Hey everyone, it's Reheel.
For many Houstonians, living in Houston is like a badge of honor, but with any badge
comes trials and tribulations.
Surviving this city isn't easy, so I'm going to play back an episode we did earlier
this year with the entire CityCats crew about surviving H town.
From proper road etiquette to picking the perfect restaurant and so much more, these
tips will have you ready to conquer the beast that is the Bayou City.
It's Thursday, May 25th.
I'm Reheel Bob Snolly and here's what Houston's talking about.
What's happening?
I've got Carly on Jones, Brooke Lewis and lead producer Dina Kespo with me.
How are y'all feeling?
Good, excited to be here.
Yeah, so excited.
I know.
It's been so much fun.
So before we start, we're going to do our essential rules for Houston to survive this
crazy city that we love.
But before we do that, I want to go around and get everyone's background.
All right, the listeners need to know why do you love Houston, Dina, and how long have
you lived here?
Born and raised.
I only escaped.
I know I say escaped, but I only left Houston for maybe like three and a half years when
I left to go and actually get into audio because I was working at the Chronicle and
transitioned into audio and DC was my place.
Love it.
Brooke, how about you?
I'm also born and raised, loved Houston.
And then I did.
I wouldn't even say, I think I wanted to escape to a briefly for college and grad school,
but then I came back in 2016 and I haven't left.
Yeah, that's a common theme.
We all tried to escape and some of us did and then some of us didn't.
But Carly on, you escaped.
Yeah, escaped.
We're a little bit.
So I was born here and partially raised here.
So I stayed here until I was about like eight years old.
Then we moved about an hour away to the country.
I was gone for college and all my high school years.
And then I came back about a year and a half ago now.
Okay, perfect.
Love it.
So four people on this chat and me, I grew up here.
So we know the city.
All right.
What it takes to survive this crazy city.
And we're going to give you some rules.
And you don't have to follow these rules, but these are just rules that we've noticed
that if you follow them, the experience in Houston is going to be much better.
And by the way, if you have rules that you want to share with us, then please mention
it to us on our social media accounts.
And you can also email us.
We've got all that information in the show description.
So let's get started.
Dina, you go first.
What's your first rule to survive Houston?
You all have to have a functioning keyword functioning umbrella.
Okay.
And I say this from experience because I've had an umbrella in the past in my car, but
then it's one of those really like flimsy ones where the second you step out and it's
windy, it flips out.
Oh, no.
And Houston ate the city to get caught without an umbrella.
No, especially during the month of January to December.
Exactly.
You just never like there's always rain somehow, some way.
It's so crazy.
No, that's such a good one, Dina.
I love it because I put money into a good umbrella and it changes everything.
Yeah, exactly.
It's worth it.
Pay 35 bucks if you have to do 50 even, you know, upwards of 50.
It's like that really sturdy one.
It's worth the money.
Trust me.
Absolutely.
And it's going to last forever.
All right.
If it's a good one.
Yeah.
All right.
Brooke, what is your essential rule to survive Houston?
Mine is you will never be able to try all the restaurants here, but you can try because
as I've grown up here, born and raised, as I said, and it is impossible to try all the
restaurants you're going to want to when you move here because you're just going to hear
about all the amazing food, but just pace yourself because there's going to be a new
restaurant open probably by the time you're like, I tried this one.
So my advice is to pace yourself, wear stretchy pants, you're on a food journey and just
pace yourself because you will not be able to try all the restaurants.
Okay.
Good pacing and stretchy pants.
I wasn't expecting stretchy pants to be number two for us.
But here we are.
And I'm happy that stretchy pants are acceptable when you're trying to tackle the Houston food
scene.
Carl Leon, how about you?
Okay.
So mine is like a survival kit.
You always have to have an extra pair of clothes, a water bottle and a little snack in
your car.
Now my mom has been telling me this since I was a kid and I used to not listen and now
I see why she tells me to do this because traffic is so bad that let's say you're trying
to go to a friend's house to an event or something like that, you're going to be late if you
don't have an extra pair of clothes in the car already just prepared or you're going
to be like hungry, starving, thirsty, just in traffic.
