New Mexico / Texas: Booking & Prep

I’ve wanted to visit Roswell since I was a kid and Usbourne books about UFO’s enthralled and entertained me. I didn’t know much about New Mexico, except that a couple of my favourite shows (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) are filmed there… but I knew it was next to Texas and I know a bargain flight when I see one!

Flight (Manchester > Houston): £45
Excess Baggage (Extra 23Kg Camera Eqpt.): £52

I couldn’t believe my eyes. I love travel hacking and searching for the best deals but this one was no effort. Search and find. Simples. The flight was with the 5* rated Singapore Airlines, which meant that not only were 2 meals and checked baggage included, but they also serve Singapore Sling cocktails on the house for the duration of the flight. No brainer. I put a message on Facebook inviting friends to come along but no-one rose to the challenge. Too busy, too skint (what? even at this price?!). So, that evening I entered my credit card details and hoped the pricing anomaly would go unnoticed when my purchase was ticketed. Fortunately it did, and within 15 minutes I was in possession of the cheapest trans-atlantic flight I’ve ever booked!

Once the flight was booked, I sat up late into the night exploring my fave website of the weird and wonderful, Atlas Obscura. It appeared that there was so much more to New Mexico than Roswell and before long I was wishing I’d booked longer. I was overwhelmed with sites to see and places to visit, so I made a list and Louise kindly calculated the driving times and distances between each. From here I was able to plan a strict road trip, down to the hour.

Juarez, a notorious drug cartel city in the North of Mexico and recent holder of the ‘city with most murders per annum’ title, was on my original list as you can walk over a bridge from the USA, get your passport stamped and visit Mexico. However, Louise was very relieved when this was dropped from the schedule due to time constraints. Instead I found a cable car up a mountain on the border where I can look down on Juarez from a safe distance and not get into any mischief.

It’s a tight schedule made up of long, straight desert roads; but I’m looking forward to the photographic treats planned in between burning the fossil fuel:

• Sledging on powdered gypsum (outside an army base, what can go wrong?);
• Climbing a mountain in El Paso (to look down on Mexico from a safe distance);
• Visiting Mount Carmel, Waco (Site of the siege and subsequent FBI shoot out with the cult in 1993);
• Viewing a ‘folly’ in the desert ($250million Spaceport that has no tenants or rockets);
• Exploring Truth Or Consequences (Town renamed in 1950’s after a radio competition);
• Trinity Atomic Test Site (3 weeks before Hiroshima they just had to test a nuclear bomb somewhere…);
• Very Large Array (World’s largest radio telescope, 38 miles diameter at it’s maximum!);
• Breaking Bad Filming Locations (And I’ve booked a replica RV ‘lab’ with smoke machine in the roof);
• Musical Highway (Rumble strips on the side of the road that play ‘America The Great’… but only at 45mph);
• Corona (Staying in an Alien themed room at THE actual site of the alleged 1947 UFO crash);
• Roswell (Nanoo, nanoo. enough said);
• Santa Elena Canyon (4 hours of dirt tracks from the nearest town, I’ll attempt to get there in a Toyota Corolla).
• …plus lots of small town America!

People regularly ask about my travels and how we manage to enjoy so many escapes. I’ll share tricks and tips showing how anyone can book an epic trip on a shoestring, without scrimping it or staying in low grade places! I’ve never blogged in my life so please be gentle…