I’ll admit that our first trip to Houston didn’t go very well. It’s hard to sum up easily, but I’ll just say food poisoning, crack vials, and the worst Four Seasons ever. If you mention to most people in Austin that you had a horrible time in Houston, they’ll smile self-righteously and nod. And while it seemed easy enough to (wrongly) believe that Houston was a hellhole that all sane Texans escape from, I also considered it a personal failing that we couldn’t figure out how to have a good time there. I mean it’s HUGE. Over three times as big as Austin. There’s got to be some fun to be had there… right?
So we decided to do a redo. And this time we’d do things differently. Bill and I don’t particularly like to travel, but we can only take so many weekends in Austin before we realize there is more to life than lazy brunches and iPad communing. Travel makes us uncomfortable, but we also try to deal. We’ve gotten better at enjoying trips over the years, and our newly found practices helped us a lot in our Houston travels.
1) Find the best neighborhood to use as a hub
Usually this means staying in a well located hotel or apartment, but we’re flexible enough to just get close. (Sometimes it makes sense, financially speaking, to stay in Gowanus instead of Park Slope. Just sayin’.) In this case, we stayed in Montrose instead of downtown Houston, and it made all the difference as far as discovery went. Next time I think I would be down for staying downtown again (even the worst Four Seasons in the world has its charms), but if I wanted to grab dinner, I’d know in what direction to drive.
Suburban Houston may be for some people, but I don’t really think it’s for us. And I think way too many Austinites are apt to judge Houston based on what lame suburban neighborhood their cousins live in. I’ve never personally been the the Woodlands, but it does so much harm to Houston’s reputation that it should probably be domed and shot into space. Central Houston is actually not horrible; it’s a lot like any liberal central city you might enjoy spending time in. Maybe a little less modern and a whole lot more weird, but that’s pretty fun in its own way. I actually found inner Houston to be a livelier, funkier, more diverse, and more intellectual place than central Austin. And that’s much more than I was even asking for.
2) Don’t plan.
It sounds counterintuitive, given my strong emphasis on locale, but once I figure out where I want to be, I stop planning. Research is good for finding general neighborhoods, but that’s about it for me. I’ve found that too much planning of any sort tends to take the wind out of my sails. There’s only so many times I can go to a restaurant’s web site before I feel like I’ve already eaten there.
Instead, I like to be spontaneous. Yelp is a great backup, but let’s be honest – traveling before Yelp was pretty awesome. You just walked into places and tried them out. What a concept! On this trip, I used Yelp a bit to find great coffee, but we also did a lot of pick the nearest restaurant and see what happens. Every place we tried was great, and we also learned that not every pâtisserie in Houston has been logged by a hipster. I enjoyed the process of discovering places without subjecting myself to the online commentary first. I think a lot of us would be happier if we lived this way more often.
3) Events are awful, but art and books are great.
We’ve often planned on going to events when we go to cities, and then we immediately regret it. Having an itinerary is a real buzz kill, and once you’ve seen one concert, movie, or baseball game, haven’t you seen them all? I think it’s easy to lean on events to fill up spaces during a trip, but I also think it’s dangerous. I don’t know about you, but I basically need to get to the point that I’m like “Fuck it! I’ve been in my hotel room for too long. I’m down for anything.” I need space to be open to wherever I am.
We took a different approach this time and sought out bookstores and museums during our downtime. I loved it! I could imagine adding galleries, shops, and music type things to this in the future. Who knew there was a decent American art collection at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts? And I definitely would say that the main indie bookstore in Houston is much better curated than its Austin counterpart. I loved this way of learning about a city, and there was nothing better than a cozy evening of rest with a local interest book I had just picked up.
4) The most obvious snowclone: When in X…
I admit that I’m a Charles Murray-esque, cognitive elite snob. I sure don’t want to do what the locals do in a place I visit. My husband, however, was really excited about going to the Houston Galleria, and I didn’t want to let him down. I have to be honest. It was the most epic part of my trip and probably life changing.
Yes, the Galleria is just a mall, but goddamn, is it ever a mall! It’s been compared to Hong Kong at its peak, and I don’t think that is entirely far off. Just a minute in the Galleria, and I felt like I was reacquainting myself with what it’s like to be in a city – and hell, what it’s like to be an American. The energy, the diversity of people, and the whole crazy market atmosphere threw me for a loop. After I adjusted to the culture shock, I loved it. And to think, I was too much of a snob to go here without a nudge.
When I think back to other second tier and lower cities I have visited (Kansas City, Tulsa, Providence), I wonder what other big time local things I missed out on. I wish I had sought them out more, because I think I would have had a greater understanding of what that city is all about.
