Early flight out of long beach in the morning and having to say goodbye to Nicole , Evan and the kids for their amazing hospitality ...
Not really knowing what to expect flying into austin TX - completely on my own and struggling to find "appropriate" accommodation.
After two buses I finally arrive at the 'travel lodge'- a good 7 or 8miles out of town .. Aka the f***ing ghetto , pretty sure as I was walking in to the place there was a nigga out the front selling rocks , little sketchy.
After some umming' and arring' I negotiate with the receptionist that I'd pay my first night up front and possibly love on after that if I could find somewhere more central , if not I was pretty happy to bail on Texas. Basically if your not within 2 miles of the university your f***ing no where !!
So I sucked it up and thought I'm not going to just chill the night solo in my kingsize room I might as well go downtown for a bite and a beer. Caught a bus (good 25min ride) down to 6st- party college district . Basically walked along and the first bar I saw was called 'Bikinis' - SOLD!
Went in ; typical cliched American sports bar riddled with babes in bikinis serving drinks and food.
Went and grabbed a bud and scoped out a group who looked like they wouldn't mind rough looking Aussie to join their drinking squad.
"How ya going guys, mind if I have a beer?" - sure after exchanging pleasantries the guys seemed pretty chill. Nate was the first I met, then jonathan, Cameron, myke and Taylor .. There was at least another 6 blokes but. After maybe 10 minutes of small talk Jonathan pipes up ; "so where are you staying?" .. I explain the location and suspicion that it may be a common spot for drop offs and muggings.
"Pffft f*** that- your staying with us !!"
And that's it!
We partied hard that night I stayed maybe 5nights in jonathon, Taylor and Trent's spare room! Best blokes I have probably ever met ! So welcoming, so funny, and loved to party... My timing was impeccable , this weekend saw us going to another buddy of theirs mike's engagement party and on the Sunday went to Lauren's dads (jono's girlfriend) house for a real southern style cookout! This is where I met Patten ; another awesome dude. Great food , great people , s*** loads of beers! My favourite beers that I carried with me for the rest of my time in the states were definetly tecate (Mexican) and magic hat (micro brewer).
I loved my time in austin, hanging with the boys, eating great food, day drinking on rainy st, west 6 to party and went over to east 6 for a mad feed too.
Giving Jono and Taylor a massive hug as I was leaving words could not describe the gratitude I had for the hospitality they had provided me!! Maybe the fact they had both lived in Sydney for a period of about 6months is why they took a liking to me !? I was confident I would stay in touch with these boys... The other gift I received from all the austin boys was plenty of contacts and willing hosts for the remainder of my time in the states - I was set !
However my last day in austin started for what was a little bit of an emotional roller coaster for me. Staying in touch with Kate and the situation our relationship was in proved to really rattle us both when it seemed our feelings and expectations were very different from each others. It's a pretty tough thing to do breaking someone's heart.
Had a lot of time to think about s*** on a lonely 20hr greyhound from austin to New Orleans (left my skateboard on the bus ... f***!)