Hi and welcome to my review of New Orleans, Louisiana where you will find out the truth about New Orleans! Well, at least my truth ;).

What you’ll read about in this post:

• Why I wanted to go to New Orleans
• Swamp Tour Review
• 2 Plantation Reviews
• Oceana Restaurant Review
• Bourbon Street Review

Okay, so do you ever dream for so long about doing something that eventually you tell yourself that your dream just isn’t going to come true? Well, thats how I felt about visiting New Orleans, Louisiana! I know what you’re thinking – Why New Orleans? Let me tell you…

Why I Dreamt About New Orleans?

The story goes pretty deep actually – there should probably be just one post on my love for this city. Well, at least the love that I built up because before this post I had never been to New Orleans!

It all starts with the Fleur De Lis – a French symbol. It is a stylized lily and symbolizes victory! I have a tattoo of this symbol on my wrist – Most people ask me if I am a saints fan. Honestly, I had the tattoo well before I even knew who the saints were – I don’t follow football. I got the tattoo because I am obsessed with France and Italy (where they have the stylized iris instead of the lily). Since the Saints and the French are a major part of this city this was the first reason I wanted to visit New Orleans.

Next comes the part where my shows come in. I watch a lot of TV (surprise, surprise) and one of my favorite shows is called The Originals. Unfortunately, the last season was a year ago; I’m still mourning over it. The show is based in New Orleans but doesn’t actually film there except for a few scenes; 1 being in the French Quarter and 1 being in the Lafayette Cemetery No. 1. So this was the second reason I wanted to visit New Orleans.

Remember when I told you that I felt like my dream wasn’t going to come true? Well, luckily – my mom had a conference she was scheduled to go to that happened to be in New Orleans!! So, she decided to ask me if I wanted to join her to New Orleans and I honestly couldn’t believe my ears! My dream to visit this city was coming true!!!

So, now that you know why… Let’s get down to the fun part of how my trip went!

The Itinerary – First Third

I am going to separate this trip into 3 healthy sized posts.

• Day 1 – Travel Day
• Day 2
  • Cajun Country Swamp Boat & 2 Plantation Tours
  • Dinner

Day 1 – Travel Day

• Attendees: My mom – Jodi and myself 🙂
• Date: Saturday, October 26th, 2019
• Flight from Chicago to New Orleans: 3:15pm-5:39pm
• Hotel: Sheraton New Orleans – 500 Canal Street

So, let’s talk about this… Travel days are never really anyones favorite day because it usually requires a ton of waiting or hassling. I mean packing alone is complicated – what do you bring to a city you’ve never been to? Is it hot there? Is it going to rain? No idea.. so you pack everything or nothing and hope for the best.

For us – our trip started out beautifully – I got off work early on Friday to drive to my parents which is 3.5 hours from my work. Arrived safe and sound. Woke up the next morning… took my shower, packed the car and we headed to breakfast at Cracker Barrel because…yummy!

The airport is approximately 30 to 45 minutes from my parents house and you should always be at the gate 3 hours early according to my dad. HAHA. So – We headed to the airport at 11:30am. Now, here is the kicker – we ended up at the airport around Noon and as we were just about to park my mom gets a text saying the FLIGHT WAS CANCELLED. Excuse me what?

What Happens When Your Flight Is CANCELLED?

As you could imagine – We were just blown away. This has never happened to any of us and my mom flies why more often than the average person. What do you do – go home and say oh well? Why was it cancelled? Do you get a new flight right away? Is there something wrong with the plane? And let me tell you – I actually hate flying. So now I’m extra nervous.

We finally made our way to the American Airline to see what happened. Are you ready for this??? New Orleans Airport is OUT OF POWER. Whatttt. This can’t be true. Talk about bad luck!! Louisiana recently got hit with a huge storm and it caused a ton of power outages! One of which happened to be the entire airport! What are the odds honestly.

Again – we ask ourselves what are we supposed to do? Call it a day and go home? Cancel the whole trip? Lose out on all the pre-paid adventures we scheduled?? Then I got to thinking… is there another Airport nearby?? Yes! There was another airport in Lafayette, Louisiana!! So the airline told us this:

What’s The Plan Now?

There is a connection Flight in 1 hour to Dallas, Texas (2 hours) to then fly to Lafayette, Louisiana airport (1 hour 15 minutes). Then – we must take a rental car from Lafayette to New Orleans airport (2 hour drive) to drop off the car. Then take a taxi to our hotel. Oh, and no longer had first class…. so much for checking that off my bucket list.

