I came to Austin, Texas in mid-January, leaving behind my girlfriend, family and friends back in the UK for a couple of months while I'm here to meet a bunch of new people, try the food, see some culture and go to SXSW. I've been here for 7 weeks now, and I'm heading back home at the end of the month.Austin is a fantastic city with great food, drink, music, nightlife, and weather. There's a reason it's one of the fastest growing cities in the US. A typical conversation will include the question "When did you move to Austin?", mainly because no-one is actually from here (a bit like LA).Some thoughts on the trip so far:
- I'm surprised that I haven't been very homesick. Maybe I've just been keeping very busy. But I do really miss my girlfriend. This is the longest we've been apart since we've been together (nearly 7 years now) and it's tough.
- But everyone here is SO friendly and has made me feel at home. I don't know whether it's the city in particular, whether it's a southern US thing, or it's just all of the US. But here, it's weird to get on a lift (aka elevator) with other people and NOT talk to them. The exact opposite is true in the UK.
- The building I live in is great. Pool on the roof, and a gym, and free coffee.
- Meeting people out at events or bars is much easier because of my English accent - Love Actually was right all along - but the number of people who have accused me of putting on a fake accent is worrying.
- The weather here is weird. The first few weeks it was amazing: 18-25 degrees pretty much every day, and plenty of sun. Now it's gone cold again. In fact it's colder here now than it is in the UK at the moment. But by the sounds of it, summer would be unbearably hot here.
- The food is INCREDIBLE. My first taste of proper Texas barbecue was at a place called Smitty's in Lockhart, TX, which is about 30 miles south of Austin. There is no food like this in the UK at all. Franklin's BBQ here in Austin has sold out every single day since they opened in 2008, so you have to get in line at about 8am to have a chance of actually getting something. But it's so worth it.
- Given that we're in Texas, the Mexican food is great too. I've never eaten tacos as good as what's available from a random food truck on the street. Favourite's so far: Taco Deli and Veracruz on E Cesar Chavez St (get the breakfast taco with egg, cheese and chorizo).
- I've also got to give a shout out to the Beef Cake Food Truck on Rainey St that does the best sliders I've ever had in my life. Get the original and the barbecue.
- This will seem like sacrilege to some people back home, but the beer is better here, especially in Austin. There are so many microbrews and craft brews to try that you're bound to find something to suit your taste. I like The One They Call Zoe.
- I feel like I haven't done enough tourist stuff yet. I haven't visited the Capitol building, I haven't shot a gun. I haven't even seen that many fat people.
- Living in a city with Uber available is great. I've taken some Uber trips that have been insanely cheap (and some that were ridiculously expensive, like the 5.7x surge pricing at 2am on a Friday night). They also have Car2Go here, which is like the Boris bikes in London, except they're cars. That's America for you.
Despite all of these amazing positives, I'm looking forward to going home. But if I was going to move to the US, I'd move to Austin in a heartbeat.