NOLA: Day 1

Just touched down in Nola. One city I’ve always wanted to visit for its food and culture. Well, I made that happen. I booked a 5 day solo adventure of exploration and insight. The last time I wanted to take a solo trip it was ruined by unwanted company. Not this time. THIS TIME it was just me, space, and opportunity.

fast forward to landing and Ubering. Ubering from the airport to my hostel was roughly 30 minutes with a $36 charge. The Uber driver was a phenomenal conversationalist who gave me great tips on traveling in Nola. The big one you should know if it’s your first time visiting, never walk anywhere alone, never tell anyone you’re alone. If you can, find a group of people to chill with.

I checked into my hostel and I kid you not, I was just standing by the door when I saw this shaggy white guy walking with stuff in his hands and stopped to offer a blk guy (vagrant) a soda but then something surprised him so he stormed off. The shaggy guy came in the hostel, dropped off his things to his unit then returned downstairs to call the police because he had been robbed. It was bizarre lol. Not only that but while I was in the lobby trying to figure out the trolley (RTA) system, the lobby host kept pulling the door closed because she didn’t want other vagrants wandering in. There seems to be a homeless/bum problem in the area. It’s wild.

On airbnb I had originally planned to do a bar hop tour. It wasn’t so much the bar hop but to see Frenchman street and live music. Bar hopping is not my cup of tea and I thought $50 was a lot plus the travel was 30 minutes out the way. I ended up not going. Instead I met a group of lovely people outside the hostel who were taking a walking tour (y’all know I love to walk) and let me tell you, it was the best thing I could have done.

Mrs. Krueger was so wonderfully knowledgeable and just a genuine sweetheart. We were accompanied by two gentlemen, one from the UK, another man named Ray visiting on business who worked off shore doing pipelines, a woman (I forget her name) who really was our lead in the walk, and of course, myself, the quiet one. We walked on magazine street, talked of housing, visited the community park, saw some doggos, a woman bronzed and posing as a football statue, stopped for coffee at PJs coffee shop,, visited an antique store and ended up at Ghost Manor. It was a Halloween decorated house with smoke, spiders, pumpkins, moveable skeletons (sadly the skeletons were dead. Pun intended lol) but overall, I enjoyed myself.

I decided after the walk, when we all returned to the hostel, to retire to bed. This was around 8pm. When I got to my room I had finally met my roommates. A woman named Siobhan (Idaho) and her boyfriend Connor (Kentucky). They were lovely and talked about going to dinner then coming back to freshen up before going clubbing. Needless to stay, I stayed my blk ahh inside. It was already late and I’m not trying to be out there with the homeless and drunk lol. I stayed in, opened my iPad and watched a few movies before shutting my eyes. After they left, and before I dozed off, the last roommate appeared. He didn’t speak much. Just came in, took a shower, and went right back out the door. After that I was out.