JW Marriott Houston, November 2017

First time I went to Houston, Texas, was in May 2010 to visit former officemates Glo and Ronald, stayed in their house. Short stay so they did not bring me to the city proper, to NASA instead and other interesting places in the suburbs.

Last November, I went back to Houston to attend the Heartland Institute's "America First Energy Conference" on November 10, I stayed at JW Marriott Houston, uptown Galleria of the city, the venue of the conference. I stayed there November 9-11, 2017.

Photos I took from my old and blurred phone camera. It was cold that time, the temperatures dropped to around 12-14 C.

Hotel lobby and aisle. The restaurant is on the right side after the check in/out area. One staff there is a Filipina, she's from Pampanga but has been living in Texas for more than a decade. Friendly to me, of course.

My bed. Big, wide, soft, comfortable.

Wall-mounted tv, beside my work area.

Also spacious toilet and bath.

Scenes from my window, left to right.

I like my stay in this hotel. Thank you Heartland for the travel grant.
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See also:

Marriott NY Marquis Hotel, March 21, 2009 

Chicago’s Marriott Magnificant Mile, May 16, 2010 

Marriott Hotels: NY Marquis, Magnificent Mile Chicago, and Manila, December 12, 2016

Houston Hobby Airport, Texas

Last May 2010, I first set foot in Texas, in Houston, to visit two former officemates when I was still working in Philippine Congress in the 90s. It was the last leg of my US trip then (Chicago-Detroit-Houston), the last 2 cities were tours after my conference in Chicago. I have Filipino friends in those cities who would pick me up from the airport and bring me back there, host in their house and tour in their cities for free, why not grab the opportunity.

Houston from the air is wide and expansive. It has two airports, I landed at Hobby airport.

Houston is the home of NASA's space program then, I think until now. Thus, the airport terminal has exhibits and decorations of rocket ships, space shuttles, astronauts, and related stuff.

Like this one, photo exhibit of the international space station. I don't know if such exhibit is permanent or being changed from time to time.

This looks like the "feet" of those space shuttles landing in the moon or something. Sorry, I didn't ask around what it was.

This airport's arrival and departure areas are mixed on the same floor. I think it's the same for many other airports in the US. So people enter or exit on those gates. Unlike in many big Asian airports, all arrivals are on the ground or lower floor, and all departures are on the 2nd or higher floor.

Departure lounge. Passengers waiting for their flight out of the airport.

Nothing so important here. It just caught my attention, DVD rentals for $1 each, a mobile phone charging station for a fee. Cute.