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"Travel makes you remember that no matter how much you know there is always more to learn."
TRAVEL LEARNINGS
- We flew Spirit on the CHEAP thanks to the SKYSCANNER app. ($300 round trip for all 6.)
- We only used the 1 free personal item per person - that means everyone was responsible for just one backpack.
- Everyone packed complete 2 outfits. One pair of shoes. I used my Rothys (get $20 off when you use this coupon.) One swimsuit. 1 Snack Bag and 1 small whatever they want bag.) We used these packing cubes to help us organized. They are sturdy but also super flexible so you can stuff them full and compact clothing. It was fantastic to know where everyones stuff was. Didnt worry too much in the way of toys and travel entertainment, that is what siblings are for. No screens. We did bring some pencils and paper. The kids ended up getting creative and making a basketball hoop and using a crumpled up piece of paper as a ball. Clean up was a breeze!
- We also brought our umbrella stroller and a carseat - for the Uber to and from the airport. These can be checked at the gate for no charge.
- Check in online before you arrive at the airport. When we arrived at the airport we went straight to security - and with 4 kids you get super awesome service when it comes to airport security. They not only pushed us to the front of the security line - but they also pushed us onto that plane quickly, too.
MUST HAVE ACCOMMODATIONS
- Washer and Dryer: it is a no brainer when it comes to kids - the first day Zion spilled coffee on Kenn’s shorts before we left for the swamp tour. He was 100% zen as he sucked it up and just went on the tour looking like he peed his pants. (It was a full cup of hot coffee, guys - but whatever no one knew us!) It was fantastic to come to home and pop a load of laundry into the washer for the night.
- Kitchen: a complete kitchen is fantastic - although a refrigerator + microwave are the number one must haves. We go grocery shopping for the week as if we were at home. We get the same sorts of things but keep it more basic: Eggs, Milk, Cereal, Bread, Yogurt, Peanut Butter, Jam, Cheese, ICE CREAM + easy day trip snacks like peanuts, pretzels, and veggies.
- Three BIG Beds: Our kids are fine sharing beds - but we pushed the limit this time and stuffed them all on to 1 queen sized bed for the night we spent in Chicago before our Saturday Morning flight. After playing musical beds for a couple of hours. I landed with 2 squirmer’s feet in my face, and zero blankets. What eventually ended up saving us was a Bedtime Story Podcast about a frog. I cant tell you the rest because it worked! The Quarter House in NOLA had 2 bedrooms and a pullout couch. This worked just fine for us. It really just comes down to getting those spaces defined for everyone.
- Pool: Our kids LOVE to swim. It is also a great way to unwind as a family splashing around after a hot day. We took advantage of this every day.
ITINERARY
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Travel: Spirit, No Checked Bags
Settled into Hotel: Had kids pick beds, unpack their clothes, and “zen out” as we call it for like 30 minutes.
Check out the neighborhood - we walked the streets with various maps and played “tourist” because it’s fun.
Grocery Shop - We found a place called Rouses. It is a local grocery store in the French Quarter and super easy to find and use we went back for various things throughout the week.
Eat a nice dinner out - Check out Groupon + Living Social for coupons they came in really handy when we have our kiddos around. Even at the nicer restaurants we could go in and get a $60 meal and come out only paying $30. Found some great places that way. We shared a huge plate of seafood at Cafe Pontalba at the corner of Jackson Square. Awesome people watching + Cajun food!
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New Orleans Jazz Sunday Brunch - This is apparently a really big thing in NOLA. Everyone advertises this southern Sunday Brunch. Lucky for us our hotel catered it for us - and we were able to enjoy some good eats, music, and company of other travelers in the courtyard of the Quarter House. It was lovely.
Free Tours: The Quarter House offers free tours - but you have to sign up early. The sidewalk is free to trail behind them if you forget to sign up though (we may or may not have done this!) There are a lot of walking tour options in the French Quarter.
Cafe du Monde: Beignet’s are $1 each - cash only. You wont want to miss it! They are quick about service no matter how packed they seem. Great Jazz music playing from the street every time we went.
