Hi there.
Having just documented two of my most recent trips, i thought this abandoned "blog" would be a good place to keep record of other trips, long since over, that I had documented via email in the past. Those emails and the photos that went with them are getting lost. So, I thought I'd try to find them and re-create them here where they will hopefully be better preserved.
The trip to New Orleans happened in April 2015, for my 50th birthday. It's kind of a blur, so what I thought I would do is break it down into sections. I can't remember the day-to-day,minute-by-minute details, but I CAN tell you about what happened on the swamp tour or, for a more prolonged example, the saga of life in our hotel, etc. There were good things and "bad" things, but the "bad" things just made it more quirky, more unique. I laugh about them now--and I laughed about them then (whereas most people would be upset or indignant...I just thought instead of being otherwise non-interesting, they added to the trip as a whole.
Anyway. I don't know where to start really. I guess I'll just replay trip over in my head and then break it up once we get there.
We got to the airport with 45 minutes to spare...which was barely enough time because the line at the ticket counter was huge. In fact, we would have missed our plane had it not been DELAYED! UGH!
At security, I removed my shoes and put all metal objects into the trays, etc just as i was supposed to do--or so I thought. There's nothing metal in my wallet, so I left it in my back pocket. That, apparently was a no-no. I had to have a pat down on my butt and a gloved hand removed my wallet from my back pocket (cheap thrill--Ooo!). Then I had to go stand with my hands against the wall in the peek-a-boo x-ray bubble thing (the one that basically shows you naked. EEK! I'm so sorry to whoever had to see... Ha!). Once cleared, we went back further into the terminal.
Since we had a while to wait, we decided to have cocktails and lunch.
The bill was $99. CRAP! I had paid for the flight and hotel room, but was seriously wondering HOW I was going to pay for the actual trip. I was broke. I had a few hundred with me, and my mom had given me a whopping $500 as a birthday present ($100 for each decade)--which helped me out immeasurably. So I had about $800 and was counting on about $100 per day...and blamm-O! With that lunch, there went the entire next day's allowance. EEK! But, what could I do---just go forth and enjoy myself, even if we spent the rest of the trip eating off of the value menu somewhere.
I hate flaying and asked my doctor for something to help with the experience. He ordered me Ativan. I took it with my cocktail before the flight and kept waiting for it to kick in. IT NEVER DID! When we arrived in Dallas, I took another for the jaunt to New Orleans--it didn't help. OH MY GOD! Awful awful AWFUL!!! The whole trip I was clinging to the seat ahead of me for dear life.
We got into New Orleans fairly late and took a hotel van service in to town. We had to wait for it to fill up before it would leave and we regret NOT taking a cab after all. Oh well.
Once in our hotel, even though it was late the flights had been long (and TERRIFYING!!!), I wanted to go out for just a bit and see Bourbon Street at least... since out hotel was only two blocks away.
We crossed Canal Street and found Bourbon and headed down. It was a Tuesday night, but it was jam-packed with people, mostly college age. And it was disappointing. It was nothing but college crowd bars and strip clubs. I didn't like it.
We kept walking down it though and eventually came upon the Clover Grill, a tiny hamburger joint that is open 24/7 and that we had heard about. We ventured inside for a late night snack and it was kind of cool in a dumpy burger dive kind of way. I have heard that there is a line out the door most of the time, but at that hour we found a table (one of only 4 or so---the rest of the seats are at the counter).
That was the first day. But our adventures really started after that. And I will save those for the next installment. What would we do for my birthday? Where would we go for touristy fun and adventure? What would we drink? And HOW WOULD I PAY FOR IT ALL!?! Stay tuned for the next fun and photo-filled adventure.
CHEERS!
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