If you don't have like something small, like a rice crispy, some water, it's important.
I'm telling you, it's really important.
Okay.
I'm not early because like, okay.
So especially the snack and the clothes, I would say definitely pack like sneakers and
socks because I've had so many moments where I'd pack the wrong shoes and my feet would
be soaked from the rain and I'd be wishing I had like socks and sneakers in my trunk
and then a trench coat because our weather is so like up and down.
I've had days where I'd be like so cold and I'd forget to pack a trench coat because like
I left the house and it was hot and humid.
I was like, damn, I'd have to like stop by Walmart or Target and pick up something and
keep myself warm with.
And then the water thing in the summer, I would say, especially the snacks, I've made
the mistake where I'd leave snacks in the car and they would like either melt or the
water would be like scorching, boiling hot.
No, I definitely made that mistake so many times and I would just like adding on to Carly
eat like eat ahead of schedule because even if you think you're not that hungry by the
time you make it to your destination, you're going to be hungry.
So whether you're going to like a birthday party, whether you're going to a dinner,
eat the snack because you're going to be glad that you did so you don't show up hangry
because that's definitely happened to me.
I like that.
So essential rule number three is your traffic survival kit and I'm going to tack one more
thing on to this one.
Everybody's at 15 minutes to your drive.
And don't use traffic as an excuse in the city of Houston because expect it.
So just always have that 15 minutes tacked on to your essential kit.
All right.
So this is like a little combo for everyone, but I'm going to give you my first one.
My first official one, please don't cut in the merge length and specifically on 59 by
the 527 spur 59 and I 45 literally any, any freeway merger, please do not cut.
Okay.
Because nothing gets us more irritated in the city than people cutting to the front of
the line.
Like I understand a mid cut.
Okay.
If you're back there about, you know, look, I get it.
You want to cut a little bit.
That's fine.
But don't be the person that slows down the entire flow of traffic because you're trying
to cut it, especially on that spur by downtown.
Oh, that please don't do it.
Can we survive?
Can I say, brook, go ahead.
Because I was going to go ahead.
I feel like we're all very passionate about traffic.
So if they're probably a lot, that's about to be said.
But I'm just going to say, if you're going to cut, don't make eye contact.
Just own it.
Just do it.
Just go for it because like people, I feel like people on Houston traffic, like I, I
just don't want to even make eye contact if I'm doing something that I know I shouldn't
be doing because I'm scared to look at what the other person is doing because they will
make eye contact back.
So just don't look at them.
Just go right ahead.
Do the cut, make the mistake and just keep it moving.
Okay.
But do you wave?
Do you give them a little?
I use, I used to do the wave, but I feel like the wave has died, you guys.
Like it doesn't happen anymore because I wave at people and they look at me like I'm
crazy because I just don't think it happens.
My parents were the ones that wave my whole life like growing up.
They would always wave whenever they cut in front of people, but it doesn't happen
anymore.
So I've just stopped waving.
I just don't make eye contact.
I just cut in front of people and I keep it moving.
Dang.
Carly, you wanted to jump in on this, right?
What's up?
Yeah, I was going to say that that's the truth of Iowa Kit because people get mad.
They're ready to fight for real.
So if you don't want to fight on the freeway, do not cut people off.
Leave it alone.
See, I go like, here's my thing.
If you're going to do it, that's fine.
Like that, that's fine.
Me as the driver, you're cutting off.
I feel like insurance companies should give you one grace hit per year.
And what I mean by that is like I will be really aggressive if you're cutting me because
I usually don't cut unless it's like I make a mistake or something, but I usually go to
the back of the line, I follow the rules, but if you're trying to edge in, I will keep
creeping up.
Dang.
I will play that game of chicken.
So if you hit me or I hit you, I should get one grace hit.
I'm not talking about a hard hit.
I'm not talking about hurting people.
I'm just talking about a little side swipe.
I will play the game of chicken all the way up until you either stop or I let you in.
Do you want to like a go-kart bump?
Basically.
Yeah.
I'm going to put a little bit of a hook.
Okay.
Can I just say I've done it?
I've done it.
I've cut.
But listen, listen, listen.
We all have.
