A few weekends ago we took our first trip west of Houston -160 miles to the state capital of Austin. Leaving Houston and driving through open countryside was bliss. There was gradual change in scenery from flat to “Hill Country” – the name for the area around Austin. It was wonderful to see hills after being in flat-as-a-pancake Houston. OK, so not the big hills that we love, but they were hills!
Austin, is quite different to Houston with a much more historical feel to it. It is also very relaxed and much more pedestrian and cycle friendly. We explored the city, some of the parks and visited the Capitol Building, which is 7 feet taller than the Capitol building in Washington DC - everything has to be bigger in Texas!.
Typically for us we could not keep away from food for long! We enjoyed delicious American and Mexican breakfasts. The Mexican included tacos, salsa, refried beans and other southern delights. I’m not sure you’d want to eat it every day but it was different and yummy! The Saturday Farmers Market was wonderful and so much bigger than the ones in Houston. We bought honey and local jams to take back. Remaining on the subject of food, we paid a trip to the home of Wholefoods Market, one of our favourite grocery stores. Some of you may know of Wholefoods from trips to the States or from the recently opened store on London’s Kensington High Street. For those that haven’t heard of Wholefoods they sell wonderful food. I’m waffling. Sorry. The reason for the trip to Wholefoods in Austin is that Austin is their head office and has the biggest Wholefoods in the states. Foody heaven so we returned with some yummy treats!
We very much enjoyed our trip exploring another little bit of Texas. Thanks also to our friends Adrian, Jon & Trisha and Ian for the social events in Austin too!
Thursday, 29 November 2007
Sorry for the silence!
Oops, we’ve been a little quiet, but we haven’t disappeared! We’re all ok here in Texas. It’s been a busy few weeks as Adam headed back to France for two weeks, we moved house and have been getting sorted so there’s lots to catch up on and things to say. We’ll try and catch up with all our news very soon so watch this space!
Monday, 5 November 2007
No Guy Fawkes here
Here in Texas Guy Fawkes hasn't been heard of so no fireworks or bonfire for us tonight! Good job as it still feels far too warm (sorry to those of you in colder climes but it's still 25-30 celsisus here!). Halloween has been the main event in the States and boy do they go to town with houses decorated with more than the iconic pumpkin. Aside from Halloween we've been busy with continuing on the road to get sorted.
Another success happened last week as we purchased and took delivery of another car. Both of having wheels is making life soooooooooo much easier. Yeah!
We've been doing some exploring of the local area. The houses much smaller than on Wisteria Lane. Both of us are very happy to see so many places to walk/run/bike straight from our front door and also to see so many other people doing the same. There is a good network of sidewalks and paths next to the golf courses which should help keep us on track and off the obesity scale...we hope!
There are several state parks close by which we have enjoyed visiting. Last weekend we went to the San Jacinto monument. It is the site of the 1836 battle which resulted in Texas becoming independant from Mexico. So you can see we're trying to improve our Texan-American History. San Jacinto left Claire with an interesting memory as she was bitten by an unknown (to us) insect. Well at least we got to see how the American medical system works and it wasn't life-threatening! Yesterday we went to Galveston Island state park. There's a super looking campsite literally on the beach so once we can get the tent out of the container it seems we will be going on a camping trip.
Above: Yesterday at Galveston Island State Park (for all of you asking for piccies and to see we're alive and well!)
Another success happened last week as we purchased and took delivery of another car. Both of having wheels is making life soooooooooo much easier. Yeah!
We've been doing some exploring of the local area. The houses much smaller than on Wisteria Lane. Both of us are very happy to see so many places to walk/run/bike straight from our front door and also to see so many other people doing the same. There is a good network of sidewalks and paths next to the golf courses which should help keep us on track and off the obesity scale...we hope!
There are several state parks close by which we have enjoyed visiting. Last weekend we went to the San Jacinto monument. It is the site of the 1836 battle which resulted in Texas becoming independant from Mexico. So you can see we're trying to improve our Texan-American History. San Jacinto left Claire with an interesting memory as she was bitten by an unknown (to us) insect. Well at least we got to see how the American medical system works and it wasn't life-threatening! Yesterday we went to Galveston Island state park. There's a super looking campsite literally on the beach so once we can get the tent out of the container it seems we will be going on a camping trip.
Above: Yesterday at Galveston Island State Park (for all of you asking for piccies and to see we're alive and well!)Adam is settling in well at work. However, it seems he has got bored of all this exploring, as he's off to France for 9 days! His ex-colleagues miss him so much he's going back. Also a good excuse for delicious cheese and wine!
