The morning I left LA, I was at the bus station and a guy asked me where I was off to and I replied with "New Orleans". His response to that was "WHY?" and "BY YOURSELF??". He seemed very shaken up about it. I was a little confused. Wasn't New Orleans suppose to be a fun place? isn't this the place to party?? Well apparently it was also one of the most dangerous places in North America. He had my fun a little shaken, but I had my ticket and I was about to get on that retched bus.
Fast forward 2 and a half days and I step off the bus and into a taxi headed for "India House Hostel". Now this place looked awesome online. It seemed very colourful and clean and warm, cozy like. Well.. it was colourful, not the cleanest and only cozy if you were in the little lounge section with the TV. The beds were terrible!!! If it wasn't for my little neck pillow that I picked up at the airport I'd've killed someone through lack of sleep.
So the first day I arrived there I thought I'd go downtown to where it's at. The only way to get there without a car is the trolly, what we would call a tram, but very slow and loud. They were pretty though. So about 15 mins later I get off at Burbon st. This is where all and I mean all the craziness is. I didn't know exactly how crazy till that night.
Off I was in search of food I could eat. Until this point I had not fully enjoyed anything (except the pizza I ate in LA and a hot dog, oh and that meal in Vegas.. but other than those) I had put in my mouth till now. I came across "The Red Fish Grill" that looked decent, - (let me just throw in now that New Orleans is like it's own country, I was in the French Quarter part of town and their cooking was Moroccan) so when I looked at the menu, I had no idea about anything. They had things like, Jambalya, PO-boys, red beans, crawfish.. huh??
Well after 20 mins of staring at the menu, I asked the bar man what he would chose and so Pasta Jambalya it was. Now the only good thing, food wise to come out of the states, that I've found, is that they give you bread and whipped butter with every meal. This butter is amazing!!!! If all that I had to eat on this trip was bread and butter, I would have been happy. So my pasta came out with the bread and butter and it was fantastic!! I was so happy to be eating good food. My pasta had chicken, sausage and prawns in it with a plain red sauce oh and with spirally pasta. So happy was I!!!!
So the food was good, but the beer wasn't. I hadn't enjoyed a beer yet and New Orleans wasn't the place I was going to start. But halfway through my meal, 2 gentleman sat next to me at the bar, (yes, I was eating my dinner alone at the bar. what??) and ordered their dinner. One of the men started talking to me, (when an American realizes you are from Australia, they get very excited.) and seemed very nice. They were both over 45 and seemed harmless. The one talking to me asked if he could buy me a drink, (I should just add in quickly that before I left for the States, Darcy made me a ring and I have been wearing it on my wedding finger.. and it works.) but not just any drink, a cocktail. So once again I asked my trusty bar man on his opinion and he made me the nicest cocktail I ever had. I don't remember the name or what was in it, but it was so yum!!!
So at this point Sid and Pat had become my new friends. They ordered dessert after dinner and insisted that I share in it and coffee and without my knowing, paid for my dinner. I was very surprised. After that they offered to show me around. By this point it was well and truly party time on Burbon St and the craziness I was talking about?? OMG.. Burbon St is famous for it's "hand grenades" which is a cocktail, so yum but so deadly and the Street Porn as I like to call it. STrip clubs everywhere, but not just that, they have naked, feral woman inviting you in. It was insane!!!
On to the Cigar bar it was for us and I had my very first one!! I was so proud. At first it was nice, mine was dipped in vanilla so it smelt and tasted quite nice, but I only got 3/4 of the way throw it and had to give it up. My throat hurt so bad, I coughed and had a foul taste in my mouth for the rest of the night. But it was fun!!
We walked around for a bit, saw the lovely little shops and organized what we were going to do the next day. Pat was the younger one and the leader of the two and was also happily married. Neither of them made me feel uncomfortable and I spoke about Darcy a lot so I thought if I was going to be here by myself, I might as well hang out with people who were fun and I would feel safe with. So they made sure I got home ok and they were going to ring me the next day and organize a time to meet, they wanted to take me to dinner again.
