Jetlagged

Finally, the day of Kevin's trip to Austin, Texas has arrived. His flight departs in the morning from London Gatwick and around ten hours later they touch down in Texas.

Sebastian, having arrived a few days earlier, awaits his friend at the airport. After checking in to their hotel, they hit the streets and Sebastian shows Kevin around. Kevin quickly realizes that although we think we know everything about America, in reality, we know nothing. But will the Austin experience hold up to the massive expectations built over the previous weeks in London? Or was it just much ado about nothing and Kevin will be left unimpressed?

Reminding us to think big, and dream even bigger, Kevin is shown all around the city and finds out the real truth about what Austin is really like.

“When making a life choice it’s very important to go and see something for how it is, rather than just listening to what other people tell you about it.”

-Kevin Turley

Time Stamps:

4:09 - Landing in Austin and the differences in dress and weather.

5:50 - The differences in the landscape between Texas and the U.K.

7:37 - The different seasons Texas has and how the weather can change.

8:53 - The first time Sebastian went to Texas and how he found it.

10:48 - Downtown Texas and how entrepreneurs have changed the landscape.

12:36 - Food trucks and the opportunities that they offer.

14:28 - The truth about Austin told by an Uber driver who’s lived there all his life.

17:12 - What it’s like to live in Austin and how it’s changing.

Resources:

Connect with Kevin Turley: Website

Connect with Sebastian Sauerborn: LinkedIn

Episode Transcript

Episode 3: – Jetlagged

Kevin: Sebastian, I’ve got a problem and I think you can help me with it. I would like to move a business to the United States.

Sebastian: Excellent! Very good.

Orlando: If they make an application to the embassy for a visa and that application is turned down, that individual will lose the right to travel visa free to the United States under ESTA.

Sebastian: Next week, we are flying to Austin.

Kevin: Really!

Sebastian: Yes, flight booked, let’s go.

• you’re listening to move your business to United States with me, your host, Kevin Turley [Music]

Kevin: So here I am at Gatwick Airport, just outside London, south of London.

It’s very early in the morning, yet this place is absolutely rammed full of people, and I’m on my way to America.

I’m catching a flight in less than an hour. I’m not sure what to expect when I get to the other side. I hope Sebastian is going to be there, if not, it’s going to be a very interesting few days.

So here I am, and I’m surrounded by people. It’s very early in the morning here and this place is full of people.

Where they’re going to? Where they’re coming from? I have no idea. The whole world is here, it’s the United Nations in a departure lounge. I’m sure there’re lots of human stories here. People starting out on journeys, going to make a new life in different parts of the world and people maybe just going on holidays, people going to meet loved ones, people going to weddings, funerals and everything in between.

And what I’m doing is going to visit the country, visit a city where I think it may be possible to make a new life.

Moving to America is a big deal, moving one’s family to the United States is a big decision. Once you’re in the departure lounge, it’s like you’ve made a decision to go somewhere and it starts to hit home. That this is it, this is for real, this isn’t just a nice dream and the fantasy of moving the United States, this is starting to feel real.

I’ve deliberately avoided looking at websites about Austin and pictures of Austin because I just want to experience it, because I think in making a life choice, it’s very, very important that you decide to go and see something for real, as it is, as opposed to what people tell you.

So, it’s an adventure but it’s also a journey of discovery.

The sun is shining in London. I believe it’s pouring with rain in Austin and also there’s a hurricane between us and Austin.

So, it’ll be very interesting to see what the flight is like; they’re just about to call the flight.

So, it’s that moment of boarding cards, passports and a quick prayer that everything works out. Talk to you later.

[Music]

• And you think of words like newest and roomiest and best, but words alone are impersonal, words alone can’t tell the story of time and extra care that mean new concepts of comfort and of service.

Words alone can’t tell the story of the impact of the age of jets on all of us who travel, because that is a personal story, a story which to be fully understood must be personally experienced. *

*Jetliner 803 over the gap one, final.

Roger, clear to land.

