Day 31: 5 April - Gay Easter Sunday!

Time again now to check out of my second hostel! This was getting annoying and it was just the worst time for it. Being Easter Sunday every man and their dog was out today and the street cars were packed! It took 3 street cars to refuse to take me and my suitcase before I sucked it up and caught a cab.

Hostel #3 was the India House Hostel. This was an interesting place. First of all, it was huge! The "hostel" was made up of about 5-6 small shotgun houses - these are houses were one room leads into the other, with no hallways. My "dorm room" had 16 beds in it, but there were also about 4 rooms, so there was plenty of space! There was also a great hang out area in the back with a pool.

As soon as I was ready, I was out the door and on the next, very packed, street car into the French Quarter for the Gay Easter Parade. Apparently, after Mardi Gras, this is the next best gay parade that New Orleans has.

Waiting on the corner for the Gay Easter Parade

I got in a little early and settled myself in at the Big Easy Daiquiri bar, right next to where the parade would be. I ended up chatting to a lovely guy from northern Lousiana, in Monroe, named Jared. He was also alone, so we spoke about my trip and life and everything. Nice guy!    

After an amazing, and rather huge, pina colada, the parade was due to start, so I waited on the street. And waited, and waited...We were kept waiting for a while! While standing there, I met Melissa and Phil, and we instantly became friends! We got a beer and chatted and laughed for ages, not even caring about when the bloody parade would come. In that time, it also started pouring down! We didn't care, we were drunk and happy and the parade was starting! As fun as it was, the rain drove away a lot of the parade early, so it wasn't as big as usual, but I did manage to score myself a whole lot of beads!

Melissa, Phil and our takeaway beers\

New Orleans - Party Central!

Day 30: 4 April - Jazz Funeral

Time to check out of Hostel #1! I've mentioned that Easter weekend was heavily booked out across the hostels in NOLA, so it was impossible to find one that could accommodate me for 5 nights. Over the 5 nights, I had to stay in 3 hostels. Hostel #2 was The Auberge House. It was in a different area to the Jazz Hostel, and quite a hike away. Armon was also checking out that day, so he offered a ride to my next hostel - in his rented Mustang. Some people travel in style - I make friends with those people.

Once I had dropped my bags off, we were famished so we went around the corner for some good old southern food at a place called VooDoo BBQ. The South has it right when it comes to food! I had a plate with jerk chicken, gumbo, jambalaya and cornbread.  YUM!

Armon and I said our goodbyes after lunch and I went down to the French Quarter again for a stroll around the French Markets. The streets in the French Quarter are absolutely incredible and always full of activity! On my way to the markets, I stopped at St. Louis Cathedral, which was full of local artwork and buskers playing jazz music. I wanted to buy so many - if only my suitcase could handle it! I had bought one painting that morning at the hostel (which supports local artists), so I was so happy to meet the artist there and see some of his other pieces.

Busking jazz band filling the street with incredible music!

Another local delicacy of Louisiana are their pralines. A sugary, caramel-y, crumbly piece of heaven! I bought 3 very small pieces for $6 and then decided to get my fill of them with free samples at every store I went past that sold them - I had become addicted quickly!

The French Markets were wonderful. Just like a market place you'd find in most cities, but the items for sale were quintessential New Orleans pieces - with VooDoo dolls, Fleur De Lis' and artwork everywhere. I definitely bought my fair share of NOLA souvenirs.

The French Market entry way and street sign

After the markets I just walked around the French Quarter, taking in the sites and sounds and loving every bit! I headed back to hostel once my legs couldn't carry me anymore.

Loved the architecture in the French Quarter

I napped and relaxed in the hostel for a while before it occurred to me that I should do something with my night. I had heard great things about Frenchmen Street; great restaurants, jazz clubs and not as many crazies as Bourbon Street. Armon was particularly keen on jazz, so I roped him along for the night.

We found an overpriced place with average tasting Po'boys (basically a sub) and alright live music - the one place in New Orleans! We then headed to the Spotted Cat, a famous jazz club in NOLA. It must've been famous because we were squished in there like sardines! We couldn't even see the band through the crowd. While the music was fantastic, it was hard to get into the mood and we were both so exhausted from our big days. My deep fried shrimp po'boy was sitting funny as well! After one more beer, we called it a night.


