Rolling Traveler

I’d never fallen in love with a city until I visited Austin. I’d been there a day-and-a-half when I realized I wanted to move there, and even though I never did, the idea will always be in the back of my mind. I felt better there than I ever had in any other city, and I couldn’t imagine there was anything that would ever put me off being there. I’ve been back every year since, at least for a couple of days. This week, I’d like to share with you some of the reasons I love Austin.

What was it about the capital of Texas that so captured my affection? I am fond of other cities, but Austin is one of the only cities I really love. I have a few very good friends there, but that’s not the only reason. The city itself held fascination for me. I spent hours exploring it while my friends were at work, going into stores, wandering down by the river, meandering through the parks, and eating at small local restaurants. Everything was new, and I’m sure I bored everyone terribly in the evenings: I know that no-one could understand my saying how much I liked the grackles, as most long-term residents seem to loathe them like Europeans hate pigeons.

The thing I enjoyed most about Austin was the feeling of independence. I had traveled with the wheelchair before, through Poland, Germany, England and Ireland, but I’d always encountered enough barriers that I felt that I’d never travel independently. Austin was the first city I’d visited and felt that I could go anywhere I wanted alone. The buses had lifts, and the bus network covered all the parts of the city I wanted to get to. The stores were all accessible, the sidewalks all had curb cuts. I felt free and able to go anywhere, and I’d never felt like that before.

I will probably never actually do more than visit Austin. I’m sure the daily reality of living there would be very different to being an exploring tourist. I’ve never been there during the summer, only in the mild and pleasant winter months, and I don’t know if I could stand the heat of the Texan summer. More importantly, I’ve no desire to leave Europe and live in the US. Austin is just my dream city, an ideal born of a sense of not having any barriers to my movement for the first time in years.

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