Like it was mostly unintentional because it's like, oh, I'm like, oh crap.
Like the GPS tells me I'm supposed to go this way and I couldn't read it properly because
you're driving and you can't pay attention.
And people get really angry and they're like, they're, they're, they're the reheels on the
road where they're inching, playing chicken.
Like they're not letting you in.
And I'm like doing the wave, trying to be like, please let me in.
I'm sorry.
Like try and tell them my life story in the car on the highway.
Just to get some sympathy.
You can save that for the car behind me.
Okay.
Yeah.
Because I've been waiting for 25 minutes to get to downtown and you are not going to
cut me.
You can try that on the on the Corolla behind me.
That's why people are so patient because they've been waiting for like hour to get to exit.
And so if you're the one cutting, they're just like, it's, it's not going to end well.
Fair.
So side note, side note.
So I, I take pictures of parents who cut in the drop off line at school.
Oh my God.
Yeah.
Oh, I think it is the most insulting thing somebody can do is cut in the drop off line
at school.
True.
Like we have parents, like we, we get backed up for half a mile, right?
There's a lot of kids trying to get to school and some parents will literally cut you when
you're about like the fifth car turning in.
And I think that's the most disrespectful thing ever because you think your time is
more valuable than anybody else in that line.
And I take pictures and I, I'd be lying if I said I haven't posted it to a fake.
I am, I am the Batman of traffic.
Okay.
I make sure that we, we abide by the rules and justice is served in shameful comments.
I'm just hilarious.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We're changing lives one car picture at a time, ladies.
I feel like you just need to stay on the Peter Hill.
Yeah.
I'm not using that much traffic for real.
But I'm a really kind person, honestly.
Okay, Dina, your second essential rule.
What do you got?
You have to pack socks and a first aid kit.
You will never understand the power of a first aid kit until you actually use it in
a car.
And I'm talking about the elaborate ones, the one that's got the bandaids, the gogs,
not the little tiny puny ones that you get to travel with.
I mean, that has saved my life so many times, not that I'm out here like injuring myself
and others around me, but it's just like, you never know when you need it.
It's crazy.
And I say every person, whether you're in Houston or you're out in the suburbs, you should
definitely have a first aid kit in your trunk.
I like that one.
Brooke, what's your next one?
So this is for my curly haired girls.
Do not straighten your hair in the summer.
Just don't do it.
Don't get a silk press.
Don't get a relaxer.
The summer is for protective styles only because it just won't last you guys.
You will get it done.
And honestly, this happened to me as early as now because of the weather has been so
bad.
I've had friends that literally walked out of this lawn and two hours later because it
either rained or it was so human.
Their hair was already back to the, it's original texture.
So just don't do it.
Do it during the winter time.
Get your braids during the summer.
Do your protective styles, but do not straighten your hair in the summer.
It's not, it's just not going to last.
It's not going to last.
It's not going to last.
There's no way.
All right.
Carly, your next one.
Always bring a jacket with you wherever you go.
The weather is always going to change.
That's Houston.
You never know if it's going to be hot, cold, raining like Dina said.
So you always need a jacket like literally because even if it's hot outside, let's say
you go to a restaurant, when you go inside the restaurant, it's going to be freezing
because they're trying to combat the heat.
So you need a jacket.
It's essential.
I'm telling you.
That's a good one.
So my next one is related to clothes as well.
In the summer, please do not work out in cotton shirts.
Okay.
Going out, running Memorial Park, you're doing a class outside or inside.
It is so hot in the city that if you wear a cotton shirt, you're just not going to, you're
not going to like it.
You're not going to be a good feeling.
So please do not work out in cotton shirts.
I see people running in cotton shirts.
I'm like, what are you doing?
You're carrying like five pounds of sweat right now.
This isn't good for you.
You're going to start hurting here in a little bit.
This is horrible.
Please just get a dry fit shirt and you'll love it so much more.
And like I love working out in the summer outside.
I don't mind it.
I like the heat.
But if you wear a cotton shirt, you're going to hate it.
Yeah.
And can I add to that, Rachel?
I just want to say that don't wear dark colored clothing.