So my first night in New Orlens was great. My next post will be what happened the next day.
xx
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
Greyhound Bus Station
3 words I never want to hear again!!!
Sorry for leaving the last post. It turned out that the CW was airing an old episode of Supernatural.. made me sad.
Anyhoo.. those 3 evil words.. Greyhound..Bus..Station. Ew.. Never again!! I stupidly decided I was going to catch a bus from LA to New Orleans. Stupid right?? Well for 2 reasons. One. Greyhound is dirty and is full of wack-jobs oh and they cant do a simple procedure like check a tag on a bag and transport that bag to the correct bus.
I don't know if I should go into full detail about how I feel about the people I've met on this trip. I'm afraid I'll be seen as racist. But really, it's not my fault that every rude person I've come across in this country has been "of colour" and I'm actually pissed off that I have to write this. I'm not a mean person and I definitely don't want or expect special treatment. I just want to be treated like a normal human being... But these people I met were some of the rudest I have ever come across, and that says a lot considering I work in hospitality. It blows my mind!! I don't even think race comes into it, I don't even see them being nice to their own, it's just all about themselves.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that all black people are bad and being black makes them rude.. I'm not!! It's just that the majority of them that I have come across were very rude and most of them had something to do with Greyhound. Either on the bus, which includes the bus drivers or at the stations.
My experience so far has made me not want to come to this country again. There are though, 3 exceptions to that but I'll get to those later.
So back to my road trip.
The bus from LA to New Orleans took almost 3 days. 3 horrific, uncomfortable days. I went through countless towns and a few states, each stop only allowing me to see petrol stations and fast food places. That was until we stopped in San Antonio, Texas. Home of Mr. Padalecki. There was when I realized Greyhound had lost my luggage. I was fucking furious!!! How hard is it to look at a tag and move it??? It's not hard, there were 40 people on the bus, MAX!! Total wankers!!!! Oh and they had the nerve to be rude to me?? They could not care less. In the end, I called my travel insurance and with their help I got what I needed from Greyhound. The stop in San Antonio was a little longer than the rest so I was able to see a bit of the town. I met a nice enough girl on the bus and we went in search of some food. I was in the worst mood that I didn't really stop to take in how pretty the town was or look for decent food. I wish now that I had though.
A day later, I think it was, I found my luggage on another bus that happened to pull up at our stop and take some bags off from their buss to get check. I looked out my window and their was my bag. I couldn't believe my luck, it was awesome!! For two days I was in the same clothes, it was so gross. In the end I had to buy a Tshirt from one of the petrol stations we stopped at. I bought a Obama T - it's awesome! :P
I need to leave it here for now. My next post will be about New Orleans.
xx
Sorry for leaving the last post. It turned out that the CW was airing an old episode of Supernatural.. made me sad.
Anyhoo.. those 3 evil words.. Greyhound..Bus..Station. Ew.. Never again!! I stupidly decided I was going to catch a bus from LA to New Orleans. Stupid right?? Well for 2 reasons. One. Greyhound is dirty and is full of wack-jobs oh and they cant do a simple procedure like check a tag on a bag and transport that bag to the correct bus.
I don't know if I should go into full detail about how I feel about the people I've met on this trip. I'm afraid I'll be seen as racist. But really, it's not my fault that every rude person I've come across in this country has been "of colour" and I'm actually pissed off that I have to write this. I'm not a mean person and I definitely don't want or expect special treatment. I just want to be treated like a normal human being... But these people I met were some of the rudest I have ever come across, and that says a lot considering I work in hospitality. It blows my mind!! I don't even think race comes into it, I don't even see them being nice to their own, it's just all about themselves.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that all black people are bad and being black makes them rude.. I'm not!! It's just that the majority of them that I have come across were very rude and most of them had something to do with Greyhound. Either on the bus, which includes the bus drivers or at the stations.
My experience so far has made me not want to come to this country again. There are though, 3 exceptions to that but I'll get to those later.
So back to my road trip.
