San Antonio 10 years after

Me in front of The Alamo

Superman The Ride

Hi Everyone, it's me again and I just want to share my crazy adventure in San Antonio. San Antonio is 2 and a half hours away from where I stay in Houston and 3 hours away from Houston Downtown.

I booked my ticket again through megabus and good an awesome deal. I bought two round trip tickets from Houston to San Antonio and Houston to Austin. Both are day trips only meaning I'll leave Houston in the morning and leave immediately come night time. Anyway I booked the San Antonio route on a Wednesday then the Austin the Wednesday after. The SA ticket cost me 4$ while the Austin is 2$. Not bad right? With proper planning you can get awesome deal with Megabus.

Anyway, i have zero knowledge about San Antonio. All I know is that they have theme parks (Sea World and Six Flags). I've been to sea world 10 years ago so my goal is just to visit Six Flags nothing else.

When the day of my trip came, I woke up earlier than my alarm clock which is a good thing because I thought the bus leaves at 8am but the ticket says 7:30. So I quickly dressed up, got my stuff and run to the bus stop to downtown Houston. Luckily, I arrived 30 mins early.

On my way to downtown, I thought of the most spontaneous plan I've ever done alone. I thought of spending the night in San Antonio because the bus might leave me. Spending the night will also enable me to explore San Antonio like what a normal traveler do. I immediately sent several requests in Couchsurfing. Luckily, someone accepted my request (Thanks Erik for accepting despite the short notice). I immediately asked help from my cousin Lesley to buy me a new ticket since i left my credit cards in Houston as part of my financial controls.

Anyway the bus arrived 15mins late which means I'm missing the hourly local bus to Six Flags. I think it's a good thing because it gave me an hour to explore The Alamo and the Riverwalk. I must say San Antonio is the most tourist friendly Texan City hands down! It has a rich historical value! Definitely a place to visit and/or live in Texas!

Moving forward, I went to Six Flags via the Express Bus 94. Unlike other regular buses 93,94, and 100 are good buses with wifi. Bus 100 is my personal favorite. Once in Six Flags the single day pass will cost around 55usd. If you're planing to visit other six flags, i suggest getting the season pass which will cost you 75$. However if you're getting 4 or more then you'll get it for 64$. If your group is just 1-3, I suggest just look around and look for people buying season pass. "Kapalan nyo na mukha nyo makisabay na kayo" that's 11-33$ savings. Anyway, the park is full of roller coaster with Superman and Iron Rattler as my favorites.

I left the park around 4pm since it's starting to be crowded. I went to a Dollar Store to purchase some hygiene kit and Walmart for some quick snack.  After that, I went to San Antonio Riverwalk to walk around and hopefully try some of the restaurants unfortunately all restaurants are too full so I just decided to eat at the mall nearby.  I decided to leave the Riverwalk around 8pm and headed to the Wonderland of the Americas to stroll around again while waiting for my host Erik.  Luckily he picked me up earlier than expected but the night didn't end yet. I decided to come with him since he has a soccer intramurals at University of Texas at San Antonio. UTSA is a great campus way better than my school hahaha. Anyway we went home a little before 12mn.  

Fast forward to Day 2, I woke up around 7:30am since my host needs to go to work around 8am. He just dropped me to the bus station to downtown. Anyway, despite my short stay with Erik, I really had fun. We exchanged good stories about anything under the sun. I cannot wait to go back to San Antonio to hangout with him more. Moving forward, I decided to go back to the Alamo to go inside the museum. The Alamo is free but you need to fall in line in order for you to go inside the museum. It's really worth it! I suggest everyone to visit it.  

After, going around the Alamo, I proceeded immediately to Six Flags to finish all the rides. I was suppose to meet my cousin's cousin hahaha but then I decided to go back to downtown before they arrived since the people are piling up Six Flags and the lines are too long for me to handle. I just went to the Riverwalk again and the Tower of the Americas before heading back home. I was supposed to ride with my cousin's cousin but then they decided to spend a night in San Antonio so I have no choice but to go back to Houston.

Coming up next week will be my trip to Austin!

My 2 weeks Out of Texas Adventure

Hi Everyone. As you all know I went on a 2 weeks trip to the city of Chicago, New York, Washington DC, and Dallas. With a short stopovers in cities such as Memphis, Little Rock, St. Louis, Toledo, Cleveland, State College, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Newark. Visiting a total of 18 States in the US. This trip will not be successful and worthwhile without everyone who supported and helped me all throughout.

 
I've been staying in Houston, TX since November 2014 spending all great holidays there. I was supposed to go back last January but then my Aunt from New Zealand told me to extend. Upon the approval of my Aunt in TX, my dad, and last but not the least my money, I decided to extend my stay in the United States until May. Don't worry, I'll be leaving the country 2-3 weeks before the last day of my lawful presence in the US to embark to a new journey in another country.

Anyway, I told myself that since I extended my stay, I need to maximize it and visit other states here in the US. I immediately checked different airlines for possible cheap flights but I was left disappointed because a flight to Chicago or New York will cost me at least 300 to 600 usd which is totally out of the budget. I was looking at the 100usd budget for a round trip ticket. Luckily, I came across this awesome website called Wanderu.com and tried searching for bus tickets and to my surprise I was able to look for extremely cheap tickets to great cities of the United States. FYI Wanderu is just a search engine and it will redirect you to another website where you can purchase your ticket. I decided to go for Megabus because it's cheap and I've tried it already during my trips to Austin and New Orleans.

Anyway, after checking all the possible dates and connections I came up with the best 2 weeks trip itinerary ever!  This will probably be the cheapest and longest bus ride ever but I didn't care because of the amount of savings I got. Just to give you an idea of the deal I got please see below. The plane cost below is based on the cheapest possible flight for now. It can be lower depending on the season. It can go up to double or triple. Nevertheless, you cannot beat megabus' fare!! That's 90% savings! Any American can say that I really got a huge savings with transportation alone.



Anyway, during my 2 weeks trip, I usually sleep at my friend's house or in the bus since it's a very long ride. Just to give you an idea, taking a bus to New York from Houston is like taking a bus from Manila to Beijing haha. Of course it's assuming there's a bridge connecting the Philippines to Mainland China.

Anyway for my itinerary please see below (detailed itinerary will be posted in a separate blog post)

Day 1 Feb 28
-Houston, TX
-Dallas, TX
-Texarkana, TX/AR

Day 2 Mar 1
-Little Rock, AR
-Memphis, TN
-St. Louis, MO
-Chicago, IL

Day 3 Mar 2
-Howe, IN
-Toledo, OH
-Cleveland, OH
-State College, PA
-New York City, NY

Day 4 Mar 3
-Baltimore, MD
-Philadelphia, PA
-Newark, DE
-Washington, DC
-New York City, NY

Day 5 Mar 4
-New York City, NY

Day 6 Mar 5
-New York City, NY
-State College, PA

Day 7 Mar 6
-Cleveland, OH
-Toledo, OH
-Howe, IN
-Chicago,IL

Day 8 Mar 7
-Chicago, IL

Day 9 Mar 8
-Chicago, IL

Day 10 Mar 9
-Chicago, IL
- St. Louis, MO
-Memphis, TN

Day 11 Mar 10
-Little Rock, AR
-Dallas, TX
-Houston, TX