Anxious and excited for my first real vacation of the New Year, I headed to Austin, TX for a long weekend with my mom, best friend and her mom – a mother-daughter weekend to remember. We decided to go just before the rush of spring breakers which also happened to be the weekend before my birthday. I was pumped for our first mother-daughter weekend in March.
Because I’m a big fan of Starwood Hotels, I decided to do a little research on properties in the area. I had a few criteria – be close to the city at a reasonable cost and within walking distance to shopping and restaurants. I knew Starwood had a newer property – the aloft – and after I little research I found there was a new aloft hotel which opened in Austin a few months before my trip. It did fit most of my criteria – the room rate was inexpensive, it was in a new area with lots of shops and restaurants that appealed to me, but it was outside of the city. Now I needed to decide if this was going to be a breaking point – should we rent a car or take a taxi everywhere? I decided to wait till we arrived to figure that out.
Bright and early on a Thursday morning we drove to the Cincinnati airport (because airfare to Austin was cheaper from CVG than out of the Dayton Airport). Flying United, we connected through Chicago and met up with my mom.
Note: When flying on a United Airline flight from our area, sit in a seat on the left side of the plane; you will have an awesome view of the city when heading to the O’Hare (ORD) airport.
After an oatmeal breakfast at Starbucks (probably my favorite when I need a quick breakfast in the airport) it was time to board our plane to Austin, TX … bye-bye cold weather! Ironically, there was an article in the United Hemispheres magazine entitled “Three Perfect Days: Austin.” What perfect timing! Because we were landing, I didn’t have the time to read it so I grabbed the magazine from the seat back and took it with me as we were deplaning. The itinerary was completely doable and also everything I had already mapped out, with great restaurant suggestions.
I’d never been through the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS), and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to navigate, and how clean the terminals and restrooms were as well as the number of local restaurants and shops I passed on my way out of the terminal. And my luggage took all of five minutes to arrive! I was very impressed. Finding the taxi pick-up area was a little more challenging but nearly everyone and anyone I talked to was willing to help and offer advice. One taxi van could accommodate our party of four, and we were on our way.
Note: Many taxis in the area will try to tell you they do not allow four people in the car at once. Look for the vans and be sure to request a vehicle that will accommodate four people when requesting through a concierge later.
