Do you wonder what its like to stroll the streets of the iconic French Quarter in New Orleans? Well I did just that for a trip last month. It was the weirdest mix of emotions. I like many others was excited to get back to my monthly trips. Maybe discover something new in this wonderful world. Like many others the amount of travel that I did last year in 2020 was a drop in the bucket compared to 2019. I was in London and Paris TWICE, I fell in love with Paris that year.
The food options!
There still are many of the things that make New Orleans a special place to visit. Don’t be surprised to find your favorite places closed forever or some still not open yet. Coop’s Place off Decatur was one of those places for me. I sure do miss them! My friend said she ordered a cookbook from them recently and I thought that was a great way to support a local business.
I did eat at my favorite breakfast place twice while I was there. Envie Cafe is amazing! I have been visiting their location off Decatur for years and was excited so see that they have expanded with a 2nd location! Also something that was shocking was the lack of line a Cafe Du Monde, in less than 5 mins we ordered our powdered sugar covered creations and had a table to enjoy them! In all my trips to New Orleans this was my FIRST time eating a beignets from Cafe Du Monde. The line has always been so long and I never wanted to wait for hours.
The music in the air is what can truly relax you. 
Its one of my favorite things about New Orleans, at almost anytime of day you can hear the boys beating on the bucket drums, a mish-mash of a marching band or just a single man playing sweet tunes on a saxophone. I spent some time sitting on the steps in front of the St. Louis Cathedral listening to the wonderful musicians. When talking to some of the local shop owners you could see they too were happy to have people visiting the French Quarter again. My goal is to go back there again in October with my friends for Halloween. We have our hotel already booked, this time were going back to one of our historic favorites Place dArmes Hotel.
How do the points add up?
This trip I stayed at the Hyatt Centric right off Bourbon and Canal St. I used my Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book 4 nights in a King room with a Bourbon St Balcony. Usually I would transfer them to Hyatt and book directly with the hotel but for some reason it was less points to book it with the balcony via the Chase portal. My tip …. always compare and make sure you are getting the better deal. I also flew out there on points with Delta. I booked a round trip ticket for 16,000 Skymiles and a $11.20 fee that was credited back to me by using the travel credit with my American Express Platinum.
At the airport in Seattle I sipped beverages and snacked on gourmet food in the American Express Centurion Lounge at SEA. I purposely booked a longer layover at LAX so I could leave security and go to In N Out for lunch! Yes I timed it! With TSA Pre-Check from the park in front of In N Out to inside security it was 30 mins on the nose. I got some sun and one of my favorite burgers too!
Overall
If you are thinking about booking a trip to New Orleans I would highly recommend it. The biggest drawback we saw were the high prices for a taxi for Uber/Lyft to and from the airport. The taxi driver over charged us and it was my fault for not checking. But $45 for 2 people when the city is obviously not packed was a bit of a shock. I guess it was supposed to be a flat fee of $35 for 2 people. He gave himself a nice little tip, one problem, my husband tipped him in cash. So he got $20 out of us total. We took an Uber back to the airport with a much better rate of $31 for 2 people.
This pandemic also known as the Corona Virus, COVID – 19 or to some just the Rona now is still full steam ahead. In the past few days they have released a vaccine but most have yet to receive it. Above is me making a quick stop at the Crowne Plaza in Seattle to park my car before flying to Chicago in December 2020.
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