Can we please talk about travel issues!?!?! After dealing with that, we had to cancel our reservation that we had with Antoines on Tuesday to reschedule our dinner that we had scheduled this night with Court of Two Sisters because we weren’t making it to the hotel til 10pm. I heard more about Court of Two Sisters so I did not want to not go there.

In Conclusion For Day 1:

It was a very long, rough day to say the least. But we finally made it to our Sheraton Hotel in New Orleans!

Day 2 – Swamp Tour & Plantations

• Date: Sunday, October 27th, 2019
• Schedule:
  • 8:00am – Meet Tour Guide Ellen; Tours by Isabelle
  • 8:00am – 9:00am – Travel via Van to Bayou Boat
  • 9:00am – 10:30am – Cajun Bayou Pontoon Boat Tour
  • 11:00am – 12:00pm – Lunch
  • 12:00am – 1:30pm – Tour Oak Alley Plantation & Grounds
  • 2:00pm – 3:15pm – Tour Laura Plantation
  • 3:15pm – 5:00pm – Travel back to New Orleans
• Price: Approximately $182 per person (not including tip, lunch is included)
• Tour group is small
• Website: https://toursbyisabelle.com/two-plantations-bayou-pontoon-boat
• Booking agency: https://www.viator.com/en-GB/tours/New-Orleans/Experience-Cajun-Country-Swamp-Boat-Adventure-and-Plantations-Full-Day-Tour-from-New-Orleans/d675-2292GRAND

Cajun Bayou Pontoon Boat Tour

This was one of the first things I wanted to make sure we did on this trip because I’ve heard so many good things about doing a swamp tour. I also told myself that I would be brave enough to hold an alligator if given the opportunity!

The travel time to get to the pick up location for this boat tour was actually quite long and we didn’t realize this so – it felt extremely long. A great part of having such a long drive was that our tour guide/driver provided us with so much information about New Orleans! So, it was an entertaining van ride! Did you know that Louisiana grows sugar cane? That is one of the things I definitely did not know!

Once we arrived at the boat, we were able to go to the bathroom which was not a great facility in my opinion but – you get the job done. Then we hopped on the boat where we met a new guide who was just for the boat ride.

The ride wasn’t all that long and our guide taught us a lot about alligators and fishing regulations. Unfortunately, we did not see a lot of wildlife; a few birds. Prior to booking this excursion we did not know that alligators only come out when it is hot out. Continuing our poor luck – We came when New Orleans was rather chilly; which is not very common.

That being said, our bayou ride was a bit boring in my opinion. It was not anyones fault except for time of year. I go out fishing on pontoon boats quite often with my husband so it felt like another day on the water – and wasn’t necessarily worth the money. However, If we would have went during the summer – I probably would have reacted differently.

Overall Reaction & Tips:

It was a nice tour but a bit underwhelming. You soon realize you just paid for a boat ride and ask yourself why you did that. I was disappointed that I did not see or get to hold an alligator and my mistake was expecting too much because wildlife comes out when wildlife wants to come out; it shouldn’t be expected.

• Do this excursion in the Spring/Summer so you get to see more wildlife – hopefully an alligator
• Don’t expect much – It is merely a boat ride with maybe some wildlife
• If you go in the fall (like we did) dress accordingly. We could have brought a light jacket and been a bit more comfortable
• Bring cash for tipping the tour guide

Authentic Cajun Lunch

Next up, Lunch. Finally we get to try some authentic cajun cuisine! If you have read any of my other posts specifically about food you will know that I am extremely picky. Some days I wish I was allergic to something just so I could say that is my reason for not eating interesting food but nope… I’m just picky. When I came across the food I was a bit worried especially because everyone said it was amazing!

Heres what were offered (buffet style):

• House Salad with Vinaigrette dressing
• Chicken & Sausage Gumbo
• Red Beans & Rice
• Flavorful Crawfish Étouffée with White Rice
• Home-baked Rolls & Butter
• Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce or Peach Cobbler
• Coffee or Tea

We ate lunch at the Oak Alley Plantation in a pavilion. Let’s just say – – It was interesting. I was soon realizing that perhaps cajun food isn’t my style. However, I did try it and I wasn’t entirely disappointed. The peach cobbler and bread pudding was my favorite!

Oak Alley Plantation

This was the first plantation on our tour. The grounds and house were absolutely stunning. My favorite part of it all were the oak trees. They were so lively and interesting to look at. They do a guided tour of the house every 10 minutes so since we wanted to check out the rest of the grounds we did the tour first. Then whatever time we had left over we explored the grounds.

