Well avid readers, here we are again. Welcome to the stage 2 blog of Gem and Si’s travelling. This time we are in the west of the USA and Canada.

When we got back to the UK in June, we wrote a list of the things we could do differently or better, in other words what we have learnt. One of those things was that sometimes we need more space, freedom and flexibility than a hotel can provide. So, as we type this we are sitting on the balcony of our Airbnb in downtown Houston 😊. We flew in yesterday and picked up our hire car, which we have free parking for as we are in an Airbnb with a car park 👍. Obviously we then failed to properly deal with the time difference so were awake at 4am, up at 6am. Luckily the coffee shop we found opens at 7am ☕.

We spent part of today at the space centre. This is number one thing to do around here due to the fact that JFK started the space race here, and that mission control is here. The city is basically space mad! The space centre is a good addition to Kennedy in Florida. It has some cross over but is actually quite different due to it’s different role. The fact that you can go inside an actual Shuttle (Independence), and the 747 it was launched from, is an example of that. We then did a walking tour of downtown Houston, which was great as an introduction to part of the city,

Having learnt quite a lot, we then went to a bar and forgot most of it 🍻. However, we did have a great chat with a couple at the bar. She was Mexican, he American. People are friendly 😊.

Tomorrow we explore Galveston before heading off on Monday to San Antonio. Turns out Monday is Labor day (yes that is how they spell it, it is not our fault!) so it may take longer than planned 😄. Happy days.

P.S. those that read this and look at the photos to see Gem pointing at big things/Americana…..there is plenty to follow 😊