My husband and I ventured down to Austin, Texas this last weekend to celebrate the marriage of two of our good friends. Talk about an eventful and adventurous 48 hours! Sometimes it feels like 48 hours isn’t enough time to actually enjoy a city but with the right attitude, anything is possible! Here’s my quick + easy 48 hour guide to an amazing mini-trip to Austin, Texas!
packing + outfits
Let’s just say I bought a ton of cute fall sweaters for this trip, checked the weather and my mouth dropped. High 70’s low 80’s? Ha… It’s NOVEMBER! My tip # 1: check the weather before shopping…
Tip # 2: Before I travel anywhere, I write out a flexible “outline agenda” to help with packing. I try not to overpack and also hate being stressed about what to wear when I’m gone. what’s your outline agenda? I knew we would be going to a dinner Thursday night, daytime fun Friday day, wedding Friday night, brunch + traveling Saturday. I packed an outfit for each (with a layering option) and through everything into my carry-on!
hotel
We stayed in the heart of downtown Austin at the J.W Marriott. One of our good friends works for this hotel chain and we were able to get a pretty nice discount. The location is great for business ventures and more of a uptownish stay. If you’re planning a girls weekend or short trip, I wouldn’t recommend this hotel but it was beautiful and I loved our view… To be honest, we only stayed here because we had a discount… I’m more of an airbnb girl myself (or cheap hotel from priceline.com, ha)
coffee
Halcyon is my favorite little coffee shop in all of Austin. I first went a couple years ago for one of my best friends 30th birthday parties. It’s a trendy little coffee, bar, and lounge located a couple of blocks away from the heart of downtown. Their chai tea and Vietnamese coffee are sooo delicious!
My other favorite spot is “Jo’s”… their turbo coffee is my favorite coffee drink… ever! I had two in one day when I was down there. HAVE YOU HAD IT? It’s so good. It’s an ice coffee with cream, hazelnut, and chocolate. They brew it together and in bulk. It’s AMAZING. Jo’s is where the famous “I love you so much” wall is in Austin 🙂 We didn’t make it there this time but it’s a super fun place to take some pictures!
brunch
Holy Rollers is HOLY GOOD. It had the shortest wait time for a mid-day Saturday brunch and was worth EVERY PENNY. I ordered a Migas and realized you can throw queso on everything and I will CRUSH it within minutes. The only brunch I’ve ever enjoyed more was from the Breadwinners in Dallas, Texas. I need to move to Texas. If you’re in the Austin area… It’s a MUST-GO! Every one of us loved our meals… and their spicy bloody mary was bomb.com!
dinner
We went to Bob’s steakhouse which was a little too fancy for me. I’m a pretty simple “any where I can find chips and salsa” type gal… Steakhouses sometimes make me feel uncomfortable. While this place had tasty steaks, I felt too uncomfortable taking a picture in there… well except when one of our good friends spilled an entire glass of red wine on himself and then 30 minutes after, knocked the complimentary one over… then I felt more “at home” haha The flash went off during my first picture… I was mortified. I need to learn some fancy steakhouse etiquette pronto. THE COOLEST PART THOUGH? Free pickles in the middle of the table. I LOVE PICKLES.
the wedding
Oh. My. GOSH. The Allen House is BREATHTAKING. If you live in Texas or are trying to plan a destination wedding… THE ALLEN HOUSE!!!! It has my vote. All the southern charm in the world lies in downtown Austin is this beautiful wedding venue. I loved everything about it. I loved it so much I didn’t take as many pictures as I should have. Definitely look at the website… CLICK HERE!
Other fun things we did…
Saturday farmers market: SFC Farmer’s market
walked around the town
did a little bit of shopping: Francesca’s and urban outfitters are in the heart of downtown. I’m a little disappointed with the lack of shopping near the main hotels. I will have to venture down south congress more next time 🙂
my teacher travel tradition
Every time I travel during the school year, I buy an informational text and some sort of other souvenirs for my students. I started this tradition during my student teaching after I had taken my first personal day to travel across country to Boston. I got engaged during that trip. I was trying to figure out a way to tell my students.
After walking around hundreds (just kidding like 4) gift shops, I found a cute book about Boston. In the book, it showed a drawing of the bridge my now husband and I got engaged at. I bought the book and a Starbucks coffee mug. That Monday, I told my students 🙂 I need to find Nick’s hate postcard and share it all with you guys… that was one the result of me sharing my engagement, ha.
The next trip, during my first year teaching, I was off to my bachelorette party. I remembered how much my students loved looking through the book and then seeing my pictures. That trip is when I decided I needed to make it a tradition. Currently in my classroom library there are books from: Boston, Nashville, Denver, Ocean Shores, Rome, Florence, Los Angeles, Dallas, and others. I keep them in a non-fiction section in my classroom library.
I have a feeling they are going to LOVE these little Texas stickers 🙂
Do you have any classroom traditions for when you travel? Any tips for short trips and making the most of 48 hour trips? Share in the comments section. Can’t wait to hear from you!
with kindness | ashley