All the way from Bourbon Street to Esplanade.....New Orleans (NOLA) we are finally here! We had finally arrived at the place I (Riv) had been dreaming of since I was a child. My family are fairly musical (either music lovers/musicians or both) and the home of Jazz had always held a mysterious allure. I am so pleased to say that not only did it live up to expectations, it far exceeded them. We were staying in an AirBnB house ($72.75 AUD/55.30 USD) on the outskirts of the Garden District. Although this neighbourhood appeared a little rough around the edges we quickly discovered it had a lot of heart and everyone was welcoming and friendly. We had heard from a very credible source that if we had the opportunity we should check out Kermit Ruffins while we were there, so after a little Google research we found he had opened his own bar/music venue in Treme called Kermit's Treme Mother in Law Lounge. Some further searching led us to the fact that not only was there a gig on that night but that he would be playing with Cyril Neville of the Neville Brothers (musicians I had grown up listening to). What we were to discover on arriving that it was actually Cyril and his wife's wedding anniversary party and it was more like an in-house celebration with jam sessions than a gig. After an initial awkward period feeling like we'd walked into a private party we relaxed and had a great time. We even met a guy called Errol who taught me how to dance to Jazz and introduced us to his friend Cyril. The best thing about this night was seeing how music brings people together. By the end of the night you had a range of people from all walks of life ranging from about 4 to 70 years old all together with one thing in common....music! It was magical. Another thing that we decided to do while in NOLA was a cooking course at Crescent City Cooks. Although this wasn't cheap it was totally worth it. This company do both cooking demonstrations and hands on classes. The latter aren't as popular (for reasons still unbeknownst to us) which actually meant we were the only ones booked in on the day resulting in a wonderful private cooking class. We had already chosen our menu a few days before and were excited to learn how to cook gumbo, jambalaya and pecan pie. The best thing was not only did we get to eat everything we cooked but we also got to take home the rest (this fed us for days) and we got free beer/wine throughout the whole class (a definite risk when handling knives 😜)! The classes cost $150 USD/197.35 AUD per person and last between 3-4 hours. We did ours with Scott and he was absolutely fantastic. We know this isn't your typical backpacker activity but as some of you will already know (or will come to know) we both love to cook as much as we love to eat. Because of this we like to learn how to cook local cuisine wherever possible and for that this was an extravagance worth indulging in. Their demonstration classes are significantly cheaper if this isn't within the budget but you still feeling like learning. Speaking of food, NOLA has some great options within the backpacker budget. One we tried on our first night was called The Blind Pelican in the Garden District which has great cocktails and happy hour specials. This included an oyster special that entitled you to a dozen oysters for $3 USD ($3.95 AUD) per person for every cocktail you drank. Dinner set is back $40 USD ($52.63 AUD) including drinks. Another great local tip we got was trying the Po'boys (sandwiches) at Johnny's (see 'Gallery' for the yummy picture). Dani had the special which was half an alligator sausage po'boy with a cup of seafood gumbo for $10.25 USD ($13.50 AUD). We do a lot of free (tip based) walking tours and NOLA was no exception. The tour we booked took us to St Louis #1 Cemetery where the famous Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau is buried and was absolutely fantastic. The guide we had, Cathy, was really passionate about the city she grew up in, as well as being a qualified historian. They had many different tours and we really wished we had the time to do them all. We find these tours are a great way to find out more about a city as well as to orientate yourself. Lastly, if you get a chance you should also check out the Katrina Exhibit at the Presbytère ($6 USD/$7.90 AUD). This is a touching and harrowing exhibit that gives you a little insight into what happened pre and post hurricane Katrina and shows you how it impacted on the communities that live in NOLA differently. It also explains a little why locals call the city NOLA the city that care forgot. We had a great 4 days in NOLA. It is a city that has a lot of heart. There is still evidence of horrific damage Katrina inflicted all over the city, even 11 years on, yet the sense of community you feel here is amazing.