I know that sounds kind of obvious during the summer, but I've done that before.
I've worn like a black shirt when I was out reporting.
And I almost really had legit heat stroke because it like you will get much hotter if
you're wearing darker colored clothes during the summer.
And it gets really hot and decent, really, really fast.
And you don't even realize that you may be dehydrated.
So it's just better to be on the safe side where we've fitted light colored clothing.
I want to add to what Brooke just said too about the dark clothing.
Don't wear dark clothing at night if you're going to be walking around the city.
We can not see you.
I can't see normally.
Okay.
So if I'm driving you have dark clothes on, no, you don't like your life.
You don't.
Damn.
Okay.
I can't see you.
Shut up.
Do you know what's your next one?
Okay.
I'm trying to remember what they're called.
So the foil looking things that repel the sunlight on your car so that when you.
Yeah, like a sun shape.
A sun shape.
Yeah.
It's a two party.
You have to pack that.
And I recommend a battery powered portable fan because right when you get into your car,
it is way too hot for you to blast the AC.
It's going to take a few.
It's going to take like maybe 10 minutes, at least if you're in my car, to get the cool
air going.
And you don't want to like suffocate in your car.
Yes, open the windows, but it's so extremely hot.
I recommend having a portable fan and then always, always put those things that repel
the sunlight on your car, even if it's like at nighttime and you're going to sleep and
you'll wake up.
Trust me without your leather seats burning your booty because I've had experience.
It's where I would forget and I'd be leaving in the middle of the afternoon, like a two
o'clock when the sun has just been hitting down on my car seats.
It's terrible.
Ooh, it's not fun.
I can feel it.
I can feel that leather burn right now.
That's a good, that's a really good essential rule right there.
Brooke, how about you?
What's your next one?
Yes, we talked a lot about weather and my rule is that the weather is going to annoy
you, but it'll change and it'll probably change honestly in the same day.
So if you're annoyed by one season, we get sometimes four seasons and a week.
Sometimes we get four seasons in one day.
Houston to me has four seasons, which is hot, super hot, humid and then randomly cold.
So if you're annoyed, the weather will change and it'll be okay.
Larry, I totally have weather for everybody here.
Yeah.
If you like it, you're going to experience it in one day.
So yeah, all right, Carly, your next one.
Have a kid in the back of your trunk, like Dina said, she said the first aid kit, but
mine is for fixing your car.
So like something to fix your tire, you'll need like a little air pump.
I have an air pump in the back of my car to like, you know, air up my tires.
Something to start your car if it just decides the battery just decides to die.
That's important because you can get places.
A nice jumper cable.
Yes, exactly.
Jumper cables, exactly jumper cables because it's just, it's so important telling you this
city is too far spread out that if you get lost somewhere, your friends can get to you
quick.
You'll just be stuck on the side of the road looking crazy unless you have triple A. Triple
A is really good too.
That's a survival kit.
I highly recommend getting a portable air compressor.
You can get them on Amazon for like 20, 30 bucks, but they're great.
Like you just plug it into your, your car light and boom, you can pump up the air in
your tires if you need to.
But since you brought that up, I'm going to give you my next one and that's get insurance
slash warranty on your tires because our city is awesome.
We're like, there's so much to do.
It's so great.
But our city really sucks when it comes to potholes.
Oh my gosh.
Especially on Westheimer, Richmond, Kirby, Shepherd, all the big, um, arteries, treats,
basically, the potholes suck.
So get some kind of warranty on your tires.
You can go to any of the big tire stores and you don't even have to buy the tires from
them.
You can just go get a warranty on them.
So if you're tire, you hit a pole, you hit a pothole and your tire gets a, some kind
of tearing it, they'll fix it for free.
Okay.
Get a warranty, please.
Especially because tires are expensive now.
Really expensive.
So that's my next one.
All right.
We're going to do a fun one.
All right.
Thank you, everyone.
Brooke, do you have a fun one?
So my name's I guess more sentimental than fun, but you could make it fun depending on
how you go about this.
But I think with Houston, there's a true volunteer spirit.
And so I would say that if you're looking for something to do, if you're looking for
a way to meet people, then be kind and help your neighbor.
