It’s true that all good things must come to an end. If you have an incurable case of wanderlust like me, you’ll understand how the last full day of almost any trip fills me with mixed emotions. It’s not necessarily that I don’t want to go home but I’m also, rarely, ready to stop exploring.
I caught a Lyft from the hotel and spent a good portion of my last day walking around Austin's gorgeous downtown area. The Lyft dropped me off at the central branch of the library where I donated a few copies of my books.
It makes me feel good knowing my books reside on those shelves long after my flight is airborne.
Overall, the city was impressive and extremely culturally and economically diverse. I made all the rookie mistakes that a person makes the first time they visit a new city.
One thing I'd never do again is stay in an airport hotel, I'd opt for accommodations downtown. Being at the airport was convenient for the day of the Tesla Shareholder meeting but I felt separated from the city during all the days in between, having to travel 20 minutes before I began the day's exploring and back to the hotel again at the end of the day. Also, the Hyatt I stayed in had very weak WiFi and cellular service so calling Uber and Lyft rides were always a crapshoot.
Is Austin worthy of a return trip? Absolutely. I'd whole-heartedly recommend visiting the city in Sept-May timeframe for two or three day weekends unless you enjoy the blazing heat of summer. Even in November the daytime highs were blistering and the sun, very intense.
The food scene in Austin is absolutely incredible and doesn't seem to be as negatively impacted by the pandemic years as it's proven to be in the Twin Cities. There are even many local Austin restaurants and food trucks that have Michelan stars. The food scene in this city are dominated by two things—tacos and barbecue—and I'm on board with that. Unbelievably, there was even good BBQ in the airport!
For lunch that last day I was considering the world famous Gus's Fried Chicken however, after a few days of eating tacos and barbecue the health-conscious side of me won out and I decided to treat myself to a delicious salmon entree for lunch at a restaurant called The Well. I tried a local pumpkin ale with that salmon and wasn't disappointed.
My last task before I left the city for the hotel was to stop at Whole Foods for provisions for the hotel room. I was lucky enough to get a Waymo (driverless taxi) using the Uber app and tried that service for the first time. Overall, I was impressed.
The car's integration with the Uber app was seemless, the driving was capable (although not quite on par with Tesla's FSD). The car recognized my phone's bluetooth signal and unlocked the doors on arrival. Waymo will be a serious contender in the autonomous taxi sector. However, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around how they'll remain profitable as they scale their fleet. The lidar arrays they use on their cars to navigate have to be outrageously expensive and eat up profits.
Last but not least, I picked up my Mom and t-shirt in one of the airport souvenier shops. I'll be surprising her with this when I fly down for Thanksgiving in a few weeks.
All in all Austin was an absolutely incredible city that feels as though it's going through a massive transition in growth. I totally understand why people are flocking here from all parts of the country and the world. Let's just hope the city doesn't lose its soul or unique identity in the process.
All for now. Thanks so much for reading.