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Our Road Trip Honeymoon through the Deep SouthIt sounds a little nuts when we initially tell people that we decided to do a road trip of the Deep South for our honeymoon. As a lesbian couple it's not really the first place that comes to mind when you think of LGBT friendly honeymoon/holiday destinations. However we're hoping that this blog will help other LGBT travellers possibly navigate a trip of their own, because it turns out it was totally worth it. Before we get into it we should probably explain my rationale for this blog. When we initially decided to get married in New York (due to it not being legal in Australia where were residing) it made sense to start off our epic honeymoon doing parts of America we'd always wanted to visit. For me (Riv) this was the Deep South namely New Orleans and the Mississippi Delta. The south conjured up images of iced tea, peaches and long hot summer days as well as soul and music. The only problem being that it is also known as the Bible Belt and not a particularly welcoming place for us. This led me to attempt to research travel tips for lesbian or the more inclusive LGBT umbrella for the Deep South. Turns out there isn't much information out there. To make things a little worse, at the time we were really starting to finalise our plans, North Carolina and Mississippi both decided to bring in different discriminatory laws targeting the LGBT community. Initially I have to admit this made me want to change our plans but after some extensive discussions Dani and I decided that it was important to stick to our plans. My research came up with a route that seemed relatively friendly and this was it: Newark, NJ - Philadelphia, PA - Baltimore, MD - Richmond, VA - Raleigh, NC - Charleston, SC - Savannah, GA - Atlanta, GA - Montgomery, AL - Mobile, AL - New Orleans, LA - Natchez, MS - Jackson, MS - Memphis, TN - Nashville, TN - Asheville, NC - Roanoke, VA - Shenandoah National Park, VA - Washington, DC - Princeton, NJ - Newark, NJ Why did we start our road trip loop in Newark, NJ? Useful little tip here, it’s almost always cheaper to rent cars in smaller cities, and considering we were looking at paying a daily rate for 31 days, the difference between hiring in New York (where we were actually leaving from) and Newark was nearly $300USD. The car hire came to a total of $1048.08 USD ($1379.05AUD) for the 31 days. We did find that hiring a car for a week/month dropped the price from a daily rate by a substantial amount. Also make sure you have a credit card that has enough credit to freeze the entire hire cost. You don't have to pay on this card when dropping the car off but you do need it to drive out of the rental company. Our first stop was Philadelphia, which is an awesome city with interesting architecture (haha we are now that old), street art and a lot of history. It also has the Reading Market, which is probably only second in it’s sheer foodie gloriousness to the Central Market in Adelaide, Australia. It has amazing quality food and it's all very cheap. In addition you can find a delicious vegetarian Philly cheese steak (oxymoron I know) at George's. While staying in Philly we had a private AirBnb double room, costing us $53 AUD ($40.28 USD) per night. Our next stop was Baltimore, which has got a great food market of it’s own called Lexington Market. This is where Dani claims to have had the best crab cakes she's ever eaten at Faidley’s (See the food album for pictures). We decided to stay in Petersburg for the night, as the accommodation options were a lot cheaper. We stayed at the Econolodge for $59.60 USD ($78.40 AUD) per night. Our next 2 stops we're exactly that...stops. We stayed in Richmond at the Econolodge for $49.71 USD ($65.40 AUD) and a Microtel in Raleigh for $49.71 USD ($65.40 AUD). While neither of these cities have much to offer we did do an interesting tour of the State Capitol building in Richmond which is free and very well run. If you have an interest in universities (American ones are pretty cool and the stuff of movies), Duke has a beautiful campus and is not far from Raleigh. From here we entered South Carolina and what really began to feel like the south. Just past the North/South Carolina border is a fantastically cheesy roadside stop called South of the Border. If you, like us, are looking for some seriously quirky American roadside attractions, this one has got to top them all. Originally started as a fireworks stand (when you couldn't buy them in North Carolina) it has now turned in to what can only be described as a 50's Mexican themed park. It has multiple attractions, gift stores, food and a petrol station. Sounds ridiculous but absolutely worth a stop! Our destination in South Carolina was Charleston, which turned out to be one of our favourite places of our whole trip. We were staying in another AirBnB here which was a great find (message us if you need the details) for $84 AUD ($63.84 USD) per night. Charleston is steeped in Southern charm, from it's Spanish moss draped trees, to it’s friendly locals smiling a "Hey y'all!". It's a great town and totally worth the visit. For food you have got to try Jestine's Kitchen. You may have to queue outside for a short time during lunch but this should not deter you! Jestine’s has some amazing food, all cooked home-style with soul and love. It cost us $50 USD ($65.70 AUD) for a meal for 2 and it was worth every cent. Also of note if you have time head to the Charleston Tea Plantation ($10 USD/13.15 AUD pp for the tour). It's the biggest tea plantation in North America and the tour includes all the tea you can