Texas as a holiday destination..... or not.

Murphy_The_Cat

I'm currently at the early planning stage for an 18 day holiday in March & April of next year.
There are four of us going, myself, Mrs Cat, MTK aged 6 and MTK2 aged 3 and I've got a few requirements/must haves.
1) we must travel via AA as we have 3 'free' flights to use
2) It'll be America rather than Canada
3) with it being Springtime, we'll need to be in a Southern State to enjoy some warmth
4) after visiting California/Pacific Coast several times beforehand, I'm fancying somwhere different.

So far, I've very tentattively started considering this.
Dallas / Fort Worth area 3 nights
Galveston/Houston 3 nights
drive to Tampa/St Petersberg area (1000 miles) over about 4-5 days stopping off at any relevant areas of interest on the way.
Tampa/St Petes in a Villa for a week or so.

But I've got a few stumbling blocks!!
I've a real fancy for visiting Texas, But I'm not really sure if it is a realistic family holiday destination.
The one way car hire from Texas to Florida will attract a surcharge of about $500 - I enjoy travelling and seeing different areas, my family less so, would I be better off putting the $500 towards flights and flying from TX to FL ?**
For our holidays we like to have a combination of leisure, pleasure, visting the local sights, but most importantly doing things together -- but we would not, at all, be spending day after day pouring our money into Uncle Walts over stuffed wallet !! But a day at Busch Gardens would be vey acceptable.

Lots of thoughts, a few ideas, but nothing firm.

I've not used the 'new improved' (& heavily slated) overseas & holioday planning section before and I'd be very interested in feedback from people.



** I'll be hiring a class of car that will comfortably eat up huge mileages, so 2000 miles+ over the trip wouldn't be a deal killer

torbrex

Hi MTC

I did a trip to Texas a few years ago, other than San Antonio, I cant really help you with detail of any city based attractions, I am more of an outdoors/open country lover.
I covered 4800 miles during my 2 weeks, mainly just getting to places. I spent a few days in San Antonio then on to Big Bend NP for a couple of days, I nipped into New Mexico to see the caverns at Carlsbad which are spectacular. North through Lubbock to Amarillo then westward ho through parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas and re-entering Texas at Texarkana(as in all the C & W songs) which I found to be a bit dull and no more than an overgrown service area. I then headed down to the Gulf coast and got lost for a couple of days, in spite of less than a year after Katrina hit it was still beautiful scenery if a bit touristy.
I did not manage to get to the Johnson Space Centre, it was New year and unusually they were closed for the holiday for some reason.

Even if you stay in the Dallas, Houston, San Antonio triangle there is loads to see and do with state parks, underground cavern, museums and more shopping centres and sports teams than you can shake a stick at.
New Orleans is only a days drive (6 hours straight) from Houston and a few days there is another story to add to your adventure.

Anything else just ask remembering that I did my trip solo so you would need to allow for family.

Murphy_The_Cat

Cheers Torbrex, thats a great start for me.
Striking the balance of what pleases the adults, the children and most importantly ALL of us, is going to be the trick.
Its good to hear that there would be plenty in the population centres to keep us happy and somewhere like Johnson Space Center sounds perfect..

I would like to visit New Orleans, but I'd need to make sure that I was going for the right reasons, nit as a crash rubber necker -- and with it being due East of Houston, it would be an ideal stopover on my way to Florida.

So, my initial idea could be a go-er :j:j

pavlovs_dog

not sure how familiar you are with busch gardens, but the HUGE rollercoasters have become the main attraction there IMHO. The animals (and any smaller fairground rides for the kittens) very much play second fiddle

Murphy_The_Cat

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

not sure how familiar you are with busch gardens, but the HUGE rollercoasters have become the main attraction there IMHO. The animals (and any smaller fairground rides for the kittens) very much play second fiddle

Its about 24 months since I last went, & IIRC there was quite a goodly selection of 'smaller' big rides (does that make sense ?) that I could take the children on, plus there was a very large childrens soft play/explore area which would be great. The last time we went it was very much out of season and it was an absolute pleasure to go around.
Whilst I'd possibly (OK I lie, I'd definitely enjoy) the 'big rides', I get an even bigger thrill out of taking the children on the log flume type rides.