The bus from LA to New Orleans took almost 3 days. 3 horrific, uncomfortable days. I went through countless towns and a few states, each stop only allowing me to see petrol stations and fast food places. That was until we stopped in San Antonio, Texas. Home of Mr. Padalecki. There was when I realized Greyhound had lost my luggage. I was fucking furious!!! How hard is it to look at a tag and move it??? It's not hard, there were 40 people on the bus, MAX!! Total wankers!!!! Oh and they had the nerve to be rude to me?? They could not care less. In the end, I called my travel insurance and with their help I got what I needed from Greyhound. The stop in San Antonio was a little longer than the rest so I was able to see a bit of the town. I met a nice enough girl on the bus and we went in search of some food. I was in the worst mood that I didn't really stop to take in how pretty the town was or look for decent food. I wish now that I had though.
A day later, I think it was, I found my luggage on another bus that happened to pull up at our stop and take some bags off from their buss to get check. I looked out my window and their was my bag. I couldn't believe my luck, it was awesome!! For two days I was in the same clothes, it was so gross. In the end I had to buy a Tshirt from one of the petrol stations we stopped at. I bought a Obama T - it's awesome! :P
I need to leave it here for now. My next post will be about New Orleans.
xx
Thursday, April 9, 2009
The big catch up..
Ok so last I left off I had just gotten to San Fran. Now I'm in Bath, NY but I'll eventually get to that.
So I don't know if I was just way too homesick but San Fran was a little dissapointing. Where were all the artists, or even just the art?? Like I said in my last post, I loved Little Italy. The restaurants and homes were really pretty.. and the food.. eh!! I think I managed to eat a salad.
I didn't go out much at all. The one place I found that was half way decent, Jess didn't like, so we had to go. ("Jess didn't like, so we had to go." will be a recuring theme in my posts) I spent my last night there booking busses and accomidation for the rest of my trip while Jess went on an organized pub crawl and got wasted. Again... which made for a very enjoyable drive back to LA. NOT!!!
LA again. Woo... No Woo!! If I thought I was staying in the Ghetto the first time, I was dead wrong!! This time Jess booked us in a cheep Hotel as close to the airport as possible because I had decided to go to the Supernatural Convention. So we stayed in a place called "Little Mexico" ..er sorry, Hawthorn. We were the only white people there, it was scary. We couldn't even walk down the streets during daylight without getting harrassed by men in their cars and on the streets. The wmon looked like they wanted to cause us bodily harm.. even the kids looked like they were going to kick some ass!!! So forget night time. We stayed in. And the food... I don't understand why there is only take away food to eat outside of homes. What about people who don't like their food dripping in oil????
I did however meet one nice man in LA. The day of the Con. I caught the bus from downtown to the airport. The local busses... scary!!! But luckily I was sitting next to a decent man whom I started talking to and in the end offered to drive me the rest of the way to the Con. I was a little aprehensive, but I did it anyway. I was lucky I guess because I lived to tell this tale un-harmed.
I arrive at the Mariott Hotel for the Convention, buy my day pass ticket, $55 USD and wait for the Q+As to begin. My seat was right up the back, but I didn't care. I was too excited about seeing my boys, together!!! Eventually it's Jensen "the man of my dreams" Ackels who walks onto the stage. (side note, Darcy shares the podium with Jensen as the man of my dreams) heh! My heart speeds up, my palms get all sweaty and my smile feels like it'll permenantly change the shape of my face. Finally, after all these years, The Jensen Ackels is standing, admittedly 100m but none the less, in front of me.
He was beautiful and funny! and the whole crowd including myself became very snap happy. I always feel sorry for people who have to endure a thousand/million flashs, but he didn't seem to even notice. Eventually Jared walked on the stage and tagg-teamed Jensen and we had the delight and pleasure of listening to Mr. Jared "tall and sexy" Padalecki. He is so beautiful in person, more so than onscreen for some reason. When I got to personally meet him in Sydney I was blown away!!! So here he was again infront of me talking with that gorgeous southern accent, (which Jensen shares also). I was completely loving it!! THEN... Jensen comes back on stage and we get both boys for a good hour. About 20 mins in from that point, I worked up the courage to stand in line to ask them a question. But as luck would have it, the only thing I got out of being in the line was close-up photos. Time ran out.. but I think I was happy about that, I would have been totally retarted by the time I walked up to the mic. and nothing but jibberish would have come out. I did however want to tell them that I flew all the way from Melbourrrrrrrrne, Australia just to see them. But, whatevs!
