This year two of my lifelong girlfriends and I all celebrated a milestone birthday – yep, 29 AGAIN – but we deemed it significant enough to warrant a girlfriend’s getaway. We live in Seattle, Nashville and Hampton Roads, Virginia, so we considered destinations more or less equidistant for all of us and Austin, Texas won out. Our long weekend included all the elements of a classic girlfriend’s getaway: ignoring diets to indulge in fantastic food, ignoring inhibitions to dance our hearts out, ignoring the clock to talk late into the night. One special activity we particularly enjoyed in Austin is something I can recommend for any girlfriend getaway: a Segway sightseeing tour with SegCity!

Segway Austin with SegCity Tours

 

SegCity offers a lunchtime cruise to Austin’s ubiquitous food trucks, a night tour of the city’s diverse nightlife venues, a ride to see the famous bat fly-out phenomenon and a cultural tour of the University of Texas campus. We decided on the two and a half hour Ultimate City Tour on our first full day in Austin to get a good overview of the city and its history. Travel Maestro tip: a short sightseeing tour of any city allows you to get your bearings, see the major sights and learn some of the back stories from a knowledgeable guide so you can make informed choices of where to explore in more depth on the rest of your visit. We were extremely fortunate to have Halima as a guide, but more about her later.

Riding a Segway can feel a bit daunting at first but it’s extremely intuitive almost immediately. Basically if you can stand without assistance, you can ride a Segway. When we arrived at the SegCity office, we chose helmets and did training right in the store. My friends were first-timers, but I had taken a Segway tour in Richmond, VA before, so I volunteered to go first. OK, I wanted to show off just a little! Halima worked with us individually to teach us how to simply shift your weight forward to travel and use the handlebars like a joystick to do a figure eight around two orange cones. Segways have a zero degree turning radius, so you can do a pirouette in place without using any extra real estate. In no time we each mastered the feel and we were ready to cruise!

 

 

Off we went through the sidewalks and streets of the city to see the sights, with Halima stopping to share stories and history along the way. The lovely city skyline is full of dramatic and quirky architecture from the soaring Frost Bank Tower to the City Hall that is shaped like an armadillo. Halima guided us along the walk of fame honoring Austin’s famous musical sons and daughters and past attractive public art of guitar sculptures and bronze statues. We cruised by O. Henry’s home, the historic Paramount Theater, the haunted Driskill Hotel and the impressive Capitol building. Halima wore many hats during the tour: Guide extraordinaire giving excellent narration throughout the tour; Crossing guard keeping us safe as we navigated the city; Inspirational coach proclaiming us “Segsational” riders!

Halima was an excellent ambassador and sightseeing in Austin by Segway was grand fun. We kept ridiculous smiles plastered on our faces and everywhere we rode, pedestrians would wave and say, “I’ve always wanted to do that!” SegCity was awarded “Best Tour in Austin” and I can wholeheartedly recommend them. 

To plan your own trip to Austin or other girlfriend getaways, contact the experienced vacation advisors at Covington Travel.