In this episode we're sharing some of our travel tips to Austin & San Antonio, Texas! Learn why we headed back to Austin, TX and found again that it is a fun place to stay, with great food and lots to do - and is surprisingly affordable (if you don't buy a house while you're there). While we were there we made the quick trip down the interstate to San Antonio, home of The Alamo. It's also got a wonderful river walk that we loved and just a few miles out of town is a series of missions dating back to the early 1700s that are well worth the visit - especially because again things were either free or really affordable. Plus, keeping to the travel theme, we share a couple of finds we've discovered that are making travel easier.
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Travel Tips for Austin & San Antonio
That's the glorious boardwalk along Ladybird Lake in downtown Austin - part of the Ann & Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail, which we found out after recording is 10 miles long. No wonder we thought it went for a long way - it does! The boardwalk over the water is more than a mile, connecting the shore path on both sides, which makes the walk that much more fun.
Here is the podcast where we talked about Austin the first time around.
And here is the episode where we talked about our love of thrift stores and what are some things to look for.
Here's the link to the Austin Airbnb apartment we enjoyed so much: Barton Springs Flat.
If you're new to Airbnb, use this referral link to get $40 off a home booking of $75 or more and $15 off an experience of $50 or more.
The photo above (from Airbnb) shows the main area, there's also a nice bedroom and tiled bath, plus a washer and dryer, which we took advantage of. The place was comfortable and the location perfect, so I'd recommend this to anyone. Oh, and there's a downstairs flat, too, in the same place, so there are two options.
Links to some of the places we talked about:
- Barton Springs
- Zilker Park
- One of our favorite thrift stores was Texas Thrift.
San Antonio
The photo top left is the front of The Alamo - the grounds and all the other buildings are behind it and to the sides. (Oh, and after recording, we realized we were pronouncing Jim Bowie's name wrong, it should be BOO-ie. Now we know!)
The other two photos are from my favorite mission we saw, Mission San Jose (which I mistakenly called Mission San Juan when recording, oops!).
There are three other missions you can see as part of the World Heritage Site of San Antonio Missions, which is such a treasure to be able to visit. All are free and have historical information, as well as still being used as churches.
We enjoyed the San Antonio Rive Walk so much - here is a link to all the general information.
Here's more about the tour boats.
The top photo with Brian shows the wonderful (and reasonable) place we ate overlooking the river, Casa Rio. When you click on that link, the first thing you'll more of the colorful umbrellas over the tables along the river - which you can see in our photo, too.
What's Cooking
Links to the wonderful places we ate, that I could find:
- Breakfast tacos at a food truck around corner of our Airbnb on Barton Springs Road just before S Lamar Blvd.
- Torchy's for the best queso.
- El Alma for happy hour appetizers pictured on the bottom row.
Also:
- Taco Joint for good tacos.
- Coopers BBQ or Terry Black's.
- Sandy's Burgers & Frozen Custard.
This is Really Cool!
Brian's: Compression socks for air travel - makes all the difference in reliving swelling, tingling, and just to feel more energetic on arrival.
Jami's: Travelon Classic Essential Messenger Bag - the crossbody bag/purse (sorry I never actually said purse in the recording!) that I've been looking for a long time. I still seems flat enough to be unobtrusive wearing it, but can hold a LOT - even my water bottle. You can see me using it in the photo above at San Antonio's Riverwalk! (And yes, it's still on sale, though not the same as I got...).
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