Swamp Tour: We used Airboat Adventures. It was recommended to us by the Quarter House because of their swamp experiences. There are a lot of swamp tours out there - so make sure you check to make sure you get one that offers experiences such as feeding or holding the Alligators. Be sure to get the Groupon 24 hours in advance to your tour. They get a little crabby about that.
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Street Car: We picked up our 3 day passes at Walgreens, if you want a one way ticket you can pay 1.25. Make sure you bring exact change if you purchase on the street car they will not give you cash change only a receipt with a credit. The day passes just cost $3 a person and if you get a 3 day pass it is $9 a person. You can also purchase them early, before you go - and they will mail them to you. Although I found this unnessisary for me, I can see it would probably save time if you wanted to just have them ready to go. Kids 2 and under are free!
City Park: Everyone we met was so friendly in NOLA and EVERYONE recommended this park. It did not dissapoint. Be sure to tell the Street Car driver that you are aiming for City Park and they will help you get there using the street car passes. We walked toward the park and found a Sculpture Garden first. We had a picnic (packed using our groceries!) there and then walked deeper into City Park. We found a Children’s Amusement Park, a playground, a cafe, tons of beautiful live oaks, too. There was a museum, and some other water activities (paddle boats) that we didnt take advantage of, but SO much to do.
Willie Mae’s Scotch House: I found this groupon and really didnt understand where it was, but it seemed like a good one. The street car operator helped us figure out the busses (which is included in the street car day passes) and we found ourself in the middle of a neighborhood looking for Willie Mae’s. We eventually found it and there was a line out the DOOR. You could smell the amazing cajun southern cooking walking up the community street. Lucky for us the solar eclipse was also happening so we socialized and watched the moon blot out the sun for a minute but were quickly seated after that. THE MEAL WAS OFF THE HOOK. It was the first meal we all licked our plates. It was so delicious. Worth the stop - be prepared for a bit of hike as it took a street car + bus along with a couple of blocks of walking to get there from the French Quarter, but it was 100% memorable.
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Garden District: Eager to take advantage of our street car passes - we hopped on the Charles Street signature GREEN street car and headed towards the garden district. We stopped at Lafayette No. 1 Cemetery and casually walked around with the kids. It was quiet, calm, zen, and lovely. We could hear the tours as we walked, and gained lots of awesome information that we would turn a corner and explain in a simpler way to the kids. Lafayette No. 1 is a free cemetery - so we were free to enter, and walk around at our leisure. We stopped into an awesome photography studio - where the photographer welcomed us in and showed us his documentary style work from when he photographed Hurricane Katrina. It was stunning, and powerful. He also gave us a great recommendation for where to walk to see some great Garden District homes and streets. Everything was beautiful.
Tacos + Beer: On the streetcar back to the French Quarter we saw an advertisement for $1 tacos on Tuesday. We went ahead and stopped there and we spent $20 on tacos. It was delicious and quick.
Mardi Gras World: Not to be confused with The Mardi Gras Museum - we called up and had the free shuttle pick us up on Canal Street. The tour was awesome - ask them about the $2 coupon in the New Orleans Magazine located directly behind the cashier. They will just take the $2 right off for you. :] The tour was great, started with a video and some King Cake. Then we got a tour of the warehouse where they design, create, and store the Mardi Gras Floats. It was very authentic, and people were right there working on things. Definitely a PBS sort of feeling. We learned a lot, and the kids adored seeing the larger than life characters and designs! Very colorful - Instagram ready!
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The Ruby Slipper Cafe: So happy we were able to meet up with family - Asia + Torrie recommended we meet up at The Ruby Slipper. It. was. amazing. We were lucky to be there on a Wednesday and even early on there was a short wait. Apparently weekends have a MUCH longer wait - and once you taste your brunch you understand why! SO GOOD.
Horse Buggy Rides: We didn't actually end up taking the buggy ride around Jackson Square, but we talked to the drivers, and they were very liberal with their information about New Orleans, we had some great conversations with them before heading out for coffee.
