As I write this, I'm sitting in a hotel room in Naples. WiFi is free here, although I have to keep going up to the front desk to ask for another password - they come in two-hour blocks. Which is how I know there's a couple from Dallas, Texas staying in this hotel, too. They were coming back from dinner the last time I went up to get a WiFi password. I didn't notice the Texas ID until they'd left the lobby, but it made me think.
It's not that I'm surprised to see Americans here (although there are far fewer Americans traveling in Italy than in years past, and infinitely fewer in Naples), it's the Texas thing that got me thinking. Texas is an enormous state - much larger than some entire countries - and yet it's a place I've basically never visited. Sure, I've been through random airports on layovers from place to place, but I've never made a trip to Texas in order to see Texas. Which, given how much I travel outside the U.S., struck me as odd.
There's a huge state in my own country that I've never seen.
(No, I've never been to Alaska, either, and it's huge, too - I know. But getting to Texas is much easier than getting to Alaska, so that's less surprising to me. Moving on.)
Two of my colleagues have recently spent time in Austin, which (from their accounts) sounds essentially nothing like the Texas I imagine. For something a bit more like the Texas of my imagination, I think I may have to see if I can find that Dallas couple during the rest of my stay here and ask them about their city. Because what's more Texas than Dallas, right?
What I do know about Dallas is that it's easy to get there. An enormous state deserves several enormous airports, and Dallas has one of Texas' primary airports. Well, technically it shares the airport with Fort Worth, but who's counting? Flights to Dallas can, therfore, be quite cheap - as long as there isn't some convention or something going on that means everyone's flying into town at the same time you are. What's more (again, as long as there's no convention going on), there are plenty of cheap hotels in Dallas, too. And we're talking about some nice places, too - hotels that cater to business travelers and offer serious bargains when the business travelers leave. In other words, weekend visitors may be able to score a room in a much higher class hotel then they're used to just because the convention has just skipped town and the hotels just want to make sure there aren't any empty beds.
The only element of a cheap visit to Dallas that I don't think I'll be taking advantage of anytime soon is the DFW airport parking... I mean, it's a great service, and there are great prices on it, but that would mean that I'd have to be living in Dallas and have driven my own car to the airport. It would also mean that I was leaving Dallas, not visiting it. And I quite like living in the Pacific Northwest for now. Still, good to know what's available, right?
It's not that I'm surprised to see Americans here (although there are far fewer Americans traveling in Italy than in years past, and infinitely fewer in Naples), it's the Texas thing that got me thinking. Texas is an enormous state - much larger than some entire countries - and yet it's a place I've basically never visited. Sure, I've been through random airports on layovers from place to place, but I've never made a trip to Texas in order to see Texas. Which, given how much I travel outside the U.S., struck me as odd.
There's a huge state in my own country that I've never seen.
(No, I've never been to Alaska, either, and it's huge, too - I know. But getting to Texas is much easier than getting to Alaska, so that's less surprising to me. Moving on.)
Two of my colleagues have recently spent time in Austin, which (from their accounts) sounds essentially nothing like the Texas I imagine. For something a bit more like the Texas of my imagination, I think I may have to see if I can find that Dallas couple during the rest of my stay here and ask them about their city. Because what's more Texas than Dallas, right?
What I do know about Dallas is that it's easy to get there. An enormous state deserves several enormous airports, and Dallas has one of Texas' primary airports. Well, technically it shares the airport with Fort Worth, but who's counting? Flights to Dallas can, therfore, be quite cheap - as long as there isn't some convention or something going on that means everyone's flying into town at the same time you are. What's more (again, as long as there's no convention going on), there are plenty of cheap hotels in Dallas, too. And we're talking about some nice places, too - hotels that cater to business travelers and offer serious bargains when the business travelers leave. In other words, weekend visitors may be able to score a room in a much higher class hotel then they're used to just because the convention has just skipped town and the hotels just want to make sure there aren't any empty beds.
The only element of a cheap visit to Dallas that I don't think I'll be taking advantage of anytime soon is the DFW airport parking... I mean, it's a great service, and there are great prices on it, but that would mean that I'd have to be living in Dallas and have driven my own car to the airport. It would also mean that I was leaving Dallas, not visiting it. And I quite like living in the Pacific Northwest for now. Still, good to know what's available, right?
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