aztimm

Who are you renting from to get that rate? My corporate rate, which I can use for personal travel as well, is $29/day (plus tax) for a mid-size at Hertz. The all-in rate is usually $35-40/day, depending on airport fees (and the weekly rate is $180). There's a few exceptions, such as NYC, but that rate is even solid for Hawaii. I'd suggest you check some of the rental car forums and/or use Autoslash for something better.

Where is your hotel? The closer you get to Waco (peak) the more expensive the properties will be, if they even have rooms. There are several properties in Round Rock and Georgetown that still have mostly normal rates (possibly Temple as well).

I was home for the eclipse in October, and it was pretty wild. We weren't in the peak area (I think it was Waco for that one too), but it was enough to know what was happening.

rxgeek

I'm quoting a rate from April 7-9 thru Kayak. I sent to to Autoslash as always and heard nothing back yet. Costco Travel is sold out as is Economycarrentals.com.I'm booked at the HIX at AUS.More than likely I will stay within driving distance of home since I don't have a return flight yet and the cost is getting ridiculous.

aztimm

Let me know if you end up coming. I might be able to help shuttle you around. Check the price to rent from the Round Rock HLE and return to AUS, perhaps that is better. It might even be less to fly to IAH, rent there, then drive over (or maybe SAT, or GRK).

I'll likely be home at the time. A few of us are planning to either be swimming or on a boat for the actual eclipse.

gaobest

Which other airports should we consider besides dfw / DAL - i am checking AUS IAH SAT for nonstop to sfo. HOU (hobby Houston) and SAT don’t really have nonstops. Flying in a few earlier days in order to visit etc


ps do we have Boeing 737 Max concerns for April - cancelled flights due to the 737 will really impact our travels.

aztimm

I flew AS AUS-SFO nonstop about 2 years ago and the equipment was Embraer, I can't remember which variant. Was a great ride, especially up in front. They had a hot meal.

Where are you eventually going/staying? I'd base the airport on that. If you haven't booked a place to stay (or rental car), I'd check those out first.

gaobest

Thanks! As one can imagine, flights & awards are rightfully expensive for this ultra rare event.

we fly to Austin on 4/1 on AS and depart dfw on 4/9 with AA.

staying in WACO 4/7-4/9 for the eclipse using HH points. Baylor might have an event related to this the way Purdue has an event In Indianapolis.

definitely pondering backup W9 flights if our AS 737Max plane mega fails us…

ok so also… what should we do in Austin? I need to check this Texas Forum for Austin to do things.

aztimm

I'd look around this forum, and other places online. The LBJ Library is well done. I go to Barton Springs about once a week.

What part of town will you stay in?

We could organize an Austin Do, if you'd be interested in meeting other local FT'ers. Check the link in my signature.

Check out this thread on Austin:
All about Austin, TX [master thread]

LAX2Anywhere

We are going to San Antonio for the solar eclipse in April (our second - saw 2017 eclipse in Jackson WY).
Any tips on viewing locations, especially northwest of San Antonio?
Anybody aware of any viewing events going on, maybe local planetariums or astronomy groups?

Canarsie

Get a viewing location that is as close to the center of the solar eclipse path as possible. As long as you get a parking spot, nothing else matters.

djp98374

. San Antonio is mainly outside it. You need to go to Kerrville/Fredericksburg or head up 35 to Waco/ Dallas

YadiMolina

Kerrville, Fredericksburg, and Llano have touristy downtowns and probably some event or fair. Leave early and take a scenic route through the Hill Country. Look into Pedernales Falls and Enchanted Rock state parks, but reserve a day pass at the exact time they go on sale, they'll sell out in minutes.

I drove to Beeville for the annular eclipse in October, lots of people in parking lots and on the side of the road, but no traffic of note coming or going. Not sure how that will extrapolate to a full eclipse.

djp98374

I’ve not been in that area before ( been along I-35 and east in SA, austin, Dallas). If they are generally single lane each way roads it will be a crawl getting out of there.

I was in grand Teton in 2017. Flight out next morning from SLC. Ivr bern in tetons many times before so I only did one night there ( night before). I came in from idaho falls and they were folks camping all over that road. Just like tailgating where folks sold stays on their land. I knew trying to head out thst way would be horrendous.

therr are generally 4 ways out. West to idaho falls, south to Evanston, a middle route through soda springs, and a longer route to pinedale snd rock springs.

heading to Evanston. It was a crawl on the roads from jackson to 25 miles south ( route split) where one heads to soda springs and one to Evanston. The drive was moving a little faster but it still was this long string of cars. The drive normally would be about 5.5 hrs. It took close to 8 hrs.

heading in/out of there for eclipse is going to be bad.

in Tetons I already knew where I’d go for the eclipse. I left my hotel before sunrise.after jackson it was a car Crawl for about 10+ miles where there was a turn off nany would go. There was other crawl points. It took 90 minutes to go 15 miles or so.

YadiMolina

Probably, but there are a lot of highways and ways in and out, as the map above illustrates. This site estimates potential visitors, and seems to point to Kerrville as the epicenter. What it doesn't do is make any estimates for travel times on the roads. 400,000 people driving from Kerrville to San Antonio on I-10, yes, that is going to be bad.

Canarsie

No matter where you go to view a total solar eclipse, be sure to allow between double and triple the time to return once the eclipse has concluded.

TommyD2

Very much this if anything like the last one. From our hotel in Lincoln, Nebraska to a small town where we watched (Fairmont, NE) was just under an hour drive. The return took something like 2.5 hours.