My husband’s first time in New Orleans!
Let me start this by saying that New Orleans is one of my favorite places ever. It instantly makes me happy when I touch down — especially now that the airport is completely renovated and it’s just gorgeous. My husband is an incredible jazz musician who has never been to the city of jazz, as I call it, so I had to finally change that. Every time I go, he’s busy and can’t join me. As someone who is always tracking down flights, I looked up how much it would be to fly there after essence fest was over and to my surprise, it was so cheap!
We left Orlando at 8am on a Tuesday and came back Wednesday at 6pm; for the 3 of us, it only cost $189 roundtrip. For context, we had just closed on our house and weren’t looking to spend too much on this trip. We flew frontier [my rule is 2.5 hour flight or less and this was 1.5 hours] and didn’t pack anything big. Checking in strollers and car seats is completely free and we just each had a backpack, which counted as personal items.
I looked up hotels that are within walking distance of everything and found a pretty decent hotel — Fairfield New Orleans Downtown/French Quarter Area — for only $118 [one night]. We had points for the flights, so this is really all we paid for. Customer service wasn’t that great and we had to request new towels a few times because they kept coming back dirty… we weren’t thrilled about that at all. I’m definitely glad it was just one night! But, honestly, that was the only complaint we had. Everything else was pretty much fine!
As soon as we got into our hotel room, we started hearing crazy thunder sounds so we knew what was coming. Luckily, my husband and son were pretty tired since we were up at 5:30am — so while I worked, they napped! Once I was done working, we changed and started walking through town. The first spot on our list was food because we were beyond starving! We did order breakfast from Ruby Slipper Cafe on door dash since it was storming, but it wasn’t great. I will say that I’ve eaten there before and the food was great, so I’m thinking it had to do with it not being as fresh. My favorite dish is red beans and rice and I always start my trip with it! We found a great place with some delicious looking food on Yelp called Olde Nola Cookery on Bourbon St. and it was amazing! I had the red beans and rice and my husband had the cajun jambalaya pasta! We ordered the kids chicken fingers and fries for Micah and omg… he got so much food! We expected a typical kids size, but it was so much food. It was great!
After we ate, we were ready to walk it off. Since it was my hubby’s first time there, I told him he needed to try a hand grenade… those days are over for me, even if I weren’t pregnant. We ran into several people performing in the street and it was just amazing. Nothing like raw talent all around you! I love listening to live music on every corner. We eventually make it to Tropical Isle for his drink and I waited outside since we had our son. He drank it a little bit faster than I’ve ever been able to, so I feel like my *warnings* that it’s a super strong drink were idle lol.
Seeing him enjoy that drink made me want a little treat for myself. I’ll back it up a little bit: I did get beignets, but it was right as we touched down at the airport. I was so hungry and it was still morning, so I needed something that made sense. So, fried dough with powdered sugar was my choice lol. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures because we were trying to get out of there and get to our hotel, but it was great!
A quick recommendation: if you want delicious beignets, visit Cafe Beignet! They really do have the best beignets and I prefer them over Cafe du Monde. Back to my treat! We found a Kilwins not too far from where we were and decided to pop in for some ice cream. I’ve been craving cake batter ice cream and it’s all I get at ice cream shops! I walked over to stand in line and the smell of waffle cones being made immediately turned my stomach. I usually love this smell, but I never know what I can tolerate with this picky baby I’m housing in my body. So, my husband ended up ordering my ice cream as I stood by the front door trying to breathe fresh air lol. I wanted to take a cute picture because the store was adorable, but I couldn’t stay in there any longer.
After getting some ice cream, we walked around to see more of the city. I love strolling through Jackson Square and every time I visit, I buy art from local artists. Sadly, because of the rain, no one was out their selling art. I still have pieces at home from trips to NOLA like 6 years ago! This is where you can see the St. Louis Cathedral and a beautiful park around the Andrew Jackson statue with plenty of places to sit or take pictures.
Right outside of the park was some sweet horses and we just had to stop and pet them! We learned that this horse was half donkey, which is why his ears looked that way. He was super sweet and very friendly! Micah was a bit hesitant to touch him at first, but we could tell he was happy he did!
We ended our day by walking over to the Woldenberg Riverfront Park and it was so nice! The breeze was definitely needed because it was very hot! Micah wanted to see the water, so while I took a break from all of the walking we did that day, dada took him over there to see water and ships. After a little while of sightseeing, mama needed a hot shower, pizza, and to just chill until bed time. I remember when I had to be out all day on trips to see as much as possible — that feeling of FOMO was real! I only felt it when I was out of town, never in my own city. I don’t know if it’s the pregnancy, but I no longer travel that way. There’s nothing fun about getting back from vacation and needing a vacation because you’re so exhausted. I’m all for exploring, but I’m no longer pushing myself beyond what my body is comfortable with.
Day two was pretty easy since we only had about 2-3 hours of exploring before we had to head back to the airport. We checked out of our hotel room and left our items with the front desk while we hung out for a bit. Our first stop was food because… duh. We stopped by Cafe Beignet and while I wanted beignets, my stomach said no lol. I ordered a delicious croissant sandwich and it was everything I needed at that moment.
We finished eating and walked about 10 minutes to French Quarter for some window shopping. My husband caught a few candids of me, which I love! He did so good lol. He caught me taking pictures of cacti, which I’m currently obsessed with. My son had a blast with the revolving doors at the entrance to the mall, so that alone was a little stop for us!
After browsing through the mall, we realized it was about to start raining so we made our way back to the hotel to gather our things. Micah, of course, wanted a little snack when he spotted the mini shop in the lobby so we all got snacks lol. This was pretty much the end of our trip! We grabbed a lyft to the airport just in time to change, grab some yummy Shake Shack, and board the plane.
Having just closed on our brand new home a few days prior, we were beyond ready to get back to our house and our own bed! Micah was also pretty excited to go back to “the new house” as he calls it lol. We probably won’t be traveling again until after baby girl is here, but this was a great way to spend some fun, quality time as a family of 3 before we become a family of 4! I hope you enjoyed!
