in Austin and had a mooch about. If I’d been there for longer, I’d have liked to kayak the river or hire a bike and follow the numerous trails in the area. But as my train was calling we went to another Cantina, this time for carnitas and then my train to Seattle, via San Antonio and LA.

Austin seems a really cool place, what little I saw of it in the daytime and the nightlife is brilliant. Plus the people I met made the visit even better. Maybe I’ll have to organise to meet up with them there again next year!

Next stop and four days on trains: Seattle