Or “How to Travel with a Team to Houston without Losing Your Mind”
Standard disclaimer - this is based on our experiences, YMMV. Any updates, local info, or corrections welcome.
Not a travel agent, just a Mentor who prefers to plan ahead, sleep well, eat well, and walk less.
Our Houston travel complement is usually 45-75 people total.
Get a hotel booked, downtown if at all possible. If not downtown, on a train line. Strongly recommend one with free breakfast (please call ahead and confirm this still exists - do not trust their website!) and double-Queen bed rooms (4 students to a room, 2 mentors to a room)
Flights: use a group travel agent. You CAN call all the airlines directly (look for their group travel contact info) but OMG, sorting through all the T’s and C’s is a nightmare. We use a group travel agent. https://groupsource.com/ 7 Our agent (Rebecca) explains all the policies, handles everything. So much easier. She is already looking for flights JUST in case. But be prepared for sticker shock this year.
From George Bush Airport (IAH) At IAH, you can take the 102 bus from the airport to downtown Houston. Worked GREAT for us!
From Hobby airport (HOU) HOU to downtown Houston: METRO Bus 40 provides local service and continues to downtown Houston and the George R. Brown Convention Center. Transit time to downtown can run one hour.
Get a Train/Bus/Metra Pass: There WAS a First deal on Houston Metra passes. Have seen nothing on it so far. Fantastic deal, you could get a 5-day pass for $9, works on the train and the bus - such as the 102 bus from IAH to downtown Houston. Our hotel (the Magnolia) was right on one stop on Green/purple, the next stop was GRRB. You could walk it - but the train was great. I believe the Train passes also work on the main train arteries to the suburbs, if you did not get a hotel downtown.
How to Get your Stuff There: PODS. They are still a partner with FIRST, and according to my contact Eric, their prices are the same as 2019. In San Diego, the first team to qualify books a pod, then as other teams qualify they get added on until we have 4-5 teams shipping their pits together. They drop a Pod off somewhere (in front of our workshop) for a couple of days, and Teams load all their stuff in. They we retrieve from the Pod in Houston. Worked VERY well, highly recommend.
Maps show Houston layout 2019, and POD retrieval location.
Food: See the map of downtown with Train lines above, was very helpful in planning meals. But Beware, a lot of these are closed on the weekend. FIRST Championship Solution with PODS 2022.PDF (292.9 KB)
As a person with vested interest in people choosing to fly to HOU on a particular blue, red and yellow airplane there is in fact ground transportation to downtown from the airport:
HOU to downtown Houston: METRO Bus 40 provides local service and continues to downtown Houston and the George R. Brown Convention Center. Transit time to downtown can run one hour.
As a person with no vested interest, can confirm that the blue, red, and yellow planes are often worthwhile for group travel even if needing to make a connection or land at a secondary airport. Just like individual travel policies, Southwest group policies are about as flexible as you’ll find, and the two free bags makes for easy transport of goods.
Found it on Google Maps last week, clicked on the transit option. Has a stop two blocks from my hotel; I’ll probably have to walk further within the airport.
Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I’m a Southwest stockholder through my investment club. And I’m going to check a bag because they won’t let me carry on my Swiss Army knife, Slip-n-snip scissors, or a razor, and I don’t want to have to buy all that again in Houston.
Fun fact: you can also make an illegally oversized custom box, write the wrong dimensions on it, and they won’t bother measuring it at the bag check counter.
I think I or our driver also took the spare 2016 shooter head as a carryon and they were chill with that?
Does anyone whose flown in the past two years or so have any advice or insight into navigating Covid and travel? I haven’t flown since Detroit 2019, and with the federal mask mandate for public transportation coming to an end soon coupled with risk factors I know I likely will be unable to attend in-person, but I still want to try and get all the information I would need on the off-chance the cards align and I’m able to make the trip.
Through a strange sequence of events I ended up on five plane trips through 2021.
Good news, air crews are being really proactive about enforcing mandates and proper mask wearing on the planes, and have given genuine thought as to how to firmly but politely ensure compliance through most air travel situations.
Potentially bad news for your situation: Airports and public transit in general is still super crowded. Zero hope for consistent proper social distancing. Especially at a major airport… you will be exposed to COVID. No way around it.
Granted… if you were planning on being at champs for a few days, I’d tend to say a few hours at an airport isn’t gonna greatly increase your risk profile.
Figured as such. It’s going to depend a lot on transmission rates in the country around Champs time. Do you know if planes and hotels are still being generous with their cancelation policies? Or will I have to shell out extra if I want to be able to cancel if things go pear shaped? Just a lot of moving pieces rn.
I believe that federal mask mandates are set to expire on March 18th. However, they keep getting extended so we’ll see what happens. With a lot of blue states dropping mandates I wouldn’t be surprised to see the federal government follow but I also saw an article headline today saying to expect transit mask mandates to stay in place —so who knows.
