The week leading up to this vacation turned out to be really hectic for both of us.  My schedule at work was packed, and DH had a work trip to North Carolina, leaving very early on Monday morning and not returning home until 10pm on Thursday night.  My heart was racing and I was seriously freaking out that he might have a flight delay and couldn’t get home that night, so as soon as I knew his plane took off from the east coast, I breathed a huge sigh of relief that we could officially go on vacation on Friday.  We packed our big checked suitcase last weekend, but DH needed to unpack from North Carolina and repack his carry on rolling bag and backpack.  We did this as fast as possible so we could get to sleep because our alarm clock was set to go off at 5:30am on Friday morning! 

Since DH was out of town for 4 days, we made sure to finish off our countdown candies before bedtime…

I don’t think it is possible for Friday morning to have gone any smoother than it went.  Maybe it was the excitement for the trip, or the nervousness about oversleeping, but I woke up at 5:24am, six minutes before my alarm went off.  We ate a quick breakfast, reset all the clocks in the house because daylight savings time would happen while we were away, loaded all our bags in the car, and pulled out of the driveway at exactly 6:30am to drive up to Oakland.  We were super lucky as there was no traffic on our 45 mile drive, despite driving during rush hour.  I prebooked an off-site parking lot near the Oakland airport, and the whole process was seamless when we arrived.  There were lots of spots to pick from, and the shuttle van was ready and waiting for us.  When we got to the airport, there were no lines to check our big suitcase, no lines at security, and we didn’t even need to take off our shoes!  We were sitting at our gate by 7:45am for our 10:20am flight… I’m not sure if I should consider that a win or a fail?  DH grumbled at me for making us wake up so early haha  How could I know that everything would work out that perfectly?! 

Our flight to New Orleans was uneventful.  We left on time and had a beautiful view of the San Francisco Bay as we took off.

To pass the time of the 4 hour flight, we watched movies on our tablets and snacked on Subway sandwiches.  We had clear skies for most of the flight, but as we approached Louisiana, the skies turned cloudy and we hit a bit of turbulence for the last part of the flight.  We couldn’t see much during our final descent into New Orleans until we finally dropped lower than the clouds and saw the vast swamp lands everywhere.  It seemed like the plane was going to land in a swamp!

Of course, that didn’t really happen, and a few seconds later, the plane safely touched down on firm land at MSY.  We got off the plane and quickly got downstairs to baggage claim, and then we waited… and waited… and waited some more.  It took over 30 minutes before the luggage from our flight finally came out, and that seemed like an unnecessarily long time considering MSY is not that big of an airport.  Our good luck from this morning was still with us because once the conveyor belt finally started to turn, our suitcase was the second bag to come out! 

We requested an Uber to pick us up, and after the usual chaotic and frantic search to find our driver, we loaded up our bags and were on our way.  The ride from the airport to our AirBNB took about 35 minutes with a little bit of Friday afternoon rush hour traffic.  When we pulled up to the address of our AirBNB, I was very impressed!  We were staying in a huge, beautiful Victorian house.

The house was located on Magazine Street, which is a hub of cute shops, boutiques, and restaurants.  There were several other vacation rentals in the house, and I think the owner of the house lives there too.  We had our own private entrance at the back of the house, but unfortunately, we had to climb 2 flights of stairs to reach our apartment.  It wasn’t such a big deal for most of our stay, but it was definitely a struggle to get our 48.5 pound suitcase up there.  It’s a good thing my husband is so strong and chivalrous, and he lugged all 3 bags up the stairs like a champ!  Our apartment looked just like the pictures I saw online, with a little kitchen area, a couch, and an ensuite bathroom.  My only complaint was that I thought we booked a room with a queen sized bed, and this was definitely just a full.  Fingers crossed that we will be so tired from the early wake up call this morning that we don’t even notice the small bed!

