Our “travel revenge” continued recently, with yet another weekend trip, this time to Austin, Texas to see our many friends who still live there. Since our move to Dallas two years ago, we’d made a tendency of visiting Austin multiple times a year, but COVID had unfortunately put a temporary stop to that, and so this was our first time back in more than a year.
The Points-And-Miles Strategy:
We drove down to Austin on a Friday, meaning we didn’t require a flight or rental car this trip. But as we were trying to visit with several different groups of friends during our trip, we did want a centrally-located hotel (and for those in the know on Austin geography, downtown isn’t really central — the geographic center is more around the Brentwood area.)
Therefore, the Embassy Suites by Hilton Austin Arboretum was a good economical fit for us this trip, and in fact one we’d stayed at before. It’s definitely not the newest of hotels, but it was clean, quiet, and in a good location close to all the major highways. Plus, there was no additional charge for parking, which we definitely would have encountered had we stayed at a downtown or campus-area hotel.
I stayed on a “Hilton Friends and Family” rate, which I was able to get through my previous employment with Hilton and ongoing friendship with folks who still work there. These are cash rates, which for us was $79.50 a night. Compared to an average spring weekend rate for this hotel of about $240/night, this was a great deal, and as a cash rate we were also able to earn Hilton Honors points on our spend. If you happen to know anyone who works for Hilton — either at corporate or at a property — it’s definitely worth inquiring if they might add you to their friends and family list so you can also take advantage of such rates.
As a Hilton Aspire cardholder, I also earned 14 points per dollar spent on Hilton locations on my credit card, plus as a Diamond member (an automatic perk of the card) I earn 20 points per dollar spent at Hilton locations using any card. So I was able to earn another ~5k Hilton Honors points on this stay. Given a general estimated value of $0.006 cents per Hilton point, that’s a return of nearly $30, or roughly 17% back on the cost of our stay towards future travel.
Our Weekend in Austin:
We left for Austin late in the afternoon on Friday, and thanks to fairly mild traffic, were able to arrive and check into our hotel around 7pm that day. After getting situated, we headed over to East Austin to meet up with some very good friends at Vixen’s Wedding, a relatively new restaurant from the team behind longtime Austin favorite Lenoir.
Vixen’s culinary style mixes Goan-style Indian cooking with Peruvian recipes and Texan ingredients to make something incredibly unique. And it was DELICIOUS. Vixen’s also did a great job accommodating the one pescatarian in our party. I really can’t say enough good things about this place.
The next day we had an early start, as we were meeting up with a very early riser — our friend’s new baby. We stopped by Lala’s Donuts (owned by the same folks as Sugar Mama’s bakeshop) to pick up a half dozen donuts from their adorable little floral to-go window. While I don’t recall all the flavors in our 6-pack, I do remember we received one that was Dr. Pepper themed, one that was like an Apricot cobbler, and a Key-Lime Pie donut, among others.
And while the donuts were very pretty, nothing was more adorable than the young donut lover we delivered them to. This was our first chance to meet our friend’s new baby’s, who was born during the pandemic. After all, isn’t that what this whole “revenge travel” thing is about?
Shortly after, we met up with another good friend who we hadn’t seen in far, far too long. We joined him at Sour Duck Market, a biergarten and market opened by the folks behind Odd Duck and Barley Swine. (I swear we weren’t trying to go to the new incarnations of old tried and true favorites, but that is apparently how it turned out! At this point we were 3 for 3 for that, lol.) At Sour Duck, we split the brisket-potato hash and charred carrot salad over a couple of margaritas, and it was a great way to spend the morning.
That afternoon, we stopped in on some other friends (bearing a standard Texas present of Tiff’s Treats, of course) before heading to the lake. We chose Abel’s on The Lake, located right on Lake Austin, as a good meetup spot for friends we weren’t able to schedule one-off meals or other visits with, as it was outdoors but had a covered patio and plenty of parking.
There we enjoyed frozen beverages, and I got to reunite with the ladies I’d texted with all through the pandemic. I don’t exaggerate when I say that this text stream got me through all the hardships of 2020.
For dinner, as it was raining (meaning that patio dining was a no-go) we opted for takeout from Suerte at yet another friends’ house. But by 9pm or so, the skies had cleared, and were able to squeeze in one final meet-up: drinks at local favorite dive bar, The Aristocrat Lounge (known to some old-time Austinites as the Poodle Dog.)
The following morning, we had one more Austin classic activity to fit in before heading home: brunch. Once again, rain challenged our plans, but we made the best of it and met up with my long-time bestie and her boyfriend at Jacoby’s in Southeast Austin, whose outdoor dining is covered. There, over mimosas, we enjoyed the bacon deviled eggs, and I tried the crab cakes benedict.
With that, and with the threat of even worse thunderstorms quickly approaching, we headed north on I-35, back to Dallas. While this was definitely a jam-packed weekend, it was amazing getting to see all these people again, and getting to explore some of the new restaurants the city has to offer since we left. While it’s true you can never go home again, I think in the case of Austin, I’m happy enough just visiting often.
