Well, lots of updates to make about our weekend in Nawlins.  It was a good time and I’m glad I got to go, but it was very exhausting, as you will soon see!

So I woke up at 5:15 Friday morning which allowed me 30 min. to get out the door, 45 min. to drive to the airport and an hour and a half to catch my flight.  I didn’t make in. 😦 😦 😦  I’ve never missed a flight before…my advice?  DON’T DO IT.  It sucks.  And it happens so easily!  I was like 10 min. late getting out the door, the traffic was like 10 minutes slower than I planned on it being…still seemed like I had plenty of time.  Then I found out why lot F is $4 cheaper per day than the other lots!  Not only is it like 1,000 miles from the airport, but you also have to take a bus to the train that takes you to the terminal.  So I started to get nervous about the time while I was waiting for the bus.  Then, when the bus stopped at a train station I got off the bus…but it wasn’t the right train station!  It was a train that comes into the airport but goes no further.  So I had to wait for the next shuttle bus, then wait for the airport train.  At this point I was sort of sweating bullets.  So I finally get to the terminal and the line was HUGE.  Like 2 switchbacks (this is for the self-check in e-terminal things).  It was about 7:30 any my flight left at 8.

Now this is one part where this story could have had a dramatic turn for the better, but I didn’t think about it until later.  The line for people not checking bags was much shorter, so I could have thrown away all my liquids/creams/aerosols and possibly made it to the flight.  I was a little frazzled though so I wasn’t thinking that clearly and when the lady from the airline told me I’d have to check my bag, I didn’t think much of it.  So I finally got to the e-check in at about 7:55.  You have to check your bag at least 45 minutes before the flight.  I was upset, but not too upset (seeing as this was just the begining of my problems).  So it turns out the next flight didn’t leave until 1:00 (remember this is at 8 a.m.).  They put me on the standby list and I checked my bag and went to the gate.  It turns out that the flight I was supposed to be on was delayed, so it didn’t leave until 8:20.

This brought me to the second turning-point-that-wasn’t of the day.  I was talking to the lady at the gate of the plane I was supposed to be on and she was basically just like, “Hmm, that sucks.”  So I went and sat down to wait for my 1:00 flight and then it occured to me, “Maybe I could have gotten on the flight I was supposed to be on since it hadn’t left yet and just get my luggage on the plane at 1:00!” but by that time the 8:00 flight was leaving.  I wish the lady at the desk would have offered something like that, but again I should have thought of it myself.

So at this point I was pretty upset about this whole thing.  It’s such a helpless feeling to be trying to hurry and there’s just traffic or a long line or a shuttle bus that won’t come.  The worst part was that there was nobody else to be mad at, this was totally my fault!  I was soooo bummed.  So anyway, I went over to the customer service counter to see if there were any flights before 1:00 and to see what my odds were of getting on that flight.  I’ve never flown standby before, but I know that every plane I’ve flown on since they cut the flights back after 9/11 has been completely sold out.  So I finally get through that line and a nice lady helps me and she finds a flight that has a connection in Washington D.C. and then goes on to N.O.  She prints out the ticket and says, “If you want to make this flight, you need to RUN!”  So I grabbed the ticket and sprinted all out.  It was in a different terminal.  I did a pretty good job with the running, but the 2 stories worth of stairs killed me!  But I made the gate in time and made it on the plane.

So I flew to D.C. with no idea about when I was getting to N.O. or if my baggage was going to make it or not.  I was worried that since I had checked my bag to a flight that I wasn’t really on (I was only standby) and then I never actually got on that flight, there wouldn’t be much reason for them to put my bag on that flight.  I talked to Sara and filled her in on all of this and she told me that I *had* to be on the ground by 6:00 because she had a surprise arranged.  When I got to Washington I verified that my luggage was going to go on the flight that I could have been on and I asked when my flight was going to get there and she said, “About 5:00.”  So I was actually going to get there later than the flight I was on standby for would have gotten me, but at least I had an actual ticket rather than flying standby.  Later I found out the flight actually got there at 5:20, but I still felt like I had plenty of time.  So finally I get on the plane at 4:00 and the pilot comes on and says, “Folks, we have a rediculous head wind, there’s no chance we’re going to land on time.  Our flight time is estimated to be 2 hours and 40 minutes.”  So that puts me on the ground at 6:40, well after the required 6:00!  I just could not believe it!

