I've been having dreams about the restaurant. Unsettling dreams, not nightmares exactly, but bizarre and with a Twilight Zone twist of uneasiness. If I go into detail, this post will be pages long and that's not my intention. I know I need to get away from everything around me for a while to recharge and regroup. At least, that's the plan. (Click the image to embiggen the map of NOLA.)
I think I've mentioned this way too often, but I've forgotten how to travel - it's been a long time.
I've decided to plan my New Orleans holiday trip using American Express Travel Services. Hotel and Flight packages are quite good in September, so that's really good news. However, adding a car rental to the mix makes it more expensive. Way. Too. Expensive!
So, I've been looking into hotels in, or near, the French Quarter. There are airport shuttles that service most of the downtown hotels, and that's a real plus. I'm thinking of chucking the car rental idea, stay in the quarter and take a taxi to see the sister, wherever she wants to meet. That, believe it or not, is the best and least expensive option. Hotel parking fees and expensive - whether in the Quarter or in Metairie where the sister lives - a minimum of $35. per day. Ouch! I may rent a car for a day just to visit my old neighborhood to view the changes and destruction, visit the old restored airport and lakefront where I grew up. A closure of sorts, I suppose.
Friends who no longer live in NOLA will be visiting around the 20th of September, so I am planning the trip from 9/17 to 9/24 to get to see as many friends as possible. You know, catch-up on life as we chow down on all the good foods unavailable to us outside of NOLA.
I've narrowed the list of hotels by convenience, amenities, and price, as well as customer ratings and reviews. Here's the latest list:
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| The Bourbon Orleans |
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| The Dauphine Orleans |
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| The Hotel Mazarin (my favourite of the lot). |
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| The Prince Conti, good reviews and the least costly of the lot. |
The summer season is officially at the half-way point. Hard to believe.
And so it goes.
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when todd and I went to NOLA in 2002, we stayed at the bourbon orleans. it was nice. unfortunately, our room was across from the 2 gay bars on bourbon street and the boomboomboom music went on til 4A! get a room away from the boomboomboom. this hotel used to be a convent (ooooh!).
ReplyDeletenote - I am not bashing the bars but dammit I need my beauty sleep!
for our honeymoon in 1992, we stayed at place d'armes. nice and quiet.
and you REALLY don't need a car. we have never rented a car, we walk or travel by taxi. and we take the train (amtrak) instead of fly.