And I think that comes out a lot during tragedy.
We talked a lot about how the weather can be crazy.
So yes, there are hurricanes that happen here.
There are floods.
There are freezes, even that happened.
But I see the best of Houston, honestly, during tragedy.
And so getting involved with one of those organizations before something like that happens
and already volunteering in the community is just a really good way to meet people.
And also honestly, it helps makes you feel better yourself.
So that's, I guess, my fun, slash, sentimental rule of Houston.
It's a good one.
Carly, how about you?
Do you have one?
Yeah.
Mine is not completely fun.
If you like to get dressed up, but that's a definite key to Houston dress up everywhere
you go.
So the thing is that I used to live in a country town, which like you can roll out of the bed,
go to the store, and it's fine.
But in Houston, if I go to H.E.B., I'll still do sweatpants and stuff like that sometimes,
just if I just don't have it in me.
But people think it's a fashion show everywhere they go in the city.
So yeah, I feel like that's a key just to know that look presentable.
I'll say presentable.
You don't have to be America's next top model, but you never know who you're going to see.
So the target in the Galleria area, we used to call it hot.
We used to call it hot Tarje because it was literally everyone dressing up to go to Target.
And it's so funny you mentioned that tip because that is true.
Like people dress up even to go to Tarje.
And that's why it's like the place to be seen over there in the Galleria area.
So I like that one.
I'm going to give a sports one.
Okay.
So my background, you know, I worked in sports for a long time, but here's an essential rule
if you live in the city of Houston.
Don't ever say that the Houston Rockets would not have won their two titles if Michael Jordan
didn't retire.
Okay.
So this is one of the biggest rules I can give to anybody that lives here or moves here or
is going to be here.
Please don't say that.
Okay.
Because Michael Jordan did play part of the season and was in the playoffs that second
title run.
They just couldn't beat the magic.
And that's not our fault.
We swept the magic here in the city of Houston as a Rockets fan.
So don't ever say, Oh, you guys only won titles because Michael Jordan didn't play.
That is my final essential rule.
I just kind of throw that one in there.
Please don't say it.
Dina, what's your fun one for the city of Houston?
An essential rule.
My one fun thing is to explore the suburbs more.
People really focus on like the rice village, the montro's all the like downtown, but I
would say explore the suburbs because they truly have some amazing gems, like awesome
spots to hang out in.
And then it's you kind of avoid the crazy traffic of trying to get to like the montro's,
the heights, all those areas.
So that's my tip.
Yeah, there's tons of great restaurants out there and things to do.
And I hadn't get used to be like the suburbs are dead, but really they have a lot of the
same things that Houston has.
So yeah, I also agree with Dina.
I like it, Dina.
You and I are the suburb coalition of this podcast.
Okay.
Suburbs stand up.
We are part of Houston too.
Okay.
It's a small way to see.
All right.
We are part of Houston as well, even though we live like 40 minutes away.
Okay.
Exactly.
Well, I love this.
This was really awesome.
Good essential rules and tips to survive the city of Houston.
We have gotten everyone prepared now.
All right.
So you cannot complain about the city of Houston after you listen to this.
Ladies, thank you so much for doling out this advice to our listeners.
Yeah, it was fun.
Yeah, it was so much fun.
Thanks.
That was our lead producer, Dina Kespa, producer Carly on Jones and Brooke Lewis, the writer
of our awesome daily newsletter, Hey Houston, be sure to subscribe with the link in our
show notes before we go.
Shout out to all the Houston Swifties for speaking up and helping create a new law that
will outlaw bot usage to buy tickets online.
The movement started earlier this year when resellers used automated bots to buy up all
the Taylor Swift era's tour tickets, basically blocking out actual fans from purchasing them
on Ticketmaster.
The new law is supposed to make it easier for Texans to buy tickets to events they want
to attend.
But can we please do something about the ridiculous fees that these companies are charging to buy
tickets online?
I guess that's a conversation for another day.
That will do it for today.
Thank you so much for listening and I hope you learned something new.
Y'all, I'm not even joking.
Those parents who cut, I get so pissed.
And I usually don't get mad at anything.