803 Roger*

[Music]

Kevin: So, here we are in Austin Airport, I think it’s Austin Airport. I hope it’s not Austria or Australia.

Just been through US immigration which I must say was very pleasant. Everybody’s very friendly. You can feel the heat already though.

I mean this is going to be hotter out there. Somebody said it’s in the 30s. So, anyway, listen unless I get deported in the next half an hour, I think I’ll be meeting Sebastian outside. Talk to you there.

Kevin: Boy! Sebastian, I’m glad to see you.

Sebastian: I’m glad to see you, Kevin. I hope you had a good trip.

Kevin: I’m going to describe for our listeners just how you’re dressed because that was the most shocking thing of all.

You are dressed like a Texas cowboy, you’ve got the boots, you’ve got the blue jeans and you’ve got the country shirt, the sort of checkered blue shirt and the cowboy hat, my goodness! You got the belt, the belt. Listen! The belt is so big, Elvis would have been proud of it. [laughter]

Kevin: I left London this morning and it was chilly. It’s autumnal in London and we have come to Austin and the temperature here is what, in old money, Sebastian?

Sebastian: Well, it’s 91 degrees Fahrenheit so that’s 35 Celsius, I suppose.

Kevin: Wow, I mean that is hot and it feels hot. I mean we’re driving on a freeway somewhere outside the airport and it is a beautiful sunny day, it’s like a red-hot summer in Spain or somewhere like that.

It’s totally different to London, it feels totally different. So, where are we?

I mean, we were just in kind of an airport which is always a bit disorientating, airports are the same the world over. We seem to be going up some wonderful sort of bridge, heading up into the skies, which part of Austin are we in?

Sebastian: Well, so the airport… The airport really is in the southeast of Austin and we are driving now north, towards where the hotel is.

I think what do you see and what a lot of people are surprised about when they first come to Texas is, how lush and green everything is.

People always imagine it’s like sandy and dry and indeed West Texas is that way, but Central Texas is incredibly lush and green.

Kevin: You’re absolutely right. I couldn’t believe it when we landed, because I looked out the windows and it looked like Ireland. I mean it is extremely green and it’s flat and it’s green.

Sebastian: A lot of old oak trees, you can see they’re everywhere on the right, that’s a typical Central Texas landscape.

Kevin: Yeah, it does. it feels like a very sort of hot day in England, really you know and it’s sort of, you know just is similar sort of terrain outside Gatwick Airport or even Heathrow, it’s that similar sort of green with lots of Oaks and a rather flattish land but this is not what I expected.

I expected dust, dirt, sand and maybe the… [07:00]

[Music]

Kevin: And we’re going past our first water cooler over here on the right. Is that a standard feature in this part of the world?

Sebastian: Yeah, definitely because obviously water tends to be a problem here sometimes, you know, at times.

Right now, it rains a lot but sometimes it’s drier. So, that’s why those water towers are very common here.

Kevin: Does Texas have a winter that we would recognize as Europeans?

Sebastian: Not really, I mean, there is definitely, it’s definitely cold.

It can be cold in the winter because there are no mountains in Texas, the cold air from Alaska, you know, can blow, it is going straight down south here. It’s also that the weather can change really quickly, it can be very sunny and then in the same day, temperatures can drop quite a lot, especially in the winter.

So, there, if you know, there is some time where it’s definitely cold and you know it could freeze but it snows very rarely. I mean, last winter it snowed but it was the first time in like 30 years or so you know.

So, it happens very rarely but yes, winters can be a bit chilly, so you definitely need heating.

Kevin: I must say this is my first trip to Texas, my first trip to the United States for a number of years but it’s my first trip to Texas.

And I have to say, it’s a little bit disorienting because it is so huge, feels huge and from a European perspective one realizes that we think we know America but we really don’t. Would you agree with that Sebastian until you live here maybe?

Sebastian: Yeah, definitely! I mean it’s also very, you know, every state is different and then in the huge state like Texas, areas of the state are different too, so it’s really many different people, you know, in a way in one country. I mean there’s a lot that unites them too, you know.

