Spring Break Road Trip – EPISODE 1

NEW ORLEANS

Spring Break 2020! Usually, the week of from school in Singapore meant a week of grinding for mid-terms and ferocious preparation for the second half of the semester. All in all, NOT that special of a week. However, the culture in the US allowed for a different kind of week and with the lower demands on exchange, a much longer trip was on the cards. The typical spring break one would think of is heading the the beach for a week of warmth and drinks in the sun. However, my differing ethos made me plan a different kind of trip. A road trip from the south back up to the north! With my mate David (you may recognise him from the Trans-Siberian travels) and two fellow exchange friends Leevi and Andrea we started planning about a month ahead (prices can start to skyrocket if left too late). The trip would cover 8 states across 10 days so it was quite an adventure!

The trip started on the Friday before spring break week with a 5am flight which meant a 2am roll-call to get to the airport. Another pleasant experience as with the Boston trip which highlighted a positive pattern with Pitt’s airport. Leevi, Andrea and I met David (who was exchanging on the west coast) in New Orleans and to their credit it was not too awkward for a first meeting. But finally we were in New Orleans. After dropping our stuff at the hostel, we headed out to explore the French Square (the big tourist center area of the city). Walking in was made awesome by the incredibly unique streets that led up to the square, filled with jazz bars and delicious food. To make things better, the weather was as ideal as it could get at 18°C and loads of sun. After soaking in the beauty of the square with the bustling live musicians, we headed to Café Du Mont for some beignets. This is an absolute must and literally the first thing recommended to be by anyone headed to New Orleans. The beignets were delicious and fresh, what a way to start the day of exploration. As we had a walking tour (again by the company I’ve mentioned far too many times) later in the afternoon, we spent the time in between exploring the square and surrounding areas. The walking tour brought us through the history of the city from the founding all the way through to the famous mardi gras celebration that occurs in the city every year (we had missed it by two weeks! After all of these activities we were just beat as we had barely slept the night before (2am roll-call!) so after a much needed rest at the hostel, we were back out in the city for the famous nightlife. We began with some uniquely Louisianian po-boys and gumbo for dinner (must try dishes) which were sublime. Next we headed to Frenchmen street, which was just filled with jazz bar after jazz bar. Each bar had a different vibe from the next and it was quite fun bar hopping along the street, soaking in the rich jazz culture. Closer to the end of the night we walked along Bourbon Street which was one of the most raucous, lively party streets I’ve ever seen. It’s a shame we did not have a second night to spend exploring that are area in depth (But there’s always round 2!). Both streets have to be on the list for anyone visiting the city!

Day 2 was to be a far more relaxed one with the hectic adventures of the day before. A slightly late rise and lunch to try the last delicacy on my list, the Jambalaya! It won’t beat the Gumbo but easily a close second! The rest of the day’s activities was wrapped up in a swamp tour. As the region surrounding the city is filled with swamps, there are numerous tours that one could take to see what an actual swamp looks like. It may not sound like something at the top anyone’s list but it is quite frankly a unique thing to see. The vastness of the swamp was quite something to see as well as alligators in their natural habitat. Seeing an animal in a zoo is absolutely nothing compared to seeing one in their natural habitat. Easily the highlight of the tour. Following the tour, the four of us just relaxed in the hostel waiting for our overnight bus. The hostel was honestly pretty fantastic. India House Hostel (got them on hostelworld.com) put us all in our own room at no extra expense, accommodated us arriving early, had comfortable areas for us to wait out even after checking out!

Normally I wouldn’t mention an overnight bus as it would pretty much just involve sleeping and waking up at the destination. However, this was the bus ride from hell. Okay an exaggeration but it was quite something. Stepping onto the greyhound bus and the first thing we were hit with was a severe urine stench that was pretty much infused into the bus at that point. That coupled with the fact that the bus was tough to sleep in, made riding in it very difficult. On top of that, there were two stops that I wasn’t aware off, (I had purchased a direct ticket) which had us waking up at 1.30am and 4am in random parts of Alabama. We felt so much pity for the driver who not only had to work in such an environment but had to constantly deal with passengers who were giving him so much trouble. But eventually we made it to Atlanta, rented our really comfortable Hyundai Santa Fe and got on the road…

Continued in Spring Break Road Trip – EPISODE 2!