Day 8 - Back in Baytown

Morning in Houston

After a beautiful morning in Houston, Sunday finds me heading to Baytown so I can be on site Monday morning. 

I've spent a lot of time over in this part of SE Texas - and most would agree that it is probably best described as functional! 

Still it has a few good places to grab some food and as I write this at nearly 4pm on Sunday afternoon the mind is already starting to wander towards the delicious steak that will probably be tonight's delicacy from the Texas Roadhouse (here).

There is common perception about the USA that everything is bigger, louder and brasher. Now obviously stereotypes tend to be come stereotypes because there is at least some truth in them. Once you get used to the people and the culture here then there actually isn't too much of a difference in truth.

One thing however that is definitely different is the quality and size of hotel rooms. 

Having spent more time than I can recall over the last few years in a number of different hotel rooms (Hilton Diamond Member baby) I can confirm that they are just simply better over here. 

I'm only in Baytown for a night but check out the single I've got for that night. This room costs about £90pn and as you can see it is frankly ridiculous! I can't do it justice but I'm sure this would cost you a small fortune in most of the UK.

My humble ride

Another thing the US tends to do bigger and brasher is the humble car. My last car in the UK was a Ford Fiesta, something that I'm not even sure exists in this part of the world. 

A couple of the client guys I work with have trucks with tailgates so big that I think I could park my old fiesta in them. This is after all the home of the most sold vehicle of all time (I think), the good old Ford F-150. 

Normally I get a reasonable sized saloon or maybe even a small SUV depending on what is available - however today I got there brash end of the scale instead of the big. Having arrived at the rental car place to be told that (despite pre-booking) my car wasn't available I ended up having to take whatever they had - difference in price being to their account obviously. So for the next week, instead of a little SUV I am the proud owner of a Ford Mustang. I intend to enjoy myself (whilst obviously obeying all traffic laws).

Just shows the benefit of being dynamic and able to adjust to whatever life throws at you - as well as showing that a healthy dose of "right time, right place" luck doesn't go amiss either!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and make next week better than the one just gone.

Till tomorrow, 

Tom