Travel Blogger Daily Blog: New Orleans Here I Come, Come Hell (Raising) Or High Water

Almost No To NOLA But Back To Bourbon Street

By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Travel Blogger

When my friend messaged me to say she had a ticket for me in an NFL box for the New Orleans opening game and invited me to join her and her boyfriend in it, I did a dance like those people holding those multi-colored umbrellas marching through the French Quarter.

I had visions of having multi-colored cocktails on Bourbon Street, of eating etouffee and gumbo until my belly blew up like a blimp (thanks for that line Jimmy Buffett!), of checking out Frenchman Street which has really taken off since my last visit several years ago, and of going big time in the Big Easy.

Shortly after booking my room – a screamin’ deal at a place recommended to me by a local friend, the Prince Conti, at just more than $100 bucks a night in the Quarter – I checked the weather. After all, New Orleans can be steamy this time of the year (early September) and I wanted basically to know whether or not I would be wearing shorts or jeans. And whether or not to pack my PubClub.com fleece.

And what I saw was not good. A tropical storm was building in the gulf and was headed straight for New Orleans. It could be a hurricane by the time it reached land.

The only hurricane I want to experience in New Orleans comes in a glass at Pat O’Brien’s. There was no way that I was going to go to New Orleans in a hurricane, even if Roger Goodell were to sit next to me at the game. (Or, more suited to myself and PubClub, if I were with the Saints cheerleaders the whole time.)

I’ve seen that city get wet, yet no matter where I travel to, I don’t want to spend most of my time sitting in my hotel room when it’s pouring outside. No one would be walking around the French Quarter, I could not get good photos and videos for PubClub (an essential part of my travel these days) and the bars would be empty.

And what’s the point of going to New Orleans if the bars are empty!?

So I canceled the hotel reservation – the Conti people were very nice about it – and decided to wait out the storm. By Tuesday of that week (and I was due to leave on Thursday) the storm slid to the east and pounded Mobile while sparing New Orleans.

The Conti re-booked me with no problem and then I was ready to have my big time in the Big Easy.

Cheers!