Guide to See New Orleans (Nawlins) in 3 days
Good old New Orleans or the Big Easy as many call it, it was fun to visit for a short period. My entire life, everyone raves about Nawlins, including my co-workers who were so excited for me to go there.
Well, this girl is not made for Nawlins by far. The city is too crazy, crowded, and hot for me to handle, but we did have a blast for the few days we were there.
Here is the summary of our trip and hopefully this helps you when you go visit Nawlins too. Just a forewarning, most people will take 4-5 days to finish our itinerary, but we are on the go from early in the morning until 1 or 2 AM before getting back to the hotel.
She is one of the few people who can travel like this with me. I am very lucky to have a best friend who gets along with me so well. She is such a great friend to me, travel buddy, support system, and she’s just fun. We always make trouble everywhere we go, I wanted to get us matching shirts that says Trouble 1 & 2, but she said no.
Memorable Moments:
- Free kisses? Ew. We were taking this picture right here and a random man came up and kissed me. Yes, this happened. I was shocked, my twin was shocked, and I’m sure the guy taking the picture was too.
- People never let me take my selfies in peace! That’s all I wanted was to take selfies and men would jump into them and there was a few times, they followed me and Lisa down the street. I hate photobombers!
- Dressing up as a tomato. We saw, they asked, we said yes. When else do you get an opportunity to dress up like one? But people do start to think you are the festival mascot.
- Our first fight. In our 5 years of friendship, Lisa and I have never had a fight until now. Our fight involved pictures. It wasn’t over money, men, love, not being a good friend; it was over a damn picture. We were on the swamp tour and holding the baby alligator. I looked at my pictures and they were dark and the angle was not good. I took really good pictures of Lisa and literally I got really upset and I said look how good of pictures I took for you. I want to redo them. After she took more pictures, I said, I’m sorry and we were done. Yes, our first fight lasted 5 minutes and it was over unflattering pictures.
- Catching beads without flashing. We did see women who flashed their breasts for beads, but that is not us. We just looked up and one flew into Lisa’s hand.
- Being the time-keeper. During this trip because we had so many things planned, it was pretty crucial to keep on time. I plan everything in an Excel sheet to give us time. Lisa was very impressed with my planning time, but even at times, when I buffered “Lisa Selfie & Distraction time,” I still had to tell her to hurry up or we can’t spend more time biking because we have to get to another spot and this is bad because I am not very prompt in general.
- Giving Lisa pieces of me. I brought Lisa a few purses, sunglasses, a scarf, and also she wore my shirt home, so she’ll always have me with her.
DAY 1
Streets to visit: Each one has its own unique feel, make sure to hit these streets though:
- Bourbon Street
- Canal Street
- Lafayette Square
- Magazine Street
- Royal Street
Places to eat and see:
- Jackson Square– You have to take a picture in front of the church.
- Riverfront Shopping– I thought the river would be nicer. The mall was nice, but the Riverwalk was disappointing.
- Superdome- I walked over here, it is really far and apparently I was told it’s not a safe area either. Oh well, I’m alive.
- Haunted Walking Tour– I did this through the Capital Trolley Tours. I had originally booked a trolley tour, but it broke down and since we were on such a time crunch, I could not reschedule it anymore. I told Jeremy (The tour guide) that there isn’t any other time. He offered me a full refund, a free tour that evening, and he pulled out a map and wrote up every cool place I should visit and places I should eat for the next few hours. I would say he took care of his customer, plus he gave me a coupon to Oceana. The tour itself was very cool. It’s not scary and you know I’m a chicken, it’s very interesting and the tour guide was hilarious. Just make sure you have walking shoes and money for a tip.
- Oceana Grill– I tried a po boy for the first time and I am going to be honest, I am not a fan. Everyone loves this, but I am not really a fan of bread or fried things, so I did not really like it, but I could not go there without saying I didn’t try it. I did have the seafood gumbo and it is delicious. Here is the menu.
- Desire Oyster Grill– This was really crowded, but the food was good. I had turtle soup, which was very interesting. It was good, but different. Here is the menu– I would recommend the food here.
- Café Du Monde– This is an absolute must. The beignets were really good. They were served hot and I had mine with coffee. I can see why people love this place because it’s good, fast, and it’s very cheap. You have to make sure to bring cash and also, if you have a chance, get the hat! I asked for it and she brought us two for pictures, so I felt very special, but then I think another group of Asians saw because they got hats too. I felt hurt, we were not special anymore. A lot of people don’t know, but this place stays open 24 hours a day, so when we went at Midnight, no one was there. Here is the location.