Remember how I said this was narrowly saved from being the worst day ever?  Well here’s how it happened.  I had forgotten that when I went to Washington I transfered to Eastern time and then I was going back to Central time in LA, picking up an hour!  So I got on the ground at 5:40.  I didn’t know this until after I had landed and I called Sara in a panic about being so late.  In retrospect, I’m almost glad it happened this way…even though I had to spend 2:40 on the plane in a gut wrenching panic, the relief when I found out I had made it in time was worth it!  It saved the whole day.

So the surprise was that Sara had gotten tickets to see Better Than Ezra at the House of Blues.  BTE are from New Orleans and they are one of Sara and I’s favorite bands.  They just happened to be playing the night we were there!  So it was cool to see them in general, but to hear them sing “King of New Orleans” and actually be in New Orleans was pretty sweet.  Here’s the setlist:
Burned
Misunderstood
Good
Sincerely Me
A Lifetime
Extraordinary w/ What I Got
King Of New Orleans
A Southern Thing
Beautful Mistake
At The Stars
Laid
Miss You –> Juicy
Desperately Wanting
—-
It’s Only Natural
Daylight
Rosealia
So basically they played everything I could have wanted them to play!  It was a  really good concert.  The only bad thing was that there were no seats, so we had to stand the whole time and it was super crowded so people were always pushing past, squishing us, head banging and spilling beer all over Sara, etc.  At the end we were exhausted (the whole day was pretty exhausting, not just the standing for hours part), but it was well worth it.

Voodoo cemetery / Oak alley / Swamp tour and tiny alligator
The next day we had a rental car reserved, so we picked up that and also Sara’s co-worker and her husband.  First we hit up a cemetery to see all the above ground graves and stuff.  It was very interesting, very different than what I think of as a cemetery!  The highlight was the grave of Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau.  It was covered in “XXX” symbols which I have since learned is supposed to get you a wish granted.

After that, it was off to visit Oak Alley Plantation.  It was about what you would expect, but tell me this is not the coolest entryway to a house EVER:

Finally we went on a Bayou Tour which was kind of interesting, but we only saw one tiny alligator that was like a year old.  It was okay, but I was hoping it would be cooler.

Also on our driving around we saw a lot of places that were still very very trashed by Katrina.  It was sad to see so much of the city that hadn’t come back a whole year later.

(This is getting very long and I am starting to run out of steam, so here on out you’re getting the abridged version)

We hit up Bourbon Street Sat. night and it was exactly how you would expect.  Hurricanes are delicious!  You can walk around with drinks there on the street which was weird.  Tons of bars, tons of drunk people and we even saw some people flashing for beads…so basically everything you’d think it was.  There were tons of Philly people there since the Eagles were playing the Saints on Sunday.  There were lots of “E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES” chants, but they were quickly answered with the traditional  “Who dat?  Who Dat? Who dat tink they can beat dem Saints!”  It was a fun crowd scene.  We also went to a Voodoo store which was interesting.

Before we returned the car we went to see the Garden District.  Wow!  How could anybody not fall in love with these beautiful old houses?  They are awesome.  We’re hoping some of our pictures come out good and we can blow some up for our walls.

Finally on Monday morning we woke up at 4 a.m. to make our plane.  There was a scary moment when I found out they had used my return ticket to get me the flight from D.C. to Nola, but the United lady fixed it up and everything worked out.  I ended up making it to work before noon, but it was a very long day with the getting up so early and all, so we went to bed by like 9:30.

Okay, that’s all I can stand to write at the moment!