Adam and Claire xxx
Saturday, 27 October 2007
Some successes!
Our last post was written on 12 October. We have not posted much since due to the appalling computing equipment at the Marriot we were staying at and until now we haven't had much to say. But all of a sudden everything sems to be go, so this is a somewhat lengthy update! In the last couple of days we have moved to a proper apartment that we can use for a month (the reason will become clear later), which has much better internet access and equipment.
We are staying in the Clear Lake Area of Houston. It is close to the coast and about 20 miles from Downtown Houston and 20-30 miles from Galveston (Brighton/Blackpool in Texas). Essentially the area is home to NASA (aka "Houston... we have a problem") and Boeing, but it is also the third largest water bourne recreational area in the USA and a large housing area. We have been staying in a Marriot Residence Inn whilst we searched for a house. We have looked at a large number of houses. All the houses are much bigger than they are in the UK - it is impossible to find anything that is less than 3 bedrooms and everything is huge. The problem we have had is that many of them either backed onto major roads (lots of noise), were fairly horrendously decorated inside or were just too big! After looking at around 20 houses we have agreed a lease on a 4 bedroomed place in League City (pop. 45,000 - the "historic" part of Clear Lake). The house was built in 2ooo , in a quiet neighbourhood next to a golf course and is fairly well decorated, so we are pretty happy with it. Unfortunately it is not available until 21 November 2007 (the day before Thanksgiving, when America shuts for 4 days). To bridge ourselves until them we have taken a 1 month lease on an apartment, which is very nice and has high speed internet.
Adam also managed to get his Social Security Number this week - the number is the key to everything in the US. It is used as a personal identifier and is linked to your bank details, your credit history, your taxes,... basically everything. You cannot walk into a store and sneeze without it. The process of getting it involved going to a very Hispanic part of Houston and standing in a queue for an hour to apply for it and then going back the following day to collect the number. As soon as we got the number we were able to go and buy mobile phones (again - very different to the UK - you pay to receive and make calls or text messages). Fortunately we found that we could obtain a very favourable discount due to the company Adam works for, but still expensive compared to the UK. The key to buying things in the US is discount..."Can I get a discount for being English, or walking into the store at 6 minutes past 6pm...?".
Today we have achieved another major success - buying a car! The process is completely different to the UK and a real eye opener. US car Salesman are animals and will negotiate on anything. The whole negotiation process took nearly an hour and a half, over about 1000 pounds of money. Eventually we managed to purchase an immaculate nearly new Nissan Murano, with only 14,000 miles on it (everything here seems to do about 30,0000 miles a year). Once the deal is done, in typical American fashion, they bury you under about 6ft of state paper work. We had to sign no less than 15 forms (the largest of which was about 3 feet by 1.5 feet and covered with small print). But we made it out alive and take delivery on Monday.
We'll keep you informed as everything keeps happening. We understand that some people have experienced some problems accessing the blog after around 30 days, even though they have set up the required Google account. If you still experience problems you should be able to access it by going to http:\\adamandclaireabroad.blogspot.com. If that does not work then let us know on adam.h.scott@btinternet.com or ccbardwell@lineone.net and we'll see what we can do.
Take care and enjoy the great British weather for us!!!
Adam and Claire xxx
We are staying in the Clear Lake Area of Houston. It is close to the coast and about 20 miles from Downtown Houston and 20-30 miles from Galveston (Brighton/Blackpool in Texas). Essentially the area is home to NASA (aka "Houston... we have a problem") and Boeing, but it is also the third largest water bourne recreational area in the USA and a large housing area. We have been staying in a Marriot Residence Inn whilst we searched for a house. We have looked at a large number of houses. All the houses are much bigger than they are in the UK - it is impossible to find anything that is less than 3 bedrooms and everything is huge. The problem we have had is that many of them either backed onto major roads (lots of noise), were fairly horrendously decorated inside or were just too big! After looking at around 20 houses we have agreed a lease on a 4 bedroomed place in League City (pop. 45,000 - the "historic" part of Clear Lake). The house was built in 2ooo , in a quiet neighbourhood next to a golf course and is fairly well decorated, so we are pretty happy with it. Unfortunately it is not available until 21 November 2007 (the day before Thanksgiving, when America shuts for 4 days). To bridge ourselves until them we have taken a 1 month lease on an apartment, which is very nice and has high speed internet.