Cafe du Monde: AGAIN.
Louis Armstrong Park: After filling up on powdery sugar goodness - we strolled up to Louis Armstrong Park this was a little more of a hike for our little feet tourists - but with the promise of a street car back they were seriously FINE. We did loose one to a stroller nap though. We were told by locals that Saturday Mornings during the spring and summer Jazz musicians will perform throughout the morning and into the early afternoon! Great park and worth a stop.
Bourbon Street: This was a fantastic place to talk about choices, and "how things look much different with the lights on, huh?" We did have a sort of strange parenting moment as we stepped over a *fingers crossed* sleeping man on the sidewalk. Kenny and I were like "shit, bad choice to bring them on this street." We quickly turned off the street and found our way back to more familiar places.
Riverwalk + Aquarium: We decided pretty early on to nix the Aquarium even though we hear it is a good one! We have just been to lots of aquariums over the years with the kids, and we have all touched the sting rays and seen the sharks and the tunnels. I have heard it is worth the stop if you want a cool aquarium experience, though! Instead we walked with the kids over to the Riverwalk behind the aquarium. We packed another picnic, and ate it as we watched the boats pass. Then we accidentally walked into a water feature, and everyone had a lot of fun playing in the water on the sizzling day before we walked back to turn in.
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Wyndham Tour Sales Talk: YES, we sold our souls and got sucked into a timeshare sales talk ... in exchange for insectarium tickets and zoo tickets for all six of us! They also fed us breakfast - because we are BALLERS. (NO, we did not get sold, either.)
Insectarium: FREE - thanks sales talk! We tasted bugs, went into a scary bug cave, and watched a 4D movie that had Zion screaming because of the touch and spray. Movies will be taken in 2D from here on out.
The Crazy Lobster: Thanks Groupon! Excellent meal, tried some Crawfish + Gumbo. Tons of food and our waitress hooked us up with extra drinks and fries for everyone. xo
Royal Street: MUST get to the Gallery Rinard for PETE the CAT. We have kids. Our kids love Pete the Cat. I LOVE PETE THE CAT. The other art galleries are fantastic, friendly, and informational, too. At one point we found ourselves in a gallery selling $320,000 pop art. HELLO and GOODBYE. #kidsDONTtouch
f r i d a y
Daisy Dukes: This was a solid place to get a cheap 2.99 early bird breakfast - although for the money, we felt like we should have just used our grocery money as it was "nothing special." Very basic. When we were used to the #extra for nearly every restaurant up to this point it delivered subpar. For those with uneasy stomachs though - it would certainly give a rest from all the awesome spices being used the rest of the day!
Audubon Zoo: We hopped that Charles Streetcar again and took it all the way to the zoo (a longer 30-40 minute trip.) We were dropped at the Audubon Park entrance and walked the half mile to the Zoo from there. The park was my favorite part. The huge Live Oaks were stunning. A man on a bike with two dogs stopped to say hello and give us great information about the area. Absolutely love NOLA people. So many friendly souls. The Zoo was okay. We were some of the only people there it seemed and lots of the exhibits were closed or under construction. We did get to brush goats, and see a real chameleon. I am glad those tickets were free though!
Cafe du Monde: YES AGAIN. Judge me.
s a t u r d a y
Moved to a high rise AirBnB. It had a beautiful view + a rooftop pool. Enjoyed one last walk to the French Quarter + Cafe Du Monde. We also made our purchases on Royal Street for souvenirs. Noah got an Alligator Head, Jude got a NOLA Saints Football, Zion got a new Fedora Hat (southern style straw), I got a streetcar mug and a PETE THE CAT print of Cafe Du Monde, Kenn got a NOLA cup, and all the kids got t-shirts.
OTHER THINGS TO CHECK OUT
(We didn't get to these things, but we did some research and they seem like worth while events!)
Steam Boat Tours - Aquarium - Oak Alley Plantation - Saints Game
