Blogs from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, North America - page 42

Whoever the Greek god of interstates would be, he's happy at the moment Now I'm in New Orleans. Not only was it the most uneventful drive on the US Interstate system I've ever taken, it was the easiest one I've ever heard of. If you've ever gone more than a hundred miles on I-Anything, the most vivid memory you probably have is the color orange. Orange cones, orange barrels, and orange signs. Slow or barely moving workers in orange vests, orange hardhats, and waving orange flags at you. Every state in the US claims the orange cone is their state tree, the hot planer is their state animal, and "slow construction zone" their state motto. Not this time. Not one holdup for construction, not one lane closing accident, not even any bad weather. The travel gods ... read more

Generally, my travel list of places to visit consists of far off countries. But then there’s a list of cities in North America that I’ve always thought one day I’d get to. Places that are great for long weekends, last minute getaways, the end point of a road trip. When I was told that in order to go to the Triumph, I would have to first spend a month on the Fantasy, the thing that made me excited about this month was the home port being New Orleans. New Orleans is just one of those cities that I really want to see. I’m at the halfway point of my time here on the Fantasy, but finally today was my chance to get up and get out in the city. First, there was a matter of business ... read more

This is the general itinerary for the trip: (VERY subject to change) Date Location 5/15/09 NOLA 5/16/09 Athens 5/17/09 Athens 5/18/09 Athens 5/19/09 Travel - Train/Ferry 5/20/09 Rome 5/21/09 Rome 5/22/09 Rome 5/23/09 Travel - Train 5/24/09 Venice 5/25/09 Venice 5/26/09 Travel - Train 5/27/09 Berlin 5/28/09 Berlin 5/29/09 Travel - Train 5/30/09 Amsterdam 5/31/09 Amsterdam 6/1/09 Travel - Train 6/2/09 Normandy 6/3/09 Normandy 6/4/09 Travel - Train 6/5/09 Besançon 6/6/09 Travel - Train 6/7/09 Paris 6/8/09 Paris 6/9/09 Travel - Train/Ferry 6/10/09 Waterford 6/11/09 Travel - Train 6/12/09 Cork 6/13/09 Cork 6/14/09 Travel - Train 6/15/09 Dublin 6/16/09 Dublin 6/17/09 Dublin 6/18/09 Departure Dublin I still have yet to organize couchstays and exact train/ferry connections so if you feel like you want to... read more

In the morning we woke up to get breakfast from the hotel, which was pretty average. They had an okay selection but none of it was stunning. I grabbed a couple of packs of the grits that they had there so that I could take them home and show them to people who have never seen them before. After we had eaten we grabbed things from our room and headed out to Jeff’s dad’s place which was in a beautiful part of the country. We spent a few minutes talking but had to head out pretty quickly to get to New Orleans and meet up with Dater’s brother Andy. The drive south was a lot of fun, the scenery was beautiful, even from the road. We listened to the Sister Act soundtrack amongst other things with ... read more

On August 30th, I got the call I was dreading and eagerly waiting for. I got the go to head to Louisiana for Hurricane Gustav. I was originally expected in Alabama on Sunday, they called me on Friday morning. I was in San Jose, CA. I got a reprieve to arrive on Monday. When I finally got to Dallas it became apparent that I would have to drive through the Hurricane to get to Alabama. At that point I was told to hang out in Dallas until things settled out. Then when the storm hit, I was told to head directly to Louisiana. Now this was all familar territory since I had been here only 2 and a half years before for Katrina. I was excited to see what changes had been made since I left. ... read more