This particular tour doesn’t allow pictures inside the building to be taken so I won’t have those images to show you. However, we were shown several rooms and got to go to the second floor. Interestingly enough, if you were unable to make it up two the second floor due to medical reasons they have a video that they show you. I thought that accommodation was thoughtful.

Overall Reaction & Tips:

Honestly, the idea of these plantations and what went on during this time period is scary and freaks me out a bit. However – since those tactics are done and over – the beauty of the building and the trees of this venue are gorgeous!!

• Wear comfortable walking shoes
• Cannot take pictures inside the house but you can take pictures of anything and everything outside the house.
• There are two or three bathroom locations – very important.
• Take a picture (when allowed) on the Gallery of the building & be sure to take one at the end of the walkway by the oak trees near the road so you get the full view of the building and the oak trees.
• If you can’t go upstairs – ask about the video presentation!
• They do have a gift shop with a cafe – be sure to try the pralines!
  • If you try the MINT JULPE drink – it is $8 and is extremely strong. So, prepare yourself accordingly.

Laura Plantation

Last part of this tour was the Laura Plantation which isn’t far from the Oak Alley Plantation so it was a short ride. If I am comparing the two plantations – the Oak Alley Plantation was grand-er visually but the Laura Plantation had a better tour and was more unique.

It was a guided tour as well – a lot more information was shared. More stories were delivered and you could take pictures inside the house & outside of the house.

Overall Reaction & Tips:

I enjoyed this tour more than the Oak Alley Plantation however, it was definitely nice to see both.

• Wear comfortable walking shoes
• You ARE allowed to take pictures inside and outside the house just no Video.
• There are bathrooms onsite
• There is a gift shop

Oceana Grill Restaurant – Dinner

• Location: 739 Conti St
• Dinner Reservation at 5:30pm
  • I recommend doing this because this place gets extremely busy fast!
• What we Ordered:
  • Moscato Wine
  • Barbecued Shrimp
  • Louisiana Crabmeat Cakes
  • Blackened Catfish with Beans & Fries
  • La Boheme Creme Brulee
  • Approximate total Price: $83
• Website: https://www.oceanagrill.com/
• Dress Code: No requirements – it is a grill style restaurant.
• Recommend: YES

After we got back to our hotel we freshened up and headed to Oceana Grill! This restaurant is just off Bourbon Street and the Saints had just won a football game so it was extremely busy and there were a lot of people out and about so I am really glad we made a reservation!

It was a casual restaurant so we didn’t need to dress up – in fact I’m glad I didn’t because I feel like we would have stuck out like a sore thumb! The food was absolutely delicious! Thank goodness because I was really hungry after such a long day. My favorite dishes were the crabcakes, the side of beans and the creme brulee.

To be honest, I kind of wish I wasn’t writing this portion of the post while being hungry because now I wish I was there eating lunch! The blackened fish wasn’t bad, I suppose, it just could have been spicier in my opinion. I wouldn’t get the Moscato again because it wasn’t sweet at all – unless they gave us the wrong type of wine which I thought could have been possible. It tasted more like a Pinot Grigio.

Overall I was extremely delighted by the food and service at this restaurant. I would definitely go again and I highly recommend!

Bourbon Street

I’ve read so many things about bourbon street and it was always a bit of mixed reviews and I’m about to add to that mix. I know you probably don’t know me all that well so here is the 411 – – I’m more the type of partier that casually has a few drinks and chills with my friends; the bar scene isn’t my first choice. However, I do understand that not everyone is like me.

Bourbon street is essentially the opposite of my personality. It is very intense, rowdy and quite scandalous. There were a lot of parents with their kids down this street and I highly, highly do not recommend bringing your kids out to bourbon street especially not at night. Since it was a few days before Halloween, there were also several people dressed in scary costumes and their houses were all dressed up too. Another note about me: I don’t like halloween. :/ For those that do, This is perfect for you!

The one positive I do have with this street is that it had some really cool people playing music and they were extremely good! In conclusion, don’t go down Bourbon Street if you’re not in the mood to see risky business.

In Conclusion For Day 1 & 2

The particular adventures that my mom and I experienced throughout the first and second day were extremely memorable and very nola. It’s true that everyones experiences are different but sometimes knowing these types of things can prepare you for your own experience.

I appreciate you taking the time to read about my time at the Swamp, Plantations and various places in New Orleans, Louisiana. I believe that the findings I have discovered will help you in a way that will (hopefully) improve your experience if you ever choose to visit Nola.

Thank you for reading!

Going to the Bahamas instead? Take a look at some tips and reviews here…

• Our Hotel
• Pearl Island
• Sites, Food, Spa
• Shopping
• Horseback Riding
• Ocean Fishing