Thumper
06-06-2014, 08:31 PM
... so far, so good.
Well, our "experimental" budget trip to New Orleans has been good ... so far (knock on wood). We left last evening around 7:00 PM and the trip wasn't that bad. It's a 10-hour trip by car and the bus trip (with a dinner stop and a couple of rest stops) took about 12 hours. Not bad considering we slept most of the way and arrived rested and ready to go this morning. We arrived at the departure area a bit early to get a good parking spot (provided gratis by Megabus) in the 24-hour security guard monitored lot. (I HOPE the car will still be there when we get back). We hung out with another group of early arrivals, got to know each other and actually had such a good time, the wait flew by. The bus arrived on time and we grabbed a couple seats up on the top deck. Each of us had two seats for the first leg ... then gave up our extras as more passengers got on at the first stop (out of 4 short stops). The buses were nice, new, clean and had friendly personnel. The seats looked nice but lacked a bit in comfort ... but no worse than airline seats and possibly reclined even farther. The A/C was BITCHIN' and many passengers were buying blankets at the dinner stop (Love's Truck Stop). Heck, I soaked it up and loved every frigid degree of coldness ... slept like a baby.
http://hottytoddy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/megabus.jpg
We arrived in New Orleans around 6:00 am, walked across the street to a Walgreens to grab a 3-day bus/street car pass. A really neat back-packer gal (from Germany) we met while awaiting the bus in Florida went with us as she didn't know about the passes and bought one also. We can get on any bus or street car in town (on and off anywhere along the line) and it only cost us $9.00 each. Not bad since the round-trip bus tickets cost us a total of $5.50 (yes that's the total for TWO tickets!) so our total transportation expense for the entire trip is $23.50 (about the cost of a half tank of gas).
We got to the Hyatt Regency waaay before check-in time ... but we sweet-talked the hottie little desk clerk into letting us check in when we got here at around 7:30 - 8:00 am .... plus she gave us a VERY nice upgrade on the 19th floor with a view of the city. She also waived the fee for internet access from the room. Oh, did I mention the room is FREE? (One of Lynn's perks as a Hyatt employee) :D
We got in the room, cleaned up and relaxed a bit ... then headed out to hop a bus for our lunch destination ... Willie Mae's. Remember, we like to live on the ragged edge when it comes to travel and went to the 5th Ward (NOT a good area for white folks to hang out). The weird thing is, when we got there ... it was 100% white folks standing in line awaiting a seat! (Note: That's Lynn standing right at the center of the window, holding my place in line)
30693070
Once we got in, we were treated to a KICK-ASS fried chicken lunch ... with a huge side of red beans and rice as well an order of butter beans and rice, along with all the sweet tea we could drink. They brought us a couple pieces of chicken to get started on, then brought a bigger pile a few mins. after this pic was taken.
3067
If you ever get to N.O. ... ya' might want to check it out (if ya' gots da balls). We had to place it a notch below Gus' World Famous Fried Chicken in Memphis ... but it's definitely up there with some of the best fried chicken we've had. The bus doesn't even go that far into the neighborhood, so we had to get off and walk through the projects and a sketchy 5th Ward neighborhood to find this joint, but we made it out alive! ;)
From the net:
Words like "beloved" and "institution" barely start to scratch the surface when describing Willie Mae's, an iconic but off-the-beaten-track New Orleans eatery. This is a true locals' favorite - so much so that volunteers famously pitched in to rebuild it after Hurricane Katrina, a seemingly generous effort that was fueled by ulterior motives - the craving for Willie Mae's famous fried chicken. Willie Mae's is far off the tourist path in the much poorer Fifth Ward, still surrounded by evidence of Katrina's devastating wrath, and it specializes in one of the nation's most ubiquitous dishes, available at thousands of locations nationwide, fried chicken. It is a small, house-like corner restaurant with metal gates over the front door, and two small dining rooms divided by a hallway along which is the open kitchen where cooks are busily frying away. There is no décor to speak of, just a ceiling fan and some beer bottles lined up on a shelf representing the choices, and a number of framed clippings about the eatery and its scion, Willie Mae Seaton. Along with the omnipresent line out the door, these clippings are the only indication something special is going on, and if you look, you will see numerous reviews proclaiming it nothing less than the best fried chicken on earth, along with a James Beard Award - the culinary world's equivalent of an Oscar.
