Planning your holiday travels? We’ve got you covered.
Welcome back to the Mailbag!
This week inquiry question comes from the chat, where a parent has a question about holiday travel.
Is there any kind of shuttle available to bring students home for the holidays?
This actually is a common question from parents. After all, Texas is BIG! It's not exactly a short drive from the Hub City to our state's other large metropolitan areas.
From personal experience, we can say that trips to and through Dallas – particularly on those heavy travel days just before and just after a holiday like Thanksgiving – make for some very long and sometimes treacherous trips.
I remember one time, driving east to get back to my hometown the day before Thanksgiving. It was raining cats and dogs and my lovely wife and I picked up traffic on I-20 just west of Abilene, pretty much bumper to bumper. Neither the rain nor the traffic let up till we got somewhere east of the Terrell Buc-ee's (that's right, my trips home are landmarked by Buc-ee's and barbeque joints) and let me tell you, it must've taken 10 hours. People driving all crazy, horns honking every three minutes. Couldn't even settle into a podcast with all the noise. And it's not like anybody was going anywhere. Like somebody is going to say, “Well, you honked, guess me and the other 10,000 cars should pull right over and let you on through.” You know what I mean? That was one miserable…….
Sorry about that. What was the question again?
Shuttles for students?
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving (Nov. 23) there are shuttles leaving Texas Tech University's campus bound for Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and El Paso.
The bus to Houston leaves at 8 a.m. headed to the JC Penney's parking lot at the Meyerland Shopping Center, located at the corner of Beechnut and 610 in Southwest Houston. Boarding for the trip starts at 7:30 a.m. in the R11 band parking lot behind the Student Union Building (SUB). The trip normally takes about nine-and-half hours.
The bus headed for El Paso also leaves at 8 a.m. with boarding starting at 7:30 am in the R11 band parking lot behind the SUB. The trip to El Paso should take about six hours and students will be taken to the South entrance of Macy's at the Cielo Vista Mall, located at 8401 Gateway Blvd.
The bus to Dallas starts boarding at 8:30 a.m. with departure from the R11 band parking lot behind the SUB slated for 9 a.m. The trip is scheduled to take just under six hours and students will be taken to the Walmart parking lot located at 4122 Lyndon B Johnson Fwy.
If you need a ride to San Antonio, that bus also starts loading at 8:30 a.m. for a 9 a.m. departure and students will be taken to the Sears parking lot at 622 NW Loop 410. This trip is also slated to take around six hours.
The bus headed to Austin has an 8:30 a.m. load time and departs for the state capital at 9 a.m. This is another trip that should take about six hours and students will be driven to the parking lot at the Woodland Center located at 13492 US-183.
The return trips all take place the Sunday after Thanksgiving (Nov. 27), with the busses picking students up at the same location where they were dropped off.
The bus from Houston to Lubbock leaves at 8 a.m. Students returning from San Antonio will leave the Alamo City for the Hub City at 8:30 a.m. The shuttle from Austin leaves at 9 a.m., the Dallas bus at 9:30 a.m. and El Paso passengers will head back to Lubbock at 10 a.m. MST.
Tickets can be purchased here and it is important to note that the buses will not wait for you even if you have a ticket. DON'T BE LATE!
As always, if you have questions for the Mailbag shoot us an email and we'll try to get you an answer.
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