The week that Covid hit in 2020, we had a trip planned to New Orleans followed by a drive to Orlando. It was cancelled just days before we left. Three years later and we are attempting that same trip. Our flight to New Orleans left at 7:15am so we left for the airport around 4:00am. With the recent time change this meant we got up at 3:00am and it felt like 2:00am. Our plane boarded on time, and we were optimistic we would make our connecting flight in San Fransisco despite only a 50-minute layover. As we were taxiing however the captain announced we had to 'park' for 30 minutes due to weather issues in San Fransisco. It wasn't looking good.
Our hope was that the weather would cause our connecting flight to be delayed as well. All we could do was eat our 30-calorie airline snack and hope. When we landed, the stewardess asked if anyone had a tight connecting flight and 2/3 of the plane put up their hand. It might have only been the kids that didn't. She then clarified that people travelling to New Orleans and a couple of other destinations were the tightest and asked everyone to let us off first. It wasn't initially looking good but eventually people moved aside, and we were able to run to our gate.
I ran ahead and managed to get to the gate before it closed. There were two people in line and just as I arrived, I heard one say they "would have to close the gate after these last two". I identified the Schwab family had arrived and indicated the rest would be there shortly. They asked if we were from the Vancouver flight and said they didn't think we were going to make it. Our flight to New Orleans was uneventful and actually arrived 24 minutes early. With a 0-minute layover it felt like a direct connection.
We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel which is just a block off Bourbon Street. As I type this, I can hear the music though it is very quiet. Our hotel is a former convent and orphanage. Apparently, a nun committed suicide in one of the rooms above us and it is considered one of the most haunted hotels in New Orleans. I'm not going to say I believe in ghosts but the lights flicker, the phone mysteriously was knocked off the hook and when I was taking a nap, I swear I felt someone sit down on the end of the bed. We're going to leave a chair in the corner open for ghosts, just in case.
We arrived around 4:30pm local time so after we checked in to the hotel, we wandered around a bit to find something to eat. We weren't necessarily picky, but we found it very difficult to find a place that was open, had no line up, had food and not just alcohol and included something from our list of New Orleans food that we wanted to try. In the end, Carter and I ended up at Willie's Chicken Shack and Kerry and Callie had pizza from a place next door. The fried chicken was very good. The chicken was from the Jurassic era based on its size and the spices made it very flavorful.
We ended the evening with fudge from Kilwin's Candy store and frozen custard from Abbots. Apparently, this is 'French style' ice cream. I only had a spoonful, but it was delicious.
We went back to our hotel and went to bed around 10:00pm. With the 1-hour time change, two-hour time zone change, latitude change, up early and busy day it felt like bedtime.
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