Well to rate Houston in one word, that word would be 'shit'. We got off the bus after an early ride in from Austin and got on the light rail, to our hostel. The light rail made the whole place look futuristic. Granted the city looked safe and clean, but it also looked dull. But anyway, we get to the hostel and outside it was hot. Inside was even hotter, as they decided to have the heating pumped up. The hostel itself was odd, it was unmanned until 5pm and was basically just someones house with a bunch of beds in the rooms. We decide to lock our valuables and catch the bus to the Kennedy space center. After much discussion with various transit people we catch a different bus to what was suggested, saving ourselves a few hours and getting to the complex in about an hour. Nobodies really sure how long it took as we all fell asleep at different points.
The space center was pretty ok, it was all sciencey and stuff, but to see where such history had happened was quite amazing, we saw the control room that ran the Apollo missions and the factory where astronauts trained with fake space shuttles, ones that are just modules of the real thing.
The impressive bit of the tour was the rocket that wasn't used as one of the Apollo missions was scrapped. This thing was huge, it had to be over a rugby field long and just blew me away at how awesome it was.
We left the space station and got there early for the bus. the bus that would never come. After waiting 30 minutes we rang the bus company and were told that the bus driver didn't feel like driving out there or something like that. It was a scheduled stop and it was the last scheduled stop, leaving us rather screwed. It took us 2 hours to get a taxi to come in and cost $50 to get back in, thankfully divide by 4. After that we just crashed into bed. This whole bus thing really cost us any sight seeing in downtown Houston we could of done.
The next day it was an early start as we had an early train. We call a cab and have our stuff ready in the cool early morning air. The cab is late. It turns out he's been ringing the hostel, a phone behind a locked door that we wouldn't of answered anyway, instead of the contact number we gave, we re-ring and get jerked around, being told 5 mins apart that it is within a mile. Just as we nearly catch a ride with a stranger it arrives. The dude is useless, he has no idea where the train station is. He gets in the right area, but stops and gets directions, while leaving the meter running. Guess who gets no tip.
We arrive at the train station in disgust with the cabbie and waiting for the 6:15 train. It's late, real late, we get on and it doesn't move, I wake up as it starts to move at 8:15. At this point I'm just happy to be out of Houston and not on Greyhound.
The space center was pretty ok, it was all sciencey and stuff, but to see where such history had happened was quite amazing, we saw the control room that ran the Apollo missions and the factory where astronauts trained with fake space shuttles, ones that are just modules of the real thing.
The impressive bit of the tour was the rocket that wasn't used as one of the Apollo missions was scrapped. This thing was huge, it had to be over a rugby field long and just blew me away at how awesome it was.
We left the space station and got there early for the bus. the bus that would never come. After waiting 30 minutes we rang the bus company and were told that the bus driver didn't feel like driving out there or something like that. It was a scheduled stop and it was the last scheduled stop, leaving us rather screwed. It took us 2 hours to get a taxi to come in and cost $50 to get back in, thankfully divide by 4. After that we just crashed into bed. This whole bus thing really cost us any sight seeing in downtown Houston we could of done.
The next day it was an early start as we had an early train. We call a cab and have our stuff ready in the cool early morning air. The cab is late. It turns out he's been ringing the hostel, a phone behind a locked door that we wouldn't of answered anyway, instead of the contact number we gave, we re-ring and get jerked around, being told 5 mins apart that it is within a mile. Just as we nearly catch a ride with a stranger it arrives. The dude is useless, he has no idea where the train station is. He gets in the right area, but stops and gets directions, while leaving the meter running. Guess who gets no tip.
We arrive at the train station in disgust with the cabbie and waiting for the 6:15 train. It's late, real late, we get on and it doesn't move, I wake up as it starts to move at 8:15. At this point I'm just happy to be out of Houston and not on Greyhound.