Kevin: Can you remember the first time you came to Texas?

Sebastian: Yeah, again, I mean that was only that was only back in 2010, I think. Yeah, then I moved to in 2011

Kevin: And what was your experience of getting off the plane? Were you with your family or was it just a trip on your own to have a look around?

Sebastian: No, it was with my family, in fact, we lived in Miami at the time and we took you know, we drove up here which is around a three- or four-day drive to Miami. And we drove up here, yeah and we liked it so much that we later moved here yeah.

Kevin: So, it wasn’t such a shock to the system because you’re already in the United States?

Sebastian: Oh yeah, no, no, yeah, it wasn’t that yeah but it’s of course very different, you know, to Miami yeah.

Kevin: I haven’t seen any cowboys or Indians yet.

Sebastian: No, no, I mean other than yourself as a cowboy when we will go more to the small towns you know like on Sunday, you would definitely see that, you would see on Sunday men going to church, you know in a cowboy hat and of course, they take it off when they go to church but you would see that on Sunday I promise you.

*You boys like traveling

Yes, especially this way you can see a lot, you could always catch a bus.

but I thought a cowboy always rode his horse every place he wins.

We do madame but my horse is a regular homebody, so I make the long trips by myself. Of course, I send him postcards along the way*

[Laughter]

• Hi, you’re listening to move your business the United States, just a quick word from our sponsors Mount Bonnell Advisors. The people there have been advising clients on moving stateside for years for all your needs both business and practical, head over to Mount Bonnell.com to find out more. Thanks for listening. *

Kevin: So, here I am in Texas. I’m speaking to you from the Van Zandt Hotel, in Austin and I’m about to be taken downtown by Sebastian.

Sebastian: This is basically just south of downtown and it’s just next to I-35 on the west side of the town, across I-35 East Austin starts.

Kevin: And the first place we visit, is Rainey Street, famous for its bars, nightlife and an epicenter for entrepreneurs.

Sebastian: So, all these houses you know, used to look like this house there. This is kind of a, you know, it’s rather rundown you know and then they were repainted to look like the houses there now.

So, as you can see, it was nothing special at all, but then entrepreneurs came in and converted each of these little houses into establishments, bars, restaurants.

Kevin: Will this just continue this kind of development? Well, you think that there’ll be other properties bought and turned into?

Sebastian: Well, the other of the one, the other side of I-35, is East Austin which traditionally used to be an area of segregation, you know, where the African American community had to live really, also that area is being more and more gentrified.

So, there are lots more, lots more of these houses on the other side of I-35 and many of those are either converted into modern residences or also restaurants, bars, businesses.

[Music]

Kevin: This looks like an interesting place.

Sebastian: The flag that with the cannon, is a traditional Texas flag of a county or city, I can’t remember.

It says under the gun ‘come and take it’ you know. It’s an invitation to the enemy – yeah and invitation the Mexicans, you know. Not to surrender the weapons but you know, if you want them, come and get it.

Kevin: Well, you have talked about the need for grit for entrepreneurs, so I guess Texas has got that spirit.

Sebastian: Another thing that Austin is famous for those food trucks, you will see them everywhere throughout the city.

Kevin: Why is that?

Sebastian: Because it’s a cheap way for an entrepreneur to start up a food business, you know, I mean, as you will remember, there was also a food truck movement in London a few years ago, there copied essentially from here.

Kevin: Are these kind of glorified pop-up on these…

Sebastian: Yeah, yeah pretty much about there throughout the city and its, as I said you know a lot of these businesses have been grown to proper, very nice restaurants you know, once they had established themselves.

So, you can imagine this is Hipster Central and of course, the people… this has been kind of gentrified you know because the people are going out and if you look at these very expensive apartment buildings here, you know the people who live here now are software developers, people with a lot of disposable income. So, let’s go back into Rainey Street and have a drink in one of the bars.

Kevin: Ok, let’s go.

