CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — With elevated inflation and cost of living continuing to rise, some families may be wondering if they should forgo that international vacation this year... but not so fast!
Texas is home to its own London, Paris, Stockholm and Edinburgh, just to name a few. However, a road trip between London, Texas, and Paris, Texas, will take you longer than it would to get to London, England, from Paris, France, by car. Texas is just that big. You could easily fit ten European countries within the borders of Texas, according to TexasView.org.
A TikTok user recently pointed out the distance between London, Texas and Paris, Texas is 363 miles. Mileage between the two European cities is just 295 miles.
It still may be worth it if you have the time, though!
In the summer of 2021, our sister station KHOU spoke with Andrew Levitt and his friends, who had big plans to backpack through Europe.
"That was all canceled once the pandemic hit," says Levitt.
He thought his European to-do list would have to wait.
"Then we realized Texas had a bunch of places and they actually had, like, an Eiffel Tower and Stonehenge and all these things you’d do in Europe," Levitt says. "So what if we just took our Europe trip there instead?"
In between cities like Paris, London, Edinburgh and Holland, you can hike the Texas equivalent of the Alps, visit Stonehenge or even tour a medieval castle.
"Our expectations were pretty low for that and what Newman['s Castle] gave us was pretty great," says Levitt, "so if you’re ever interested in anything like that, I would recommend that to everyone visiting."
Actually, he recommends the whole trip, even if you’re a native Texan.
"I find when you live in a state, you don’t usually do some of the touristy things or visit a lot of the state," Levitt says. "We got every taste of Texas I think you could get."
You can read more about their experience here.
KHOU11 contributed to this report.