I can appreciate what you say about the 'big' rollercoasters coming more to the fore, as it was being pushed in that direction 24 months ago. Mrs Cat & I could enjoy a day at Busch Gardens with the children, but the idea of a visit to Disney leaves us cold. If their was a Legoland in FLA, we'd be on our way their, as we had a great time at Legoland in CA.

Icequeen1

There are lots of things the kids will love in Dallas area (zoos, aquariums, lakes, parks, the fort worth stock yards)

6 flags at Dallas/Fort Worth is a fun day out if you like theme parks.

Houston has NASA which is fun for kids.

San Antonio has the alamo for adults and the riverwalk boat rides for kids.

If you go down the coast to Corpus christi there is the USS lexington and some great beaches, same on South Padre island.

Although it might not appear an obvious choice for a holiday, if you research you will find plenty for the kids to do, especially outdoors and a lot of these adults will enjoy as well. NASA in Houston is agood example with a mix for everyone.

I have done the drive from Houston to Florida and I would say there is probably less for kids to enjoy along the way, so you might want to consider flying.

IQ

Philippa36

It sounds like a great holiday! However, I'm not sure New Orleans is really a family destination - I really enjoyed it there but DS & DD (7 & 5 at the time) spent the week at Disney with their grandmother instead.

Murphy_The_Cat

With a nod in the direction of Icequeen & Phillipa, it might be an idea to have a 2 day stop in Louisiana (somewhere in Louisiana) for an explore and maybe 2 days in Penscacola before moseying on down to Tampa/St Petes.
I could fly Houston-Tampa, but I'm not sure how happy Mrs Cat would be with the idea -- cost wise, it looks to be about £488 for indirect flights for the four of us & £512 for direct flights - TBH, I can't see Mrs Cat being overkeen on indirect flights and £512 is a tad expensive (but about the same price as the one way hire charge & fuel for the car).

Or, fly initially to DFW, stay several nights in the area, head towards San Antonio for a bit then Houston/Galveston perhaps for a bit then drive back to DFW, for a flight to Pensacola (multiple direct flights with AA each day for £469 for all 4 of us), pick up the car at Pensacola and start touring again. that would only be about 1000 mile driving in total (including trips) and would be very 'sellable' to Mrs Cat.

decisions, decisions.

Moonchild

I used to live in Baton Rouge, and frequently drove to Houston, but to be honest I mostly remember Texas for the vast size and driving distances! There is a huge amount to see and do in Louisiana and forgoing New Orleans would be a massive mistake. There is plenty to do with the kids. In the city, Preservation Hall Jazz Band play a alcohol free kids friendly set lunchtimish, getting out into the swamps and fishing can be amazing.

Pensicola is definitely a fun play to stopover beach wise, certainly doesn't feel like Florida, but be careful not to catch it for a spring break esque holiday time, overwise you'll it could be overwhelming. How about breaking it into two smaller breaks avoiding big o/w drop off fees - i.e. a Vegas / Grand Canyon / Rattlesnakes trip then fly to Nu Awlins and drive down to the Key's - plenty to see and do en-route and some nice beaches to finish off?

But, you'd forego Texas so I guess not!

Murphy_The_Cat

Grand suggestion Moonchild, but for this trip, I've got a desire to visit the Lone Star State ( but I don't really know why).
Thanks for the eyes up about Spring Break, as its something that until now, I hadn't considered.
As for avoiding O/W drop off fees, I'd get away with that if I did a Dallas/San Antonio/Houston/Dallas triangle and then an onwards flight to a FLA airport.

youngatheart_2

We had 2 weeks in Texas last October and had a great time. Flew into Houston, few days in San Antonio, then Bandera on a ranch (fabulous cowboy town), Austin (state capitol), then down the coast to Port Aransas and Port Lavaca. People are the friendliest I have ever met!! We are in our 50s so not sure how much there would be for children to do . The beaches are nowhere near as nice as Florida's however we did go just after Hurricane Ike so there was a lot of damage round the Galveston area. Have a great time whatever you decide.