Where the drinkin’ is easy

I’m finally able to finish writing about my New Orleans trip!

So as noted in the previous article (Tell me more, tell me more…should i rent a car) I bought my airline ticket and booked an airbnb room near Bourbon Street. $385

Our flight was scheduled to leave Seattle at 11:00 pm, so we got to the park and ride near the airport at around 8:00 pm to drop off the car and take the shuttle the rest of the way to the airport. $56

We took the drone with us, so we took the smaller suitcase, and my Marine Corp bag (representin’ my kiddo of course). This trip goes down in the record books for the least amount of items packed! Yeah me! Except when we checked in at the airport they said that we had one too many bags…dammit Jim. We had to check the drone. $40

We got to the airport fairly early, so with time to kill and the vacation to start, beer was in order…lots of beer. I don’t take knock out medication anymore to fly, but a little liquid courage helps! And I of course had some vodka on the flight as well. $30

We flew all night…and just as the sun was coming up on the east coast our plane landed in New Orleans! It was cold and raining…not good since I only packed summer clothes. Once we landed, I downloaded the public transportation app for the bus system. $9

One thing about the bus system…we would have had to wait an hour and a half to catch the bus from the airport to a stop right near the airbnb we rented. So I got my Uber app out. $40

We arrived at our studio room airbnb. It was an amazing neighborhood. It looked just like I pictured New Orleans neighborhoods to look like! It definitely put a smile on my face. We placed all our luggage into our room, and then headed out for some food. I used the bus app to find the quickest route to Bourbon Street! $0

Finally we made it to Bourbon Street!! It was pouring down rain and about 45 degrees…brrrrrrr. It was damn cold. First order of business was to get some food in our belly’s before we started drinking. It was our first day there and we didn’t want to peak too early. We found a place to eat that had some vegetarian food for me (aka salad and cheese bread), and beer. Food was ok, beer tasted really good. $20

After lunch we headed out onto the street. There was a lot of construction which in turn meant lots of sidewalks closed.

Most everyone had umbrellas and rain poncho’s, can you believe that? Us peeps in the northwest only use umbrellas for sunshine…woosies. Then we did what any tourist would do…begun drinking the drink called Hurricane (double shot). $14

After the first drink went down so well and the rain was joined by a pretty nasty wind, we walked into a bar with a live band. It was 2:00 pm and I was feeling pretty good. This bar had lots of drink specials. Like two whiskey shots for $8.25, two cans of beer for $3, large double shot hurricane’s for $14. Also, there was a large bucket where you could tip the band to make song requests. Let’s just say I showed up in that bar with $100 cash and left with $0. $100

We left the bar around 6:30 pm and walked the 1.3 miles to our airbnb in the rain, wind and darkness. Had to use my mapping app to find the place. Slept like the dead that night. $0

Day two:
Woke up not too early, but I wasn’t tired or hung over. Maybe because I slept more then twelve hours straight! And I was so hungry. So we got up, showered, got warm clothes on and went out to find a breakfast place. The weather was cold but sunny. A brisk 35 degrees. So damn cold. I found a quaint little place to eat that was close by called Toast. $12

After breakfast we caught the bus again and accidentally went the wrong way to Bourbon Street…oops. Luckily it wasn’t night time and luckily there are good hearted people who helped me figure out the app. $0

Once we made it to Bourbon Street we decided to take the trolly down to the Mississippi River (did you sing the name of the river? I did when I wrote it).

We were also so cold we decided to get a bottle of Brandy at the convenience store, and add it to our Starbucks hot chocolate. Yum, so good! We bought tickets for the paddle boat across the Mississippi (sang it again), it was very cool! The river was not as wide as I had thought it would be. And what was cool was that I bought my ticket through the bus app! $5

Once across the Mississippi we caught a bus back to an amazing Vegetarian Restaurant. Yum! Then over to the River Walk. It was a gorgeous but cold day. I felt like I had walked 20 miles that day, but it was all worth it! Such a beautiful part of the city. $15

Next came a flurry of bars! Most of the bars had 2 for 1 beers for $3. There were bars that had candle light and deer heads hanging on the walls, bars with kareoke (I mean scare-ee-okee), bars with bands (rock, jazz and everything in between) and bars that only contained a bar to sit at. There was not many people out when we were there, but it was perfect for me! I could not imagine how crazy it is when the streets are full! A lot of street musicians were out too. We even ran into some people from our hometown! $40

Our flight left at 5:30 am the next day, so after we downed our last beers we walked back to the airbnb to pack, nap and then head the airport. Because we had to be at the airport around 3:00 am we had to Uber it again. And it was way more expensive then when we arrived. $56

I spent less then $1,000 ($822 to be exact) on my trip to New Orleans. Not too bad! I’m sure you could spend more or spend less then I did. It turned out that I did NOT need a rental car. I’m so glad that I didn’t rent one. Especially since I drank the full two days there, and the bus took me where ever I wanted to go…well, except the airport.

I plan on going back there someday and spending a little more time exploring more of the city.

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