New Orleans: Part One

First thing first, MY TRIP WAS AMAZING!!! Okay good, I got that out of my system. Honestly though, I had the best time in Nola. I was able to do everything I planned and even a bit more. Five days in total, but three full days was all I had in this beautiful city and I had to make them count. Here’s my day by day adventures in The Big Easy:

Day One: I woke up at 3am to pack and edit a post. Yes, my flight was booked from the end of August. Yes, I had some time beforehand to get my life together and I didn’t. I hate packing, I love travelling. Something’s gotta give right? My flight left Nassau at 12:29 pm, so I arrived 2 hours early. Check-in and security was a breeze, the line for customs was super long though. I stopped to Starbucks to get a mango smoothie and was laughing with two of my friends when I heard my last name being called on the intercom for final boarding. I literally sprinted to the gates thinking, how was my trip about to end before it even started? Thankfully, I made it and was on my way to North Carolina. The trip was pretty smooth and a little under 2 hours.

You may remember that I had a 5 hour layover in Charlotte. When I checked the itinerary, I discovered it was actually 5 hours and 45 minutes, which is basically 6 hours, so essentially 2 days. It went by pretty fast though, I had lunch and just chilled and before I knew it “Attention Boarding for New Orleans” was playing in my ears. I was so excited! After another smooth flight, di plane land.

Ya girl was in Nawlins’ Baby (finally, I literally had a travel day of 12 hours). Nothing much happened that night. My Lyft driver was awesome though, she had lights around the perimeter of the inside of the car, gum and maps available too. It was a 30 minute drive to the cutest Airbnb ever, I absolutely fell in love with the decor. I couldn’t wait to see this place in the day.

Day Two: Time to get this party started. Nola meet Derencia. Hi, hello. Three festivals were happening today and I had to attend ALL. First stop of the day was the Beignet Festival and I was longing for my first bite of this powdered sugared treat. The festival was in a huge park, booths were lined off on both sides. Food was on the right, so naturally I went in that direction. The crowd was enormous and lines were ridiculous and did I mention the heat? The sun was scorching, I was melting. “Girl Gone Vegan” caught my eye and I knew that I had to try a vegan beignet first. It was absolutely delicious. I also had chicken with pecan honey glazed beignets and a crawfish and cheese filled beignet. Everything was mind blowing good, I was sitting on the grass having a good ole festival time.

Gone Gone Vegan Beignet

Next on the agenda was to visit the historical neighbourhood of Treme and their festival. This place was New Orleans in its’ purest form. I was surrounded by food trucks, serving po’boys, jambalaya, chicken wings and Italian ice. Musicians singing and dancing to jazz in the streets. Bands playing a soulful mix of African beats and Creole culture, while watching stilt walkers dressed in bright colorful patterns perform. In this moment, I was unbelievably happy, smiling ear to ear.

Being in the sun, constantly on the move and eating everything, of course, had me tired. Oktoberfest was an all day & night festival so I decided to go home, relax for a bit then head back out on the town. Completely ready for whatever the city had in store for me. Oktoberfest was so much fun. Beers, sausages and group dancing by the cemetery. What else could I ask for? I belted out lyrics to the German version of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance and did the Chicken dance.

In one day, New Orleans took me to France and Germany. I couldn’t wait to experience the wonders of the next two days.