*Disclaimer for the blog heading, a Jazz Funeral is an old New Orleans tradition where a jazz band accompanies a funeral - this phrase was very prominent around the French Quarter.

Day 29: 3 April - Welcome to the Big Easy

"Laissez les bons temps rouler" - Let the good times roll

I got into New Orleans (NOLA or N'awlins as the locals pronounce it) at about 6.30am. When I walked into the station I had the terrible realisation that I had nowhere to go, as I hadn't been able to find anywhere available/cheap. I had one final look online and found one available place in a good area, but it was not cheap! I settled for paying $60 for one night at the NOLA Jazz House Hostel. The price was ridiculous, but NOLA was in very high demand this long Easter weekend.

I hopped onto the streetcar outside (a sort of tram) and headed straight for the hostel for a nap! NOLA is a beautiful city and I got to see so much on the streetcar. It was a wonderful way to get around and took you to all the great places!

NOLA Streetcar

I got to the hostel and instantly found found a couch, as they couldn't check me in until 12pm. I slept for ages and completely wasted the morning. An Aussie couple came in and put on Avatar, so watched that with them. Then checked in, put my stuff away and headed to the French Quarter.

The french Quarter is beautiful! It is so full of culture and history, and the architecture is just amazing. I walked down the famous (infamous?) Bourbon St, which was super seedy. It was about 2pm and there were so many drunk people out! I found a cool bar with some live jazz music and tried the local Jambalaya, which was incredible! I went down to the riverwalk, along the Mississippi River, a little later, but everything was closing down so I hopped back on the streetcar.

One of the performers on Bourbon St in the middle of traffic!

Back at the hostel, I ran into my dorm mate, Armon, a guy visiting from Switzerland. We were keen for a beer, but there aren't really many bottle-o's in NOLA. They have this wonderful law that says you're allowed to drink outdoors, in public, just as long as it is in a plastic container (and it doesn't need to be enclosed). We headed down to the local bar and got some take away beers!

As tired (and a little tipsy) as I was at this point, we ended up visiting Bourbon Street again. In the dark of the night, the street seems a lot less seedy and a lot more fun! Bars, clubs, restaurants and strip joints lined the blocked off street, and thousands of people were walking around outside, drinking their beers and cocktails. I'm pretty sure NOLA is also the hen's/buck's party capital of America! We treated ourselves to a couple of Frozen daiquiris, picked a cool bar and watched live music and danced for hours!

Only pic of the night!

Day 28: 2 April - Houston's Museum District

I struggled to get out of bed today after all the wine. The crew from the night before - Thomas, Jimmy, Eline, Nathalie and Maria had a lovely breakfast together before we all parted ways. It was a great morning! Jimmy, who is a brilliant jewelry designer/maker spent breakfast making a ring, which I got to keep. Definitely my favourite souvenir from Houston!

Thomas, Nathalie, Eline, Me and Jimmy

It was so warm and humid in the hostel, and motivation to get up and ready after breakfast was really hard! I chose to spend the day exploring the museums in Houston, because it just so happened that they had free admission on Thursday. Thomas and Jimmy also had the same idea, so we all headed over to the Museum of Fine Art. I'm not a huge artsy person generally, but it was very nice in there. My favourite was definitely the ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian art.

I was super impressed with this museum!

After the museum, the boys and I said our goodbyes and I headed over to Hermann Park. While checking out the monument of Sam Houston, I met a German girl named Claudia. We ended up walking around the great park for a while before walking down the road for some lunch at Cafe Express in the Art Museum. I had a gourmet swiss cheese and mushroom burger..Aaaaahmazing!

The Sam Houston monument in Hermann Park

Replica reflection pool and Washington monument

Very cool stick house in Hermann Park

We said our goodbyes after that and I headed to the Natural Science Museum. It was a very cool museum, and I spent most of the time in the Dinosaur room, but it closed very shortly after I got there.

