“Cheerios cereal, sir?” Darren did a double take – “I beg your pardon?” “Cheerios cereal or breakfast sandwich?” the flight attendant repeated. Welcome to First Class on Delta Airlines!

The idea to go to Austin, Texas started with the Air Miles equivalent of pin the tail on the donkey. Instead of closing your eyes and pointing your finger somewhere random on a map, it was more let’s see where we can use up some Virgin Atlantic miles. Preferably somewhere we haven’t been before, somewhere with decent weather in April, and that we don’t have to spend half the weekend getting there. Cue Texas. Y’all. On Delta. In first class.

So you may have grasped by now that being in the posh bit at the front of the plane is not quite the same flying US domestic as on a long haul international flight. We were tempted to call their bluff and actually order the Cheerios (surely they didn’t really serve Cheerios?) but hunger got the better of us and breakfast sandwich it was. Delta did however manage to redeem themselves slightly when they brought out the bubbly.

Touchdown in Austin Texas and the pilot mumbled something about it being a little colder than normal for this time of year. We had checked the weather the day before and it was a toasty 85 degrees – how bad can it be!? 43 degrees is how bad it can be! I repeat 43 degrees. That’s a measly 6 degrees centigrade. Beating a hasty retreat to the toilet, Darren changed out of his shorts into his jeans before we even left the airport. Never one to go anywhere without a fleece, I had luckily packed not just one but two fleeces. But woefully, no woolly hat.

You may have noticed that AustinTexas is like one word. That’s because they never just say Austin. Not ever. I don’t know how many other Austins there are in the world but if it’s the one in Texas you’re talking about, there will never ever be any doubt. AustinTexas is apparently the 11th largest city in the US y’all, (they say y’all like all the time too!) and with an influx of 200 people and 80 new cars on the road every day, one of the fastest growing. More to the point is that 6th street, which runs the length of the city, has more liquor licenses than anywhere else in the US. Yes, including The Strip in Vegas and Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Now that’s the kind of statistic we like 😉

What better way to get to know a new city than hiring a bike and cycling round some breweries. There’s a couple of things I like about cycling… the freedom of going at your own pace without having to drive or uber, especially where bike paths are abundant. And a nice large squishy seat always brings out a smile. What isn’t quite up there is cycling in the freezing cold with no gloves. Still, we persevered, each brewery becoming more and more attractive as an opportunity to thaw our numb fingers.

Seems like brewery hopping is the thing to do on a lazy Saturday afternoon, talk about busy. Not only the thing to do, but the cool, hip thing to do – by the time we reached our third brewery, we realized rather disconcertingly, that we were the oldest people in there.

Austin Texas also has a ‘Keep Austin Weird’ thing going on.

Another ‘must do’ in Texas is BBQ. Boy, do they know how to BBQ.

Huge fire pits adorned with hunks of meat oozing deliciousness, sausages galore, and baby back ribs smothered in sweet sticky bbq sauce. Not to mention the most amazing potato salad. At the most basic establishments, you don’t even get a plate. Just a white shiny placemat that you throw your meat on. Salt Lick BBQ felt like a true Texas BBQ experience and we rolled out stuffed and happy.

Texas even does wine. Who knew! About 300 wineries in the state apparently, a number of which are in ‘the hill country’, an area the size of Scotland to the south of AustinTexas. Our little trip to the hill country involved a minivan of like-minded friendly people, who got friendlier and more upbeat as the day went on. The last leg back to base involved passing round a bottle of red…

So would we recommend a stop in AustinTexas for Y’all – of course! We love a city that has a friendly vibe with good food and drink galore – in fact this is getting typed up from a bar on our next city tour ‘Portland Oregon’. We heard they have good beer here! Stay tuned.