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SCANDINAVIAN TRAVELER | SHOWCASES | HOUSTON
Bet you didn’t
know that…
…the Texas Medical Center
Orchestra (formerly
the Doctors Orchestra
of Houston) consists
of physicians, dentists,
nurses, medical students,
biomedical scientists,
social workers, and other
health professionals. The
purpose of the orchestra
is to give them an outlet
for creative expression
through music.
www.tmcorchestra.org
It’s Texas. Go big or
go home
Fun fact
A 10 gallon Stetson
doesn’t actually hold 10
gallons, or 37 liters, of
anything. It does hold
three liters, though.
102
Today the Houston region is home to the largest
petrochemical manufacturing center in the world
– when you add synthetic rubber, insecticides,
and fertilizers into the equation – and accounts for
almost 40 percent of America’s capacity for base
petrochemicals.
Oil equals money, and money equals prosperity
on all fronts.
Texas boasts the highest rate of job growth
nationwide, with Houston among the top ranked
cities.
“People see Houston as the real hub and investments
in and around Houston are apparent,” Huw
Rothwell, executive director of recruitment company
Michael Page International, told the oil and
gas industry portal Rigzone recently.
Forbes magazine has ranked Houston fifth on a list
of cities that pay the best salaries, and at the same
time, Houston had the third-lowest cost of living
among the nation’s 20 most populous metro areas in
2013, according to the Council for Community and
Economic Research’s Cost of Living Index.
And, of course, Houston is still the Houston of
space exploration. The Johnson Space Center, about
an hour south of downtown Houston, is mission
control for Nasa’s upcoming Orion program, with
the next launch scheduled in December.
The space center employs about 3,000 people,
and another 14,000 are employed through contractors.
Nasa recently awarded Boeing a $4 billion
deal to transport crews to the International Space
Station, with software development and astronaut
training taking place in Houston.
T
he oil and aerospace industries are still
the backbones of the city so it’s easy to
forget that the Texas Medical Center, a
major player in healthcare and biotechnology
research, also employs over
100,000 people.
Founded by Monroe D. Anderson – not an oilman,
but a banker and cotton trader – the medical center
is a world leader in cancer research. It also performs
more heart surgeries than anywhere else in the
world. Every year, over seven million patients visit
the center, about 18,000 of them from abroad.
And to be fair, Houston does have the Texans, an
American football team, and the Astros, a baseball
team, and maybe one day they’ll become as famous
as the Cowboys or the Red Sox.
Meanwhile, Houston’s got it good. There will be
manned missions to Mars, they’re still pumping oil,
and the medical center is continually making new
advances. Plus, there’s that subtropical climate.
So when you’re sitting down at Vic & Anthony’s
in the heart of the city or Taste of Texas on the west
side, just before you cut into your steak you can tell
yourself, and Houston, that you too have landed.
Galveston Island’s
beach is just an
hour from Houston
This way to Houston
SAS flies direct to Houston from Stavanger,
and offers connecting flights from elsewhere in
Scandinavia.
Earn points
As a EuroBonus member
you earn points when you
fly with SAS, Star Alliance
and partners.
Book your flight on Flysas.com
Shop onboard
For longer flights we offer
our store onboard. Use
your points to buy perfume,
jewelry, fashion, the latest
gadgets, or anything from
our beverage menu.
DECEMBER 2014 | SCANDINAVIAN TRAVELER