I managed to bus back to hostel where O'Dell picked me up. We got Chick Fil A for dinner - an awesome chicken burger and cookies and cream milkshake! - and headed to the Miller open theatre for a free Legally Blonde musical. It was such a cute musical put on my the senior class of a performing arts school, and they rocked it!

I said goodbye to O'Dell at the bus station where I was off to New Orleans!

Day 27: 1 April in Downtown Houston

For my first morning in Houston, I spent some time booking buses and accommodation for the next couple of weeks. I really didn't want to be stuck again as I was having trouble finding available places in New Orleans; my next stop.

I then headed to downtown Houston where I had Whataburger, something that was recommended to me by a few people. While it was very nice, it wasn't something to rave over (sorry guys!). By this point, the day had turned grey and rainy! I decided to head down to the Galleria, a BIG and fancy shopping mall. After a bit of window shopping and trying on way too many clothes, I headed back to the hostel.

Back at the hostel, I met Thomas and Jimmy while exploring the big house. That hostel was having a Taco, Wine and Brownie night (best $6 I ever spent!) so we all indulged in a few glasses or so. We then decided drinking games were the way to go. We played a favourite of mine, Asshole, though the American rules differed slightly. We then played Spoons (the drinking game). Because Spoons is an hilarious game to play, a lot of other people having dinner decided to come join us, including Eline and Nathalie from the Netherlands. After a few rounds of intense Spoons, it was time for a bottle-o run, where more wine ensued.

We stayed up pretty late in the end, talking, laughing and jumping in the (very cold) pool - totally against the rules! It was a fantastic night with amazing people!

The gang

Day 26: 31 March - Quick day in San Antonio, then off to Houston

This was the last day of my very short trip to San Antonio. As lovely as it was, there wasn't a lot more to do, so I was happy to move on.

I left my host's house nice and early, dropping my bag off at Greyhound station before exploring the city a bit more. I went to the Alamo first, to see what the fuss was about. The Alamo was a base for soldiers when Texas were fighting the Mexicans (this is my extremely basic knowledge of the history). From what I can remember, the Texans were greatly outnumbered, but had managed to stave off the Mexican soldiers for a while because of the fortress that was The Alamo (and it wasn't too much of a fortress).  Regardless of the history, it was a very nice place to walk around. There was plenty of old and interesting things in there. They also had amazing fudge milkshakes, which definitely improved my experience.

Old tree/old wall of the Alamo..everything's old!

After the Alamo, I went souvenir shopping, as there wasn't a lot more to do. They had some funky little shops though, so that kept me going for a while. I then went for a final stroll down the Riverwalk.

They love to show their Texas pride!

At 5.20pm, I hopped on a bus for Houston. I got in at about 8.30 where I met up with O'Dell, someone that I had met way back in Hawaii, and it was great to see him again! He picked me up from the station and took me out for real Mexican food, which was incredible! Best enchillada ever!

He then showed me Hermann Park, which had it's own replica of the reflecting pool and monument in Washington DC, and an incredibly big, lit up fountain in the lake - a much better attraction at night.

Photos couldn't do the view justice!

Before arriving at my hostel, a throw-away comment about me never having been to Walmart had us check out the store at midnight! Also, as a side note, they have drive thru ATMs. We need this back home.

I finally checked in at The Morty Rich Hostel around 1am and it was super fancy! The hostel is a 3 storey mansion in the suburbs; something that you'd see in the movies, that had been converted into a lovely hostel.

Day 25: 30 March - Road to San Antonio

Today, I left Austin. Austin had been incredible and was certainly one of my absolute favourite cities. It was sad to leave, but I will definitely be back again.

I drove to San Antonio with Susanna, a very funny and boisterous Italian woman that I had met at my last hostel. She had rented a car and was going to San Antonio, so we thought it would fun to go together. While the drive was very fun and she's very entertaining, she is a terribly slow driver!! What should have been a 1.5 hour drive took us close to 4 hours! Rather than take the boring highway, we went through the country towns and saw a bit more of Texas.