• But traveling salesmen are always on the move, even when they want to be at home, jet flight means that no matter how far their trips may take them, from now on they will always have more time for fun and leisure with their families. *

[Music]

Kevin: So, Sebastian took me for a drink or two and we got to talking about the places and the people he was going to introduce me to.

Sebastian: Let’s have three pairs… [14:00].

Kevin: It may have been the Bourbon but boy! It sure sounded good.

Kevin: By the end of the night, I was dead tired, and it seemed a long way from London. It was time to grab an Uber and while we were heading back to the hotel, our driver told us all about Austin.

The driver: Hi, my name is Sam. I’ve lived my whole life in Austin, but three years moved right back.

I love Austin because it has a little bit of everything; it has nightlife, it has hiking trails, it has Barton Springs and like fresh Springs.

It’s got, you know, the music scene, it has just friendly people and it has everything that you can really think of, that you would want out of a city.

Unfortunately, it has traffic but other than that, everything else is great about us. I know quite a few people who have families here and do all the normal things they have, you know, a lot of different parks that they take their kids to, there’s all kinds of things like that as well, you know, that families do and between restaurants or anything Austin has everything for single people, for family people, for families, anything like that.

I only get positive reactions from even all the visitors. I’ve never had anybody cut, I can’t think of anybody that I’ve ever had in the year, I’ve been an Uber and Lyft driver say that they didn’t like Austin.

I don’t think there’s been one single person, I mean most people do a lot of the nightlife stuff and Rainey Street, you get some people that will go up to Red Rock up in the domain, you get some people that will come for shopping and things like the domain or just coming to campus or the football game, is a big draw this week, Texas USC. Football is king in Texas.

So, the Texas… and any Texas game is big, but this one’s bigger just because it’s USC, which is another big team.

We had, we played them last year, almost beat them but before that, we hadn’t played them since we beat him in the national championship game, but it is a big deal.

It draws a lot of interest, you get a lot of people that come to Austin just because they know Austin is a great city like I’ve already Ubered around probably eight to ten people that came in just for this game, for one. One’s a Michigan fan but he was like ‘I’m it’s Texas USC’ and then others where, you know, USC fans but it’s like a lot of people will just come in for all, like just because it’s Texas football.

Kevin: So, it was clear football is king in Austin, but I was more interested in, what it was like to live in Austin and how it was changing.

The driver: Austin is growing a lot. I’ve been here and like I said 33 years and Austin is grown huge.

The joke is the city’s bird is the crane, you got all these cranes dozens of these big skyscrapers.

I know my mom told me when they were kids, they actually didn’t have… They had a city ordinance where you couldn’t build anything taller than the Capitol but as you can see yourself that’s definitely not the case anymore.

There’s lots of buildings quite a bit bigger than the Capitol.

I do have a lot of relatives that have been here for a while they’ll complain, and they’ll be like, it’s just getting too big and too much traffic and too much of everything but to me, I’ve never, like it’s just, it’s always growing like that my whole life and it’s just part of being in Austin.

It would be hard; I’ve had some opportunities to leave and I haven’t taken them.

It would be hard for me especially since most my family’s here. It’s not just the city to me though, like I know so many people you know, I’d be losing all those connections as well.

All kinds of jobs here like I mean, in all kinds of different fields so most like I mean even though you have you know the multiple universities that we have here there’s still so many ……

• Something which to fully understand, we should personally experience, wherever you may be, wherever you may go, two points east to the Midwest, to the Pacific Coast or over the Pacific to Hawaii. Speed, comfort, and convenience are opening broad new horizons of personal pleasure as we fly into a new and wonderful age of travel*

[Applause]

Next time on ‘Move your business to United States’.

• We have a lot of houses available. In fact, in July alone in the Austin area, 3000 single-family homes were purchased and sold in in Austin area. In Williamson County, a thousand. So, that’s just in one month, there’s builders building like crazy right now. *

• You’ve been listening to ‘Move your business to United States’ with me Kevin Turley. A huge thanks to my producer Emmett Glynn for producing this podcast for Mount Bonnell Media. To find out more go to MountBonnell.com and remember ‘Dream big, dream America.’ * [Music]