1-10 American Road Trip: New Orleans by Night

As I was saying in my previous post, Ashley and I booked our hotel for New Orleans at the last minute on Trivago, which turned out to be an enormous mistake. We booked Mag's Guest House, the website of which boasts that the "owner and host are known to surprise guests with chocolates and champagne" well...we were certainly surprised..but not in a positive way.

The room was laid out in three parts, with the hallway between the bathroom and bedroom having two other mysterious doors that were locked from the other side. We should mention that the hotel did not have a reception or apparently anyone working or staying at the hotel other than us. We retrieved our keys from a lockbox outside the building from a code that we were emailed, and then from another lockbox outside of the bedroom we were assigned. Being very tired from a ten hour drive we hastily dropped our things, I grabbed my debit card and license and we headed out on the town--the full shenanigans of which I will describe soon below! Upon return to our room around 2am, we discovered that all the lights were on, my credit cards had been laid out of my wallet and the toilet seat was up. Then in the middle of the night we both woke up startled and Ashley claims she thought she saw someone in the room with us. Were our imaginations running wild? Was Mag's Guest House haunted by voodoo loving, antebellum spirits? Or was there a creepy stranger lurking in our room? Who is to say? Fun fact though is that New Orleans has more murder's than any city in the USA, so please be cautious!

Anyway, while our room was allegedly being scavenged- Ashley and I were having a ball. Firstly, because the bar downstairs from our hotel, called Mag's 940 was having a rancorous drag show, which we happily joined.

The owner and bartenders of Mag's 940 (a pretty happening gay bar in town) recommended a couple of places to eat in the French Quarter but we decided it was too late to walk 20 minutes alone in the dark.

I took some blurry pictures of our shorter ten minute walk to a sushi restaurant that Ashley had spotted while we were parking the car. Turns out we met two really fabulous people that worked there: Sarah (a very cute bartender with a stylish scarf and dark-rimmed glasses and a messy blonde bun who had some serious Tina Fey lesbian vibes) and Jake (a thin, handsome youthful hipster guy eager to show us the town).

The above is Jake and me after many, many cocktails were consumed. Jake met us at a very hip bar called Sidney's Saloon, which Jake and Sarah had recommended. I shot Jake a text before he came to meet us and tried my best to convince him to bring Sarah along too, I think I might have said something like "you two are a dynamic duo" to which he laughed it off and said Sarah was too tired, this made me mildly disappointed as I love to flirt (gemini in the house). The bar had a great vibe, packed with stylishly dressed young people ready to tear up their Saturday night. The drinks were cheap and delicious, the music was eclectic, obscure and exciting and the decor complete with a ram's head above the bar. The bar had a photo-booth, which we all crammed into happily alongside our Louisiana Bourbon.

Then Jake ushered us off to the next bar--we got to sample lots of delicious street food on the way! Jake informed us that many of the popular street stalls were there because the original restaurant had been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

The above food stall was outside of Sidney's Saloon and this lady was preparing divinely smelling Thai food. Yummmmmm. She was also super cute!

The night got slightly blurry after the next few cocktails. Jake took us to a second, even hipper bar called Hi Ho Lounge. This bar was situated on St. Claude's Avenue, which was bustling with activity and bars all the way down the road. For instance, across the street was a full swing cabaret bar, which was awesome and so typical of the vibe you would expect visiting New Orleans.

The next thing I know, Ashley is buying some fried chicken from a street stall and I've lost my driver's license and can't get into the next bar. Jake disappears to go and look for it on the street, while I retrace my steps to previous bars, asking around. No one has seen my license. Finally I find Ashley and the two of us search in vain for Jake but he is no where to be seen so we begin the long walk back to our hotel.

The next morning...things get weirder!