Adam also managed to get his Social Security Number this week - the number is the key to everything in the US. It is used as a personal identifier and is linked to your bank details, your credit history, your taxes,... basically everything. You cannot walk into a store and sneeze without it. The process of getting it involved going to a very Hispanic part of Houston and standing in a queue for an hour to apply for it and then going back the following day to collect the number. As soon as we got the number we were able to go and buy mobile phones (again - very different to the UK - you pay to receive and make calls or text messages). Fortunately we found that we could obtain a very favourable discount due to the company Adam works for, but still expensive compared to the UK. The key to buying things in the US is discount..."Can I get a discount for being English, or walking into the store at 6 minutes past 6pm...?".
Today we have achieved another major success - buying a car! The process is completely different to the UK and a real eye opener. US car Salesman are animals and will negotiate on anything. The whole negotiation process took nearly an hour and a half, over about 1000 pounds of money. Eventually we managed to purchase an immaculate nearly new Nissan Murano, with only 14,000 miles on it (everything here seems to do about 30,0000 miles a year). Once the deal is done, in typical American fashion, they bury you under about 6ft of state paper work. We had to sign no less than 15 forms (the largest of which was about 3 feet by 1.5 feet and covered with small print). But we made it out alive and take delivery on Monday.
We'll keep you informed as everything keeps happening. We understand that some people have experienced some problems accessing the blog after around 30 days, even though they have set up the required Google account. If you still experience problems you should be able to access it by going to http:\\adamandclaireabroad.blogspot.com. If that does not work then let us know on adam.h.scott@btinternet.com or ccbardwell@lineone.net and we'll see what we can do.
Take care and enjoy the great British weather for us!!!
Adam and Claire xxx
Friday, 12 October 2007
We have arrived!
We arrived in sunny Houston yesterday afternoon after a slightly nerve racking experience. Claire's passport and visa were delivered at 0805 in the morning so that we could catch the 1200 flight from Gatwick! After a very nice and relaxing experience in Business First we landed at around 1600 CST and experieced the ever so pleasent American Border Control staff (we are not longer friends with them). Since then our experience has been much more relaxing. We were greeted by a very friendly taxi driver who did not raise an eyebrow to carrying, loading and unloading our 8 bags. The hotel we are staying in is pleasent and clean and in the out of town area of Clear Lake. The weather is very good - about 30degC, sunny and not too humid.
This morning we woke up early due to the jet lag, took a taxi Downtown and collected our hire car (or should I say "rental"). This afternoon we are taking a tour of the area with our relocation agent to get ourselves adjusted.
We'll keep you all posted!
This morning we woke up early due to the jet lag, took a taxi Downtown and collected our hire car (or should I say "rental"). This afternoon we are taking a tour of the area with our relocation agent to get ourselves adjusted.
We'll keep you all posted!
Tuesday, 9 October 2007
Ready to go...... almost!
The house was packed by Pickfords last week (4 days!) and loaded into a very large container in order to start the long journey by sea to Houston. We even had a little bit of room left to spare, which I am sure we will be able to fill for the return journey!
With the help of Adam's parents we then cleaned from top to bottom and decorated in places to allow the new tenants to move in on Monday of this week.
Claire went to her visa interview on Thursday of last week and passed with flying colours after a frustrating 4.5 hour wait for a two minute interview. We are now just waiting for her passport and visa to come back via courier so that we can get underway on our trip across the Atlantic.
Monday, 1 October 2007
Packing is underway
A wee bit more news from us...not so much a postcard from Texas but a bit of an update...
The packing of our possessions has begun in earnest. Last week we packed up the flat in Le Havre (for those of you not aware Adam has been working in France for the last 10 months). Somewhat chaotic as 5 Frenchmen worked manically for 2 hours resulting in 64 boxes starting their journey to Texas.
Furious cleaning followed until the flat sparkled and we could handover the keys and enjoy some yummy French food and drink.
Back in Marchwood the shippers have started to pack our house and squeeze everything into the container. It's all go as we fly on Thursday 11 October...it really is countdown to Houston!
The packing of our possessions has begun in earnest. Last week we packed up the flat in Le Havre (for those of you not aware Adam has been working in France for the last 10 months). Somewhat chaotic as 5 Frenchmen worked manically for 2 hours resulting in 64 boxes starting their journey to Texas.
Furious cleaning followed until the flat sparkled and we could handover the keys and enjoy some yummy French food and drink.
Back in Marchwood the shippers have started to pack our house and squeeze everything into the container. It's all go as we fly on Thursday 11 October...it really is countdown to Houston!
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