If you have been on other touring holidays in the United States this tour may be a bit disappointing. However, there are many pluses.
Firstly the hotels used were all of a very high standard, especially the Holiday Inn in San Antonio which recently had a refurbishment. The flights by American Airlines were good with comfortable seats in economy. The Boeing 777-300 for the return journey had all the latest entertainment features. Dallas Fort Worth airport was a nightmare. When we landed it took just over 3 hours to go through the US Customs Hall! This is not unusual, however, for the afternoon. So our ‘get together meal’ was late.
The countryside of Texas is uninteresting, flat and not many trees. Without the Sixth Floor Museum (which is excellent), Dallas has very little to offer the tourist. Fort Worth, however, is a tourist city with many souvenir shops etc at the Stockyards. The Rodeo in the evening is a must.
Austin was a disappointment and could easily be left off the tour. In San Antonio, The Alamo building is in the centre of the city so you will see it many times. The hotel is in a very central position and is on the Riverwalk where there are plenty of restaurants and bars to choose from, plus the shopping mall. The coach ride out to the Silver Spur ranch saw the best part of the Texas countryside. Everyone who did the horse riding enjoyed it very much. During the spare day our little group did the boat ride on Riverwalk and a visit to the top of ‘Tower of the Americas’ for a great view of San Antonio.
Day 7 and on to NASA space centre near Houston. The tour to the Rocket Park featured the Saturn V rocket (and it is big!!!) used in the Apollo flights. Once the school parties had left the centre there was time to visit the various exhibitions in peace! The eating area was closed by 3pm!
Next day, a long drive to New Orleans with adequate stops. Louisiana is also flat but at least crops were being grown with rice fields and sugar cane. Stop off at Baton Rouge the State capital. Guided walk around the French Quarter in the evening, which really does have an amazing atmosphere at night. The music here was much better than Austin! The coach tour of New Orleans in the morning was very good as was the paddle steamer river trip and meal in the evening.
To conclude this tour got better in time with New Orleans the highlight. Just You could easily ignore Austin as an overnight stay and add another day in New Orleans where there is so much to see.
The weather we had was hot and sunny. In the early part it was the mid 90’s but ‘cooled ‘to the mid 80’s in New Orleans.
On the tour there were 21 passengers from all over the UK, who all had a great time. Our tour manager, David Cunliffe was very good