Unfortunately, San Antonio doesn't have any hostels, and only expensive motels/hotels. This was the first time I tried Couchsurfing. Through couchsurfing.org I had managed to organise a night on a strangers couch. This was a strange experience, but a very good one (don't worry, the site is regulated and people get to rate and review!). When we got into San Antonio, I said farewell to Susanna and bussed about an hour away to my host's house. It was a little too far away from anything, but it was free, so I couldn't complain!

After settling in and meeting my hosts, a very nice brother and sister with a spare bed (no couches for me!), I headed down to the Riverwalk. San Antonio has a very long river that runs right through and beneath the city. To walk along it, you need to walk down a couple of flights of stairs from the street level. At the street level, it is just a normal city, and when you walk down, there are restaurants, shops and bars that line the river, and paths that follow it all around. It was very beautiful!

Random little waterfall along the river

The Alamo

The river at night

That night I met up with Reggie, a local who I had met the previous day in Austin. We strolled around the Riverwalk for a while, got incredible ice cream and looked in all the cool stores. We visited the Alamo as well, but it was closed, so we couldn't go inside. He then took me to a TexMex restaurant called Chuy's. I had been assured that Chuy's was some of the best TexMex food, but I was underwhelmed by the enchilada and tostada. Real Mexican food is the way to go!

Though I liked the beer and Strawberry daiquiri 

Day 24: 29 March - Last day in Austin

Today I had to say goodbye to Lloyd and Goldman at about 5am, which was way too sad and not just because they woke me up! They are brilliant and I can't wait to come visit them as soon as I'm back home!

Even though they had left and I was in the hostel when I shouldn't be, I was dead tired, so I slept until about 10am. Thank goodness I had made friends with the wonderful girls in the room - Melanie, Michelle and Susanna - so they were cool with it. Before gathering up my luggage and walking out the door with no plans, I managed to book a room with another hostel in the city, right off of 6th Street - the Firehouse Hostel. This hostel was incredibly funky and unique, with awesome art work scattered all through and lovely features here and there. They had saloon doors into the shower rooms, cool, cubby-like dorm beds so you had privacy and, the best part, it was upstairs to a speak-easy bar. A bar that had been opened during the prohibition, the entrance to the bar was a bookshelf which slid into a cavity wall.

Just a normal bookshelf? I think not!

Once I dumped my bags at my new hostel, I headed to the Mexic Arte Museum down the road. This was a very small and very cool museum with some amazing pieces by the Mexican communities in Texas. After the museum, I went in search of a good BBQ place, but it was getting late (for lunch) so it was difficult to find an open restaurant. In search for a restaurant, I incidentally explored the city centre, and I was impressed!

Some very cool street art outside of the Mexic Arte Museum

And some cool art in the museum

Art is everywhere in this city!

After lunch, I went back to the hostel, went into my cubby and skyped my family for my sister's birthday. This was my first skype date and it made me realise how much I missed them!

In the hostel common room, I met Reggie and Ratchit. I convinced them to come with me down to Castle Hill, a famous spot in Austin for graffiti art. A building that had been there previously was mostly demolished, leaving several walls there for artists to come and do whatever they want. A local had said that the walls are painted almost everyday, so there is always something new to see. At the top of the hill, on the highest wall, there are breath-taking views of the city,

Austin City

View from the bottom of the hill

Some ridiculous talent

The night continued briefly when we met Zoe and Awa back at hostel. We all hung out for a while and checked out the speakeasy bar, but we were extremely tired. The last few nights had caught up with me, so it was an early one for me.

Day 23: 28 March - Third Wheeling, Cold Springs and Rainey Street

After our late night on the town (and Goldman's food poisoning episode) a good sleep in was in order. Goldman and I slept until about 11am until the voice of reason, Lloyd, told us it was probably a good idea to get up and...do laundry. We were a little worried that we were wasting our day - the boys' last day - in Austin, but luckily Austin is more of a night time city, so things don't start up until late anyway.

After the washing was done I third wheeled with the boys down to Barton Springs! A (VERY) cold and beautiful natural springs. It was quite a warm, sunny day, but no where near hot enough to jump in for a swim unfortunately. The most I could handle was getting up to my knees before my feet went numb. That being said, it was very refreshing and a lovely spot to hang out.

