So some of you are probably shaking your head wondering what kind of mother I am letting my kids ride Segways, but I thought this would be a totally unique way to see and experience the city of Austin, and our Segway Tour did not disappoint. There are several outfits now, but when we went they only outfit operating was Segway Nation. This activity was another great example where anything goes in Texas since there was no height or weight restriction for the kids. They were fine with all 3 of my kids (ages 9, 10 and 12) getting on the Segway provided I signed a waiver and they could balance and move around, which all three of them did easy enough.
This was a super fun activity, but be forewarned as now there may be an age/weight restriction for the kids (some places won’t let you do it unless you are at least 16). Operating the Segway was pretty easy once you got the hang of it which honestly did not take any time at all. We all found it very easy to balance and move it forward and backward by tilting our bodies and shifting our weight.. Once we got the basics down, out the door we went for a two-hour city tour that was lots of fun. There were about 8 of us in the group following our tour guide.
We learned about the history and culture of Austin, which includes a very lively music scene. Our tour guide had a great sense of humor and had us chuckling the whole way. If you're wondering, not one of us ever fell off once (the other party in our group did have one casualty,the spill wasn't too bad as he got right back on). The finale of the journey was a ride up and down the hill around the capitol building where we could pick up some speed and really zip around. I will warn you, the next day all our shins ached because we had used tiny little muscles we didn't realize we had. If you get to Austin and you are feeling brave, give it a whirl, if me and my three munchkins could do it, then you probably can too.
