st1412_webb

SCANDINAVIAN TRAVELER | SHOWCASES | HOUSTON
‘Houston. Tranquility
Base here. The Eagle
has landed.’
H
ouston immediately brings
to mind one thing. Space. A
close-run second is “Houston,
we have a problem,” a reference
to the Apollo 13 movie
based on the unsuccessful
1970 mission to the moon.
Locals are quick to point out
that the problem wasn’t with
Houston and that Houston
was the first word Neil Armstrong said on the moon:
“Houston. Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has
landed.”
Houston doesn’t have famous sports teams
named for it (unlike Boston’s Celtics or the Bruins),
popular 1980s bands (Chicago) or food (Philadelphia
has the cheesesteak; Buffalo has chicken
wings.)
Even within Texas, it’s Dallas that has the TV
show and those footballing Cowboys.
And yet Houston is the fourth-most populous
city in the nation (after New York, Los Angeles, and
Chicago) and the fastest-growing metropolitan area
in the country, according to one report.
But fame, that’s only surface-deep, and in Houston
there’s a lot going on under the surface.
First off, there’s the tunnel system that connects
buildings in the downtown area and makes it look
like a ghost town above ground. When the temperature
averages 30C between May and October,
Houston is like an anthill: quiet on the surface, but
dig a little deeper and you’ll see how busy it is.
Dig a lot deeper, and you might hit oil. That is
what makes Houston Houston.
It’s black gold that’s built this city, and there’s
no escaping it. Thanks to oil, Houston is now only
second to New York in terms of the number of
Fortune 500 companies headquartered there
(24 and counting).
I
t was the oil trade that transformed Houston from
a simple railroad hub into a big city at the beginning
of the 20th century.
The oil boom, or Gusher Age, made Texas
prosperous and by 1905, thanks to the Texas Fuel
Company’s expansion and relocation to Houston,
the city became the hub of the state’s oil industry.
The company was later merged with the Texas
Company and renamed Texaco.
Another giant, Humble Oil, founded in 1911, also
had its headquarters here. Named for the city, not
its founders’ modesty, Humble was America’s largest
producer of crude oil during World War II and
later became Exxon.
Did you
know that…
…Houston used to be
the capital of Texas In
June 1842, Sam Houston,
President of the Republic
of Texas, wanted to move
the capital away from
Austin and the Mexican
border. Three months
and two days after
Houston was named the
new capital, the city lost
its status to Washingtonon-the-Brazos,
where
the Texas Declaration of
Independence was signed
on March 2, 1836. Austin
was made the capital
again when Texas joined
the United States in 1845.
NONSTOP
TO HOUSTON
SAS launched a new service between Stavanger,
southwest Norway, and Houston in August
this year. About 70,000 passengers travel
between Houston and Scandinavia every year,
and about 15,000 of them fly to Stavanger,
another oil town.
In 2013, SAS asked 424 companies in or
near Stavanger for their suggestions for new
routes, and 44 percent listed Houston as their
top choice. Almost 80 percent of traffic from
Norway to Houston is (oil) business-related.
To make the 10-hour trip as comfortable
as possible, and to fully cater to business
travelers, the route is operated with a business
version of the Boeing 737-700 with just 44
seats.
With fully reclining seats, world-class food,
and iPads with SAS Play content, it’s not only
you who’ll be flying. Time will fly as well.
SCANDINAVIAN TRAVELER | DECEMBER 2014
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