P.S. I've been carryin' heat through the whole trip so far and walk most times with my hand in my pocket ... but no matter how bad a neighborhood we're in, EVERYONE we've met has been super friendly and helpful. We're a bit rusty with bus schedules and routes ... but on every leg of our journey so far, people have fallen all over themselves to help guide us. A very positive experience so far. My sister and bil arrive tomorrow around noon ... they're not quite as "adventurous", so we may be doing a bit more of the "touristy" stuff after tomorrow. I HATE touristy stuff! :(
Well, our "experimental" budget trip to New Orleans has been good ... so far (knock on wood). We left last evening around 7:00 PM and the trip wasn't that bad. It's a 10-hour trip by car and the bus trip (with a dinner stop and a couple of rest stops) took about 12 hours. Not bad considering we slept most of the way and arrived rested and ready to go this morning. We arrived at the departure area a bit early to get a good parking spot (provided gratis by Megabus) in the 24-hour security guard monitored lot. (I HOPE the car will still be there when we get back). We hung out with another group of early arrivals, got to know each other and actually had such a good time, the wait flew by. The bus arrived on time and we grabbed a couple seats up on the top deck. Each of us had two seats for the first leg ... then gave up our extras as more passengers got on at the first stop (out of 4 short stops). The buses were nice, new, clean and had friendly personnel. The seats looked nice but lacked a bit in comfort ... but no worse than airline seats and possibly reclined even farther. The A/C was BITCHIN' and many passengers were buying blankets at the dinner stop (Love's Truck Stop). Heck, I soaked it up and loved every frigid degree of coldness ... slept like a baby.
http://hottytoddy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/megabus.jpg
We arrived in New Orleans around 6:00 am, walked across the street to a Walgreens to grab a 3-day bus/street car pass. A really neat back-packer gal (from Germany) we met while awaiting the bus in Florida went with us as she didn't know about the passes and bought one also. We can get on any bus or street car in town (on and off anywhere along the line) and it only cost us $9.00 each. Not bad since the round-trip bus tickets cost us a total of $5.50 (yes that's the total for TWO tickets!) so our total transportation expense for the entire trip is $23.50 (about the cost of a half tank of gas).
We got to the Hyatt Regency waaay before check-in time ... but we sweet-talked the hottie little desk clerk into letting us check in when we got here at around 7:30 - 8:00 am .... plus she gave us a VERY nice upgrade on the 19th floor with a view of the city. She also waived the fee for internet access from the room. Oh, did I mention the room is FREE? (One of Lynn's perks as a Hyatt employee) :D
We got in the room, cleaned up and relaxed a bit ... then headed out to hop a bus for our lunch destination ... Willie Mae's. Remember, we like to live on the ragged edge when it comes to travel and went to the 5th Ward (NOT a good area for white folks to hang out). The weird thing is, when we got there ... it was 100% white folks standing in line awaiting a seat! (Note: That's Lynn standing right at the center of the window, holding my place in line)
30693070
Once we got in, we were treated to a KICK-ASS fried chicken lunch ... with a huge side of red beans and rice as well an order of butter beans and rice, along with all the sweet tea we could drink. They brought us a couple pieces of chicken to get started on, then brought a bigger pile a few mins. after this pic was taken.
3067
If you ever get to N.O. ... ya' might want to check it out (if ya' gots da balls). We had to place it a notch below Gus' World Famous Fried Chicken in Memphis ... but it's definitely up there with some of the best fried chicken we've had. The bus doesn't even go that far into the neighborhood, so we had to get off and walk through the projects and a sketchy 5th Ward neighborhood to find this joint, but we made it out alive! ;)
From the net:
Words like "beloved" and "institution" barely start to scratch the surface when describing Willie Mae's, an iconic but off-the-beaten-track New Orleans eatery. This is a true locals' favorite - so much so that volunteers famously pitched in to rebuild it after Hurricane Katrina, a seemingly generous effort that was fueled by ulterior motives - the craving for Willie Mae's famous fried chicken. Willie Mae's is far off the tourist path in the much poorer Fifth Ward, still surrounded by evidence of Katrina's devastating wrath, and it specializes in one of the nation's most ubiquitous dishes, available at thousands of locations nationwide, fried chicken. It is a small, house-like corner restaurant with metal gates over the front door, and two small dining rooms divided by a hallway along which is the open kitchen where cooks are busily frying away. There is no décor to speak of, just a ceiling fan and some beer bottles lined up on a shelf representing the choices, and a number of framed clippings about the eatery and its scion, Willie Mae Seaton. Along with the omnipresent line out the door, these clippings are the only indication something special is going on, and if you look, you will see numerous reviews proclaiming it nothing less than the best fried chicken on earth, along with a James Beard Award - the culinary world's equivalent of an Oscar.
P.S. I've been carryin' heat through the whole trip so far and walk most times with my hand in my pocket ... but no matter how bad a neighborhood we're in, EVERYONE we've met has been super friendly and helpful. We're a bit rusty with bus schedules and routes ... but on every leg of our journey so far, people have fallen all over themselves to help guide us. A very positive experience so far. My sister and bil arrive tomorrow around noon ... they're not quite as "adventurous", so we may be doing a bit more of the "touristy" stuff after tomorrow. I HATE touristy stuff! :(