JetBlue Blog

Last week’s success with San Francisco showed that people sure know what’s up when it comes to BlueCity travel! We thank Crewmembers and Customers alike for their great tips!

This week we visit Austin! Cue Home on The Range:

Ok, we know- Austin is a hip, metropolitan area. You won’t see much in the way of tumbleweed and chewin’ tobacco like you might in other parts of The Lone Star state. Where else besides Austin, though, can you go to an authentic, gay cowboy night?

The capital of Texas, Austin is the 4th largest city in the state, the 15th largest in the U.S. and was voted the “least stressful” city by Forbes Magazine. It’s a great gateway city to the South and one of the most creative and open-minded. An unofficial, but widely-used slogan for the city is “keep Austin weird.”

Austin is known for its love of its local businesses and, in keeping with that spirit, there are no national chains at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, offers Inflight Crewmember, Gillian. You’ll only find local businesses, like Austin Java, Maudie’s Tex-Mex, Amy’s Ice Cream, and the world famous Salt Lick BBQ (and don’t miss the “divine deliciousness” of the Blackberry cobbler for dessert!). While you’re in the airport, suggests Airport Operations Crewmember, Suzie, there is live music almost daily next to the Ray Benson’s Roadhouse located in the center of the terminal building on the concourse level.

If you can tear yourself away from the good eats and sounds at the airport and head into the city, Manager Regional Marketing, Jennie, suggests you start your day at Jo’s Coffee on Congress St. “The coffee is fantastic,” she offers, “and you can sit outside while enjoying both the weather and people watching.” You can then rent a canoe or kayak from Zilker Boats and spend a few hours exploring Lady Bird Lake.

Airports Crewmember, Laura, recommends a stop by Allen’s boots for “the biggest, most eye-popping display of cowboy boots.”  With more 4,000 boots on display, many like works of art, you can get a taste for the real South while immersed in the hip neighborhood of South Congress. The area, described by some as “Woodstock meets Vegas,” is also home to lots of other fun shops and places to eat.

Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Cap Metro) offer Dillos (trolleys) which are free to ride, relays Inflight Crewmember, Sherri. You can catch these trolleys at several downtown locations. The city of Austin also voted for the upcoming MetroRail, currently in the testing stage, which will provide transportation relief for those living outside the downtown areas.

Corporate Communications Crewmember, Alison, recommends you check out some of the city’s most aesthetically-pleasing hotels (if you can’t stay there, you can always stop by for a quick look or to grab a drink or a meal) including the historic Driskill and the modern San Jose.

Austin refers to itself as “The Live Music Capital of the World” because of the incredible number of musicians and live music venues. Next week, the population of live musicians will increase even more as the South by Southwest Music, Film, and Interactive festival comes to town bringing in up and coming musicians, film makers and tech luminaries to the 10 day festival. Inflight Crewmember, Gillian, also offers up an insider tip about Sixth Street, which was famous for its live music but has become a tourist trap. “If you want to hang out where the locals do and hear the up-and-coming bands Austin is famous for,” she offers, “head down Red River Street (perpendicular to Sixth Street). The best venues are Emo’s, the Mohawk, Beauty Bar, Beerland and Stubb’s.”

Austin has one of the youngest average populations in the country and is home to a great number of technology companies, offers Corporate Communications Crewmember, Morgan. So much so, in fact, that flights to Austin from other tech capitals like San Francisco are often dubbed “Nerd Birds” by the customers that fly them regularly.

Airport Operations Crewmember, Suzie, shares her favorite Austin spot, natural swimming hole and nature preserve, The Hamilton Pool.  “It is a collapsed grotto and an easy 30 minute drive from the airport,” she offers. “Come check it out!” If you don’t want to travel that far from the city, McKinney Falls is another great spot, and is just five minutes from the airport.

For a true once-in-a-lifetime experience, Inflight Crewmembers Sherri and K direct visitors to The Congress Avenue Bridge over the Colorado River near downtown (the Four Seasons is to one side and a downtown is to the other). If you stand on this bridge at dusk, you will catch sight of “the home to America’s largest urban Mexican free-tailed bat population” pouring out from under the bridge and up the river into the turning night’s sky. “It is such a fast and furious flow of so many bats that it appears as if they are just one continuous long black apparition; and the sound of their wings flapping in unison is like an eerie operetta!” offers K.

Customer Support Crewmember, Francine, recommends that sports fans check out the Longhorns (and, as the official sponsor in the airline category, we tend to agree!). Representing 20 different sports, there’s something for everyone!

With more than a handful of our flights leaving for Austin daily from New York’s JFK, San Francisco, Long Beach, Orlando, and Fort Lauderdale, there’s little reason not to check out this gem city. For more great tips on what to do in Austin, check out our CityBlog, Jet Austin, authored by local writer, Spike Gillespie.

Be sure to check back next Tuesday for the next stop on our BlueCity tour, Fort Lauderdale/Miami!

Do you have any great Austin travel tips to share? Leave them in the comments below, or Tweet them using the hashtag #TTAUS.