As deep as I would go!

Noobs on the shore

After our short dip, we went for a bit more of a walk around the springs - there was a pool right next to it with a sort of grassy beach area that the boys wanted to explore a bit more. Instead of that, our stomachs prevailed and we went searching for food. Times like this I love travelling alone, because we couldn't agree on what we wanted! In the end, we ended up walking down the road to a little picnic area that was surrounded by food trucks. It was such a funky spot! Lloyd and I got awesome burgers and paprika chips while poor Goldy got a juice (still wasn't feeling too well).

While we were there we met Megan, Mark and their dog, Red - local Austinites. They gave us directions and tips for the rest of our day. We had decided to head to the SOCO district for some shopping. Turns out they were heading that way too, so we joined together for the walk. On the way we had the most amazing snow cones and Lloyd and Goldman taught us the most annoying and frustrating game ever - Snaps. They liked to tease us with it without giving up the rules, and we all hated them for it!

The SOCO district was so lovely and funky and had very quirky shops. We didn't really go into many, but it was just lovely to walk through. We eventually got to Megan's place and she so graciously dropped us off at Rainey Street, where Mark lives. Up in his apartment on the 30th floor, we could see so much of Austin - up there, I resolved to one day move there!

From Mark's place, we headed down to the bars at Rainey Street, which were open and lit up. We headed to Craft Pride first, a bar that boasted over 60 Texan beers on tap. Lloyd and I enjoyed the Zoe beer (because the logo was a cute puppy) which was incredible! We then headed to another food truck picnic spot for dinner - incredible slider burgers this time - where we met some Kansas folk and a Scot. We spent the rest of the night at Bangers, drinking beer and teaching the new crew the game of Snaps.

Yummy Zoe Beer

The end of the night came and I was in a bit of trouble.. I hadn't been able to book any accommodation, as the hostels were all full and I was having too much fun to worry about it during the day. The boys saved me though and snuck me back into the hostel, where I had a sneaky free night's stay...oh well, better than staying on the street!

Day 22: 27 March - Lloyd and Goldy (now you're famous in my blog)

My morning was spent exploring the Capitol Building and grounds. The Capitol Building is amazingly impressive and can be seen at pretty much any spot along Commerce Street in the city. The grounds around the building were filled with monuments to soldiers in the Confederacy and the history of Texas.

I had heard great things about Rainey Street, so I went to check it out. Unfortunately, during the day, it's not so fancy. The street boasts incredible nightlife (though not as crazy as 6th Street), where the dilapidated old houses have all been renovated and converted into bars, sporting specialty food and beers. Most places were closed during the day. I had lunch at one of the only open bars, Bangers. It was an outdoor restaurant with long picnic tables and a barn yard feel to it. I had a venison sausage and poutine fries (fries with gravy and cheese curds) - YUMMY!

After the night before, I was stuffed and went back to the hostel for a much needed nap. When I got back I met the new Aussie boys in the room, Lloyd and Daniel (Goldy). Considering I hadn't spoken to an Aussie in a few weeks, I was happy to hear their sweet sweet accents! After my nap, they came back to relax for a while and I got to hang out and speak to Goldy while Lloyd napped. We'd decided that we'd hang out on 6th street that night, and see how crazy things can get on a Friday night.

It seemed that Friday was about 100x crazier than my night out on Thursday! The street was blocked off again but there were so many more people! At each intersection, there was barricaded group of police officers, in case shit went down. It was pretty exciting!

6th Street Party

Early in the night when we weren't too bad

The three of us bar crawled, looking for live music and cheap beer - thankfully, there was plenty! We started at a place called the Chuggin Monkey, which had incredible live music. We went to a Coyote Ugly bar, where we watched as the bar girls picked on unsuspecting folk, making them twerk on the bar and doing body shots - neither of which we were subjected to! At one point, we ended up at a roof top corner bar and people-watched everyone down on the street.

To finish off the night, we found a pizza place and bought a giant slice each. The pizza was so much better than the night before, but poor Goldy got food poisoning from his slice! :(

We are just too sexy!