Life on the Reis

Travel Dates: February 11 – February 17

“There’s certain things in life that I love. One is architecture. And music, culture, food, people. New Orleans has all of that.”

– Lenny Kravitz

Hi there 👋 It’s been a while* and about time that we chat about our week-long trip in New Orleans aka NOLA

Want to know if NOLA is a good fit for your next trip? Here’s our quick breakdown:

• 🌡️ Weather: Hot & humid, even in Feb; cooler evenings were very nice
• 💜 People: Everyone we met was truly a joy; true southern hospitality
• 🥾 Outdoors: Close to the biggest swamp in the US, take an airboat ride
• 📜 History: Extensive, esp for US history; colonized by France/Spain
• 🚂 Transportation: Public tram, cheap ride shares, fairly easy parking
• 🎭 Entertainment: Live music, party districts, many annual festivals
• 🍽️ Food: Seafood, Southern Comfort, Soul Food
• 🏛️ Architecture: Old, unique, really beautiful, French/Spanish influence
• 📆 # of Days Needed: Give yourself at least 2 full days to explore

---

Life in the Big Easy 🎷💜💛💚⚜️

We stayed in NOLA from February 11 til the 17th and during that time, we got a hefty dose of live music, delicious food and good ol’ southern hospitality. We timed our trip to be in town for Fat Tuesday, the official end of Mardi Gras and while we made this first big stop a “work-cation,” we still had the opportunity to get out to see and explore so much of the city.

Our AirBNB was located in Mid-City which is out of the hustle and bustle of downtown, but no more than 10-15 minutes of travel to hotspot destinations like the Garden District or Bourbon Street. The unit was a studio apartment, a perfect size for the three of us. The neighborhood’s streets were lined with buildings that looked just like ours and we learned that the building style is known as a “double shotgun” which is described as, “a semi-detached configuration, consisting of two houses sharing a central wall, allowing more houses to be fit into an area.”

The house was over 100 years old and while charming, it had the insulation of a backyard shed. You could literally see the light coming up from beneath the floorboards… This made it difficult to keep cool air in and the loud noise from outside, out. On the first night at around 2AM, a very intense thunderstorm passed through and at one point, lightning struck so close to the house that it sounded like a building exploded. Later that morning, construction workers arrived to begin work on repaving the street – a rude awakening to say the least. Was definitely our noisiest AirBNB yet, but we made the best of it! Check out Jill’s sweet WFH setup.

I think we could both agree that the location was quite good. It was really nice to walk around in the neighborhood and just look at the old houses. They all have front porches and are often painted in many different colors – most were also decorated for Mardi Gras. We were also only a 10 minute walk to the city tram and on the way, we passed streets lined with old live oak trees (Jill’s favorite!) We would consider staying in this area again as it was affordable and accessible, but would definitely consider getting a different AirBNB.

Upon arrival, we didn’t hesitate to get out to explore the city. After driving 6 hours from Alabama to NOLA, we unpacked, then made our way into downtown to explore Bourbon Street. Since it was the last weekend of Mardi Gras, it was a whole different level of chaos. There were thousands of people walking the street, pouring out of bars or throwing beads from overhead. At each intersection, we were met with a congregation from a church (some from as far as Missouri) and got a taste of just about every different flavor of christianity in the US. For context: the scale was from “you’re a sinner and are going to burn in hell” to “free hugs, Jesus loves you just the way you are.” Regardless, every bit of the chaos made for one heck of an experience. Not exactly our pace of things these days, but definitely a sight to see and memories we won’t forget.

During our stay, we explored the French Quarter and Garden District, attended Mardi Gras parades, saw live music, and ate tons of great food in the area. Some highlights include [enter restaurants]

See you in our next update!

Bean, Bram & Murph Dog