Once we got settled in our room, it was time to explore a bit of New Orleans!  There was a bus stop just a few steps from our house for Bus #11 which goes down Magazine Street to Canal Street, and from there, we could walk 3 blocks up to Bourbon Street.  The bus costs $1.25 per ride, and you must have the exact amount because the driver can’t give you change.  Instead of having a schedule listed at each bus stop, they have a sign with a code number that you can text to find out how many minutes until the next bus will arrive.  We took the bus several times over the weekend and always found this prediction to be accurate.  The bus was clean, and we appreciated that they announced the name of each upcoming stop in addition to displaying the name of that stop on a digital display at the front of the bus.  It is often confusing and frustrating to know when to get off the bus in a foreign city, especially after dark when you can’t read the street signs, so this bus system made things really easy for us.

It was now around 7pm on Friday night, so Bourbon Street was fairly crowded.  If you ask me, we were very lucky in the timing of our trip as Mardi Gras was 3 days prior to our arrival, and by now, most of the people who visited NOLA for the festivities had come and gone and things were much calmer here this weekend.  Had we taken our cruise one week earlier, it would have been packed with people everywhere, making it very hard to walk around the French Quarter.  As it was, tonight was a bit more crowded than I would prefer, but I understand that is just part of the “charm” of Bourbon Street!

We were very hungry as the last thing we ate was a Subway sandwich on the airplane at noon, so we wanted to find something quick and easy for dinner.  We didn’t want to go to a sit down restaurant as it would take a long time to get our food, and we wanted to maximize the time we spent out on the streets.  I had read some good reviews on Yelp about Crescent City Pizza Works, which served huge slices of specialty pizzas that you could order at the counter.

DH ordered the Buffalo Blues with buffalo chicken, blue cheese, green onions, mozzarella, and buffalo ranch sauce, and he said it was pretty good.  I ordered the BBQ Pork pizza, which came with pulled pork, cinnamon apples, mozzarella and provolone cheeses, and Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce. 

It is hard to tell from this photo, but the slice was HUGE!!!  The pies are extra large, and they cut them into 6 slices (instead of the usual 8 slices), so it was like a double slice.  If you look closely at this photo, you can see the white paper plate showing from behind the slice to give a little perspective… the slice overhangs the plate on both the front and the back, and is so wide that only a small portion of the plate shows from the sides.  Not only was it huge, it was also delicious!

After we finished eating, we walked around Bourbon Street in search of something to drink.  Everywhere we looked, we saw people carrying these green cups, and we figured out that they came from a place called Tropical Isle, where their specialty drink is the Hand Grenade.  They won’t tell you exactly what is in the drink, but it is sweet and tastes like melon, and it’s really strong!  They make it both on the rocks and blended, and they offer a regular or a skinny version with fewer calories.  The bar had lots of funky décor and a cover band playing live music.

We listened to the band for a few minutes, then took our drinks to go.  Part of the fun of New Orleans is that you can take your drinks out onto the street to walk around while you are drinking, so we wanted to take advantage of that!

Notice how you can see 3 people in the background of that photo who are also drinking Hand Grenades? Hehe

Nearly every bar had some kind of live music.  We were not allowed to enter with a drink from another bar, but we joined the other people standing just outside the open windows/doors to enjoy the music from the street.  There is a lot to see out on the streets too, with street performers and all sorts of crazy things.  Looks like Homer Simpson had a bit too much to drink…

This was from the back of one of the churches in the French Quarter.  I loved the spooky effect of how the light created a shadow of the statue on the wall.

After an hour or so, we were getting tired from a long day of travel.  At around 9pm, we left Bourbon Street, crossed Canal Street, and went to CVS to buy 2 bottles of wine for the cruise.  We then took the bus back to our AirBNB to call it a night.  By the way, I checked the cost of taking an Uber back to our hotel and it was over $20, so riding the bus for $1.25 per person was a real bargain!

Step Tracker Daily Total:  12,756 steps; 4.9 miles; 6 flights of stairs