In a city as big as Houston Texas, it can be a headache to try moving around in different directions.
Houston has two airports that have the capacity to house domestic trips but only one has the capacity so far, of international flights, with United being the largest airline that controls the largest number of entrances and exits. Many times people who visit our city do not have the full awareness of what they will face when they arrive to Houston. Because, it is very easy to plan from the comfort of your home which will be the route to follow in your next vacation. And you can opt for the best airline, maybe you will find the best offer for a cruise and you may choose the best hotel or the most luxurious transportation, but you can never make a reservation so that in a city as big as Houston you are not inconvenienced, so that the happy planned vacations from the comfort of your house become a total reality.
Most of the travelers forget that they must take into account different points that are as or more important as the hotel where they will be staying, the transport they will use, which cruise line they will choose or even what they will eat. And there at the end of the list , only some and very few really take into account other aspects such as: distance times, routes, or alternate routes in case of any eventuality. In Houston, as in any city where the population is millions, driving on the roads is already a problem, which is not only during business weekdays, but worse, the entire weekend as people tend to go out to different places to get distracted, de-stress, make purchases or go out and that's where our visitors find the true reality of what's going on in the city ...... Traffic everywhere!
Peak hours like anywhere else in the world are usually very early in the morning in a specific range between 6-9 am and in the afternoon between 3-7 pm. But not everything is guaranteed, because times can always change, depending on the skills of the drivers, that there aren’t accidents, constructions or the weather. Your only guarantee is that if you encounter traffic on the road, your only option will be to resign yourself to being in a good stagnant position. The recommendation would be for those people who have to visit our city for work, vacations or even for many of us who live here, the worst time to arrive in the city and try to reach your destination ARE DURING PEAK HOURS. It is worth mentioning that the airlines know it and that specifically for that reason and in order not to be so affected, in terms of their reservations, they decide to lower the prices of their different flights just at those hours, to continue having profits, totally forgetting about peoples time, how valuable time is and only worrying about generating money. And people accept it because it is more important to save money than time. But this does not apply to everyone, as there are people who truly value time and choose to enjoy it with their loved ones. Now if we break down the travel times from the different airports in the city, we would realize for example, that the Iah journey to downtown Houston in an hour without traffic would be 35 minutes but with traffic it could be up to more than an hour. From Iah to Galveston without traffic it could be 1 hour with 10 minutes and that with traffic it can be reached in at least 2 hours. Or that from William P Hobby to downtown Houston you would arrive in 25 minutes without traffic and that with traffic it could be up to 45 minutes. From the same airport to Galveston without traffic 45 minutes, with traffic for at least an hour and a half. As we have been mentioning, Houston has two airports.
Intercontinental Airport (Iah) known as (Bush) and William P Hobby Airport (HOU) which is closer to the port of Galveston. But the vast majority of people do not know it and when doing their flight search to Houston they end up opting for Bush airport as the main option. At Hobby airport all the flights of the Southwest airline are received and some of the other airlines that also provide service at this airport, therefore it is very important that you know that this airport brings you closer to your destination Galveston, saves you money and probably, most likely, may have better prices on your flights. Very important point and it goes without saying, being a smaller airport the amount of incoming and outgoing flights is lower therefore the procedure to leave or enter will be faster and above all you will not find the amount of people as you would at the International Airport.
Now, the point that we really want you to know, because it is the one that will suit you best and more convenient pocket wise, is the transfer from the airport, hotel or house to Galveston. Many people often think that just bringing up the conversation about private transportation services means a lot of money and that is not the case. A private service means two things: 1 save time, because you do not depend on other passengers to move from one place to another. And 2 money, same as if you pay attention, at the end of your trip you will realize that you saved more on a private service than what you would have spent on a public service. And when I refer to public service, I am not talking about a bus that takes you for $ 1 from Houston to Galveston because that will not happen, most companies are taxi’s, Shuttles, lyft or Uber who have their own fares and their final price. It will always depend on the time, distance, amount of luggage, number of passengers, type of vehicle required and not counting the amount of hidden charges that these services normally have. But why should it be that way? Why resign yourself to that? You have no more options?
The answer is very easy, because the companies do not want you to know what they are charging you, they throw a hook and you are the prey and they take advantage of the need that in the moment you have for transport to heartlessly make your vacation even more expensive. Apparently Uber or lyft could be the best options from the current point of view since in fact Uber is very convenient, very practical, very economical. Uber will tell you that the charge they will make you is based on distance and that the road time will be added to that but they will not tell you, as I told you before, that everything will depend on the different hours in which you choose nor that at the end of the total bill you will be able to see what the apparent savings you would have was just a mirage, without counting on the discomfort of your passengers, because if by chance you did not ask for the right vehicle you do not have enough space for your passengers or for the luggage.
We do not even want to talk about taxi’s, because they have been in business for centuries, they will even charge you for laughing, and it is well known by all that their service is not the best, not to mention that most vehicles are not given the maintenance required for quality service, which in many of them both passengers and drivers smoke, and that some are not even clean.
Would you expose your family to that? Is this how you want to start your vacation? Do you not deserve better? You have no more options? Shared transport services will probably be a good option, nobody denies that but their schedules are not always the most appropriate for your needs and their prices within the market are not always the best because as we mentioned before there are more options that normally nobody is going to tell you about, you have to discover them and that is not an easy task. Some of them will not even cover the route that you need and if they do, they will charge you even more than a private service company would charge you and they will not tell you at the time of booking. They will not tell you because it will not suit them that you know, perhaps they will talk to you about the size of the suitcase that you should carry, the cost you will have if there are extra bags, the height or weight of some passengers, about any special need that someone has in your group, will they tell you about that price? What will happen if you need to stop to use the restroom? Do you think the other passengers you don't even know are going to allow the driver to stop for you to use the restroom? Even worse if your flight is at a different time than the other passengers and the time is shorter and shorter would you accept putting your schedule at risk? Think about it, the shared transport options are not always the ones that best meet your needs.
Maybe everything we are telling you sounds like pure talk and probably is, because with this we do not intend to show you something that you do not know, much less we didn’t discover the sun, no, we are only talking about something that is not new, we are simply talking about something that happens in our city and that probably happens in many cities, but it is good that you know because we also go on vacation and maybe the next city we visit is yours and we would like someone to talk to us about reality as it is, and that will help us with information to know what we will find on our arrival, to prepare ourselves and to be sure that we are doing the right thing, and we are covering all the necessary points so that nothing, believe me when I say so that nothing spoils our vacation. You deserve a holiday in peace and in peace means that others do their job and that you do not have to worry about anything because you previously decided to pay and have someone cover your needs. But beware, paying does not mean spending thousands of dollars, but only what is fair. At the end of the day we are only one more option, we may not be the best, we are not the only one but what we can assure you is that we are the most honest one.
