by It seems that most travel reservation sites these days offer experiences at every destination. It is a good way for the sites to pick up extra money and is a convenience for travelers. AirBnB is no different. In New Orleans they offered dozens of experiences but here is how I ended up doing 6 of them on my own for very little money.
1. Take a tour around New Orleans
Before I went to New Orleans I decided that I would take one of those tourist tour buses around the city to get an overview of it all. I also decided to take public transit as much as possible during my stay because I’d grown tired of driving everywhere. Then, the first day I arrived I discovered that an all day pass for trolleys and buses was only $3! So my tour bus idea changed to taking a “trolley tour” of the city. Which I did.
The trolleys go to all sorts of neighborhoods and led to some unusual discoveries, including the French Market (not the same as the French Quarter), Carrollton, the Audubon Park, and the mural-intense neighborhood of Elysian Fields. one of those mural is at the top of this post. All these neighborhoods are great places to take selfies!
2. Learn about Cajun cooking
This is easy. Just go to Cajun restaurants and order. If you like what you eat check out recipes for the dish online. I learned I do not like boudin sausage and most Cajun cooking at all. Too heavy for me except for the vegetarian gumbo in the French Market. But–wow!–the baked goods in New Orleans are fabulous. There must be a French pastry chef in every bakery in town. Above, the interior of Gracious bakery on St. Charles in the Garden District. Their peach hand pies are amazing!
3. Find murals suitable for selfies
My selfie solution for this involved a stroke of luck. I had planned to take the Instagram mural tour listed on AirBnB, but on my trolley tour accidentally came across the Elysian Fields neighborhood with quaint old cottages and murals everywhere. It means I missed the Banksy “Girl in Rain” mural, but have now seen others that the Instagram tour-takers haven’t seen.
4. Tour the Garden District
Quickly growing tired of viewing historic Grand Old White Mansions, I turned my version of this into the Hunt-for-Ann-Rice-and-Lestat-the-Vampire Tour. Ann Rice, of course, has passed away, but I am tracking down Lestat’s home from descriptions in the book. His home with the literary vampires Louis and Claudia was in the French Quarter but I’m not venturing into that tourist trap again. Photo, above, is the guest house for the Carroll-Crawford mansion in the Garden District, a home-away-from-home for Mark Twain when he visited the city.
5. Visit a Cemetery
The St. Louis Cemetery is much larger and more famous, but according to the Rice vampire books Lestat buried his wealth in the Lafayette Cemetery #1 which is 6 blocks from where I am staying. And the address Lestat states for his home in “The Vampire Lestat” would put it at the northwest corner of the Lafayette Cemetery.
6. Take a brunch trip on a steamboat
The steamboat tours always seemed a bit too touristy for me so I came up with an alternative. I took the ferry across the Mississippi to Algiers Point and back. It costs $2 one way. Senior fare is $1. Then I went to Meals with a Heart in the French Market for the best vegetarian gumbo for lunch. Seated at the counter I had an interesting conversation with an IT person from a San Francisco museum about attendance levels at museums these days. The gumbo and conversation were much better than on any a steamboat lunch!
It seems that every day I learn about somewhere else to go, something else to see or do, but I have decided not to chase after those recommendations now. After all, I’m doing slow travel. I’ll do other things on my next trip here.
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