Most airlines have a more generous domestic change policy than pre-covid but they still vary from airline to airline. You can expect to get your money back in a credit for a non-refundable ticket that is good for up to a year on the major airlines. I think southwest still has the best flexibility with no fees at all but unfortunately you need to read up on the airline you choose. I recommend booking directly with the airline in your case rather than a travel site because it’s easier to just handle things directly with them if you need to cancel. Also, refundable tickets may not be much more expensive depending on how the pricing algorithms are feeling that day.
Please note that many of the restaurants in downtown Houston are in office buildings and only serve breakfast and lunch. Many of these are not visible from the street. If in doubt, call the restaurant to make sure they will actually be open when you want to go.
The area to the north of Minute Maid Park, on both sides of U.S. 59 (see very right side of map linked by SurfGear) has a number of homeless shelters and encampments as well as addiction treatment centers so it is best not to wander into that area. The area east of GRB, on the east side of U.S. 59 (elevated) and Chartres has been rather run down though it is being gentrified. There are now a growing number of bars as well several breweries and a distillery. While it is generally a safe area, be aware there can be some intoxicated people in the area.
There are many food options in downtown Houston ranging from a few inexpensive food trucks, many moderately priced restaurants and some pretty gourmet and expensive places. In the last few years, several food halls (Finn Hall, Understory, Bravery Chef Hall, Underground Hall) have opened in the area to the north of GRB about 0.8 miles (9-12 blocks) away. Each has a variety of food vendors, many that are critically acclaimed. Check the hours because some close relatively early though some are open til around midnight.
There are two Kroger supermarkets within 4 miles to the west of GRB and one about 1.5 miles to the east. In the past, we have ordered large, good quality and tasty sandwich trays from Kroger deli counters to feed our swim team inexpensively. If I recall correctly, they need at least a day or two of notice. For a change, Kroger also sells fried chicken legs and roast chicken legs that are pretty good and inexpensive. There is also a Randalls about 1.5 miles to the southwest of GRB. The fried chicken at Randalls is pretty good for mass market. They may also sell sandwich trays.
GRB typically does not allow outside food so a lot of teams congregate at the Discovery Green park across the street and have food delivered to a designated location or have some parents go out and pick up food. Be sure to specify what street intersection you want to meet the delivery driver at.
Be aware that some of the parking lots serve Minute Maid Park or The Toyota Center and if there are events in those venues in the evening, the fee one pays in the morning will cover only up to the end of the afternoon and one will have to pay again after something like 6 pm. Otherwise, one may get a fine or get towed.
I had a couple of parents concerned about the safety of the light rail (we’ll likely be staying near the medical center near a rail stop). I am guessing there is not much to worry about, there, if traveling in a group, but if anyone can confirm that please let me know. I know that cities usually beef up security when there are big conventions in town as well.
We always have food brought in and eat on the Green. Can confirm that is a great option.
We used to tote things to Houston as a team pre-your time Chris. This was also when we were in the outskirts of Houston so if memory serves me right from 2017, we probably walked a good chunk after getting off the metro with the totes in the hot Houston heat, which was not fun at all. Funny that Travis mentions the Medical Center since that’s where the old hotel we’d book was around
Southwest is great for cheap flights and by no means do I mean to rag on them, but having had to call the group booking phone line to make adjustments to travel arrangements, expect a long wait time (albeit this was pre-COVID so they might be speedier now, who knows). Thirding the Discovery Green comment as a good place to eat outside but close to the venue. I’m assuming the light rail is the Houston Metro system. I found it fine as a student, though again any and all experience is pre-COVID. FIRST also has a way to get passes at a discount here.
What is the deal with parking? Last time we went several of the paid lots had "attendants " there collecting and the kiosks were covered. Is this legit?
It’s been 4-5 years since I have been there as a competitor and used those parking lots. Typically, I didn’t park in the closest parking lots because they are more expensive.
I do recall seeing some lots with attendants but I don’t recall using them. I would be uncomfortable giving them a credit card and would rather give them cash. I would also make sure that I receive a ticket with the name of the company running the lot and it should match the name on the signs around the lot. If you are uncomfortable with lots with attendants like that, there are other lots nearby.
If you are staying at one of the downtown hotels, you should be able to walk to GRB or take the LRT. Otherwise, if you are uncomfortable with using the parking lots near GRB, you can try parking at the Theater District Parking Garage (underground) and taking the LRT to GRB. Their rates are posted on their website and it looks kind of expensive. There are other parking buildings in that area but they are all similar in price.
The light rail is usually pretty good. Just remember, Houston is the 4th largest city in the US. With that there’s always going to be crime. Stick to groups, etc.
Found it on Google Maps last week, clicked on the transit option. Has a stop two blocks from my hotel; I’ll probably have to walk further within the airport.
