Big Ben's Travelogue Blog

Given we retired sometime close to 4:00AM this morning it was no surprise that the planned early start didn't happen.  We left the hotel at around 10:00 to head for Denny's and a hearty breakfast that was mainly comprised of pancakes. Parking at the circuit costs something ridiculous like $150 for the weekend, luckily some enterprising locals rent out their paddock space for a more reasonable $20 per day.  It has become a US GP tradition to park in Billy-Bob's back garden.  Today this was made fun by the fact it rained a lot overnight so it was possible to slide the car around in the mud quite a lot. The race (Yello reference) started at 14:00 by which time I had applied a more sensible quantity of suncream and got some bottled water.  On race day the grandstands are full with a full spectrum of people, we were 'lucky' enough to be sat close to a loudmouthed self styled expert pundit.  The only problem was he didn't seem to have been to or watched a race...

At the time I wrote Part I of the Day Four blog I was fairly sure that Part II would not be necessary, after all it was already late in the evening (Paul Simon reference) and we were only going for some food and possibly a couple of drinks.  However, as usual Austin delivered and late in the evening became a 4:00AM arrival back at the hotel. Eric arranged an Uber from the hotel to downtown where we headed to the historic Driskoll hotel, notable for something about president LBJ that I didn't really pay attention to.  Despite being in the country for three days the occasion marked the first burger I have eaten this trip, although it surely won't be the last. During dinner it was clear that the group's energy levels were flagging following day 3's shenanigans, there was silence instead of the usual and constant laughter.  I wasn't the only one to notice this but it was also true that it would be the last night Eric was with us so we needed to snap out of it very q...

The day got off to a leisurely start with all intentions of watching the morning's track action going out the window when we set off for breakfast at around 11:00, this was compounded by Denny's being really busy with the weekend crowd.  Still a massive plate of hash browns and pancakes went some way toward clearing any residual hang overs. We arrived at the circuit in time to watch the GP4 race which is sort of like a slow version of F1.  This was the first day of sitting in our home for the rest of the weekend, the turn 9 grandstand.  It has the added benefit of a view of the stage where the post race concerts will be held, although I remain a bit worried that Stevie Wonder may not be able to see us from that distance. View from the T9 stand - I don't normally wear a hat but head sunburn is a real and present danger Yesterday I managed to get a touch of sunburn.  Keen to avoid further problems I visited the circuit information stand which was dispensing su...

As I suspect will become a necessary tradition day three's blog is a two parter.  Ideally blogging would take place on the day but I could barely find the computer let alone type coherently when I got in at circa 3:03am. Following our return from the circuit we arrived at the hotel to find Eric waiting for us in the lobby, this was great because he was carrying important supplies: Oh and it was good to see him and stuff.  As far as I know Eric has never played for the Cambourne Exiles yet was savvy enough to choose the team's signature scent, this is good news as assuming I can get it home the bottle of shower gel should last the team well into the 2021 season. The evening started with a trip to a new part of Austin called 'Rainy' which is a street where all the householders have had the good sense to convert their homes into bars, I am not sure where they live now but didn't spend too much time worrying about it.  We dined in a German sausage themed bar, I...

The first night in a new timezone is always the most difficult.  I have a stay up until 22:22 rule which usually serves me well.  However it did not stop me waking at 4:24 this morning leaving quite some time until the hotel coffee area opened. As I write this early section of the blog it is 6:26 and I have secured some coffee and can confirm it was not really worth the wait.  It is still dark and mainly I have to listen to Alistair ranting on the 'phone to his bank (not unreasonably given he has been without a debit card for over a month thanks to their bungling).  I should also note at this point that the reason I have all this time related information is THE HOTEL ROOM HAS A CLOCK. Yesterday evening was a fairly low key affair spent in a local restaurant with a resulting bill that I think is a fair reflection of the food vs. beer split.  Although to be clear we did leave some of the food. We also visited another local bar which had a live band....

"The dawn is breaking it's early morn', the Taxi's waiting and he's blowing his horn " - so goes the song Leaving on a Jet Plane.  Which is what I will be doing today.  One area in which I hope not to emulate John Denver is dying in a plane crash, that said it wasn't a jet in JD's case so I should be OK.  Also I think British Airways are more diligent in making sure they have enough fuel on-board than the late singer so the odds are in my favour. This morning got off to a great start when I discovered the desk in my hotel room was on wheels so could be rotated to almost any possible angle.  This pleased me a lot, that said I am glad I didn't discover this last night as I doubt I would have been able to sleep. Talking of sleep I managed to improvise a clock using my mobile 'phone docking station so all was well.  This plan would have been even better if my Rugby club's Whatsapp group was a bit less active, it seems I play for a team o...

The holiday starts here.  In order to be in good form for tomorrow's travel I decided to stay in a hotel near Heathrow.  Readers that are familiar with the area around Heathrow will know that it can be a bit hit and miss. For readers that are unfamiliar I would recommend keeping it that way. That said experienced travellers like me know that with careful research you can find a reasonable hotel in even the roughest of neighbourhoods.  The method I usually use is find an online review site like hotels.com then book the cheapest possible hotel, so far this approach has worked well for me, apart from that time I got stabbed. Anyway the cheapest hotel on this occasion was the Heathrow / M4 junction Novotel.  Frankly its name is only 50% accurate, it is indeed very handy for the M4 but Heathrow, not so much.  But its OK they have a shuttle bus.  Or at least they should.  They don't.  Luckily Alistair has volunteered his dad to collect me in the mor...