- Fire truck picture opportunity– I was walking past a fire truck and it’s always been a dream of mine to get on one, so I asked the fireman and he told us we can do whatever we want to the fire truck. I laughed and said just a few pictures please.
DAY 2
- PJ’s Coffee– This is the Starbucks of the South. I only saw Starbucks randomly once. In the morning, we had a $10 coupon to PJ’s and I went there, but it wasn’t that good and it was expensive. For a little sausage sandwich, it was $5. I cheated on Starbucks and it wasn’t even that good. I feel cheap.
- City Park– This was one of my favorite activities. The park is really nice; it’s actually larger than central park. We rented deuce bikes and had a blast on them. Lisa and I got lost a few times, but the easiest way to get here is through the art museum parking lot. We rented the bikes from wheel fun rentals. 1 hour was enough for us, but 1 ½ would have been perfect. I got this for half off from Groupon, but it’s about $20 per hour without a discount.
- French Market– This entire area is a flea market filled with lots of homemade gifts and food. The market was a very cute area.
- Creole Tomato Festival– Well…So I never thought there would be a whole festival about tomatoes, but you never know.
- French Market Street– This is supposed to be an area that is like a classier version of Bourbon. It has a lot of shops and jazz. Honestly, this area made me nervous even in the daytime.
- Crazy Lobster– I loved this place. They had a good view of the river and the food was quick and I loved my shrimp. It’s pricier, but you pay for the view and the life-size lobster statue, so make sure you find a Groupon. Here is the menu.
- Old US Mint
- Miss USA Pageant– This was such a cool experience to be in the audience. It was my first pageant and I guessed the winner! I loved this experience, thanks Twinnie for inviting me! Also my Twin is the best, I did not want her to pay for my ticket, but she insisted. I have to say, me and her are really good to each other.
Day 3
- Cajun Pride Swamp Tour– This is highly recommended. A lot of people will do the airboat tour as well, which I would like to do the next time, but this tour was fun too. The captain fed the gators and we got to hold a baby gator. Make sure to bring sunglasses, water, and cash for tip. The tour is about 2 hours long. Here is the link for the tickets. They are selling them on Groupon too.
- Margaritaville- Avoid this place if you can, the food was not that good and the service is pretty bad. We went here because we were in the area and my Twin is pretty picky about eating. Food is pretty much the only thing we differ about, otherwise we really are twins. I like to try new things; she is more particular, so she wanted Caesar Salad.
- Southern Candy Makers– One of my favorite little shops. This place sells pralines and homemade ice cream. We went here on Sunday and got the pecan ice cream. I came back on Monday, right before we left. The guy remembered me and said welcome back. I told him I was surprised that he remembered me, but I said do you remember my name. He struggled and I said, I guess I don’t mean that much to you if you don’t remember it. But shhh…I never told him my name haha. He chatted with us and we mentioned we will be back in October and we will test him to see if he remembers us. I got the walnut ice cream, both are delicious and if you are sweet enough, he’ll give you 2 scoops for the price of one. I was sending a post card to Shari and Cepand and needed a stamp. I asked him where to get one; this nice lady pulled a pack out and gave it to me! It was so nice! Here is the link to the shop.
Transportation: We had to rent a car because we drove to Baton Rouge. Driving there isn’t bad, but parking is extremely expensive. If you want to explore, I would recommend renting right in the city for the day that you need it. We rented from Budget located on 1317 Canal Street. It was very quick and easy to get a rental and out of the city. It’s a little bit more expensive than renting from the airport, but you save on parking. Also we had it for a day and a half; the lady said she would only charge me for a day.
Hotel: We stayed at the Royal Sonesta. I loved this hotel. All the workers were extremely nice. We got this through Living Social. It was an amazing deal; they even threw in free champagne for us. Since it was free, we did not want to waste it, we got the bottle just so we could take this awesome picture and we had a few sips and I passed out. This was the only sip of alcohol we had in the Big Easy.
Goodbye Nawlins, you’ve been good to us, but it’s time to bounce! Love you Twin and can’t wait for our next adventure.
But here are some pictures to remember you by!