So yeah.. I saw my boys. I was happy. Back to the Mexican ghetto for me!! That late afternoon, Jess and I walked to a 7/11 and bought long-neck Smirnoff Ices'. Yeap.. Long-necks and for $4.00. So crazy!!!
Sorry to cut it short my lovelies, but the new episode of Supernatural is up and I'm out. Be back tomorrow to continue.
xx
So I don't know if I was just way too homesick but San Fran was a little dissapointing. Where were all the artists, or even just the art?? Like I said in my last post, I loved Little Italy. The restaurants and homes were really pretty.. and the food.. eh!! I think I managed to eat a salad.
I didn't go out much at all. The one place I found that was half way decent, Jess didn't like, so we had to go. ("Jess didn't like, so we had to go." will be a recuring theme in my posts) I spent my last night there booking busses and accomidation for the rest of my trip while Jess went on an organized pub crawl and got wasted. Again... which made for a very enjoyable drive back to LA. NOT!!!
LA again. Woo... No Woo!! If I thought I was staying in the Ghetto the first time, I was dead wrong!! This time Jess booked us in a cheep Hotel as close to the airport as possible because I had decided to go to the Supernatural Convention. So we stayed in a place called "Little Mexico" ..er sorry, Hawthorn. We were the only white people there, it was scary. We couldn't even walk down the streets during daylight without getting harrassed by men in their cars and on the streets. The wmon looked like they wanted to cause us bodily harm.. even the kids looked like they were going to kick some ass!!! So forget night time. We stayed in. And the food... I don't understand why there is only take away food to eat outside of homes. What about people who don't like their food dripping in oil????
I did however meet one nice man in LA. The day of the Con. I caught the bus from downtown to the airport. The local busses... scary!!! But luckily I was sitting next to a decent man whom I started talking to and in the end offered to drive me the rest of the way to the Con. I was a little aprehensive, but I did it anyway. I was lucky I guess because I lived to tell this tale un-harmed.
I arrive at the Mariott Hotel for the Convention, buy my day pass ticket, $55 USD and wait for the Q+As to begin. My seat was right up the back, but I didn't care. I was too excited about seeing my boys, together!!! Eventually it's Jensen "the man of my dreams" Ackels who walks onto the stage. (side note, Darcy shares the podium with Jensen as the man of my dreams) heh! My heart speeds up, my palms get all sweaty and my smile feels like it'll permenantly change the shape of my face. Finally, after all these years, The Jensen Ackels is standing, admittedly 100m but none the less, in front of me.
He was beautiful and funny! and the whole crowd including myself became very snap happy. I always feel sorry for people who have to endure a thousand/million flashs, but he didn't seem to even notice. Eventually Jared walked on the stage and tagg-teamed Jensen and we had the delight and pleasure of listening to Mr. Jared "tall and sexy" Padalecki. He is so beautiful in person, more so than onscreen for some reason. When I got to personally meet him in Sydney I was blown away!!! So here he was again infront of me talking with that gorgeous southern accent, (which Jensen shares also). I was completely loving it!! THEN... Jensen comes back on stage and we get both boys for a good hour. About 20 mins in from that point, I worked up the courage to stand in line to ask them a question. But as luck would have it, the only thing I got out of being in the line was close-up photos. Time ran out.. but I think I was happy about that, I would have been totally retarted by the time I walked up to the mic. and nothing but jibberish would have come out. I did however want to tell them that I flew all the way from Melbourrrrrrrrne, Australia just to see them. But, whatevs!
So yeah.. I saw my boys. I was happy. Back to the Mexican ghetto for me!! That late afternoon, Jess and I walked to a 7/11 and bought long-neck Smirnoff Ices'. Yeap.. Long-necks and for $4.00. So crazy!!!
Sorry to cut it short my lovelies, but the new episode of Supernatural is up and I'm out. Be back tomorrow to continue.
xx
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