drink (of various types), a 15 minute factory walk with information video and a bus tour with guide around the plantation. After 2 glorious days in Charleston it was off to Savannah in Georgia. We've got to say that Savannah after Charleston was a little bit of a let down. It felt to us much more of a tourist trap and not in the good or funny way. We did manage to spot a Forrest Gump impersonator and we sat in the spot where Forrest famously uttered the words “Mama always said life was like a box a chocolates…”. We checked out the museum where the bench is kept and got roped into a historical reenactment of the civil war there. But overall we weren't really enamoured with Savannah. It was a bit lacklustre in the shadow of it’s older brother Charleston. We stayed in the Econolodge for $66.50 USD ($87.50 AUD) per night. We set off early for Atlanta and we were so happy when we arrived at our amazing accommodation ($82.50 AUD/62.70 USD). We were staying with a great couple and their gorgeous cats and dogs. In fact it was Karen their cat who convinced Dani that she really is a cat person (insert lesbian cat joke here). Atlanta is a fantastic city. On recommendation from Tiffanie (our host) we walked to Fox Bro's BBQ through some of the funkiest neighbourhoods we've ever been to. If you're here, you have to check out Cabbagetown and Little Five Points. There is plenty of street art and a really fun vibe. It was in Little Five Points that we met the half-Kiwi half-Australian young gay guy who was promoting an LGBT art/film celebration with his high school LGBT club (just to give you an idea of the vibe of this area). Fox Bros BBQ (1238 DeKalb Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30307, United States) – if you want BBQ and you are in Atlanta this is where you have to go! Highly highly highly recommend the ‘Frito Pie’ side. Dinner for 2 set us back $54 ($71.05 AUD) including tax and tip. Or you could try Thumbs Up Diner – good, hearty southern diner breakfast (grits, biscuits, fried catfish) at a very reasonable price. Another thing absolutely not to miss in Atlanta, is the Martin Luther King Jr Historical Park opened by Martin Luther King Jr's wife (Coretta Scott King) in his honour. The whole complex is beautiful and a very honest and informative tribute. There is no entrance fee for any of the complex but there are plenty of opportunities to make donations or to buy memorabilia. We were reluctant to leave Atlanta but we had a trip to complete and our next stop was Montgomery in Alabama. We had been warned we needed to be careful in Alabama, but honestly, we were as welcome here as we were anywhere else. People continued to be warm, friendly and inviting everywhere we went. We did however get to experience Sunday in the Bible Belt. Just a tip, plan nothing on a Sunday because everything is shut at least before midday if it opens at all. We stayed at the Quality Inn for $51.50 USD ($67.70 USD) per night. Of note in Montgomery there is the Rosa Parks Museum ($7.50USDpp for the basic entrance which covers all of the civil rights movement from the 1950s onwards) and is fantastic. There's also the Southern Poverty Law Centre housing a moving Civil Rights memorial and we were lucky enough to have a friend show us around. Our final stop before the destination I'd (Riv) had on my bucket list forever was Mobile. We stayed at another Econolodge $49.69 USD ($65.38 AUD). We didn't do much in Mobile because by this point we were pretty tired and really looking forward to New Orleans the next day. Continued in Part 2 (including budget breakdown of a month long road trip in the US)
Want more info or have any questions? Click ‘Contact Us’ and we’ll be happy to help! Jujuy - Purmamarca - Tilcara (and beyond)So this starting post has been a long time coming. The problem with the blog is that we have been having so much fun actually travelling we haven't left any time to write about it. So here it is. We will backtrack and add entries about North America but for now we're going to start with Argentina. Although we actually flew direct from Auckland, New Zealand to Buenos Aires on the newly opened Air New Zealand route we are actually going to skip over Buenos Aires and Córdoba and start in San Salvador de Jujuy (pronounced Hoohooy for those of you wondering). The rationale for this is that there is plenty of travel information out there for Buenos Aires and Argentina's second city, Córdoba but far less information about the beautiful area known as Quebrada de Humahuaca. For most people this is just a short stop (if they stop at all) on the way to Bolivia but this is a wonderful, bright and colourful area with lots to offer. After starting, as we said, in Buenos Aires and then taking a bus to Córdoba we decided to skip Salta and head straight to Jujuy as we were looking to get away from the bigger cities. On arrival after a 14 hour night bus we caught a taxi to our hostel. This cost us $80 Peso ($6.60 AUD/5 USD) however after consulting with other travellers we found that it ranges between $70 and $90 Peso ($5.80-7.50 AUD/4.30-5.60 USD). We did find out from some other backpackers that there is a local bus from the station which is 6km out of town but 2 friends got lost doing this journey and one of them has Spanish as their first language, so it's probably not worth the money saving effort on this occasion (although you won't often hear us saying that!). Jujuy doesn't have much in the way of attractions but it's a welcoming stop to break up any journey further north with a great market for street food and a warm vibe. We stayed at D-Gira hostel for $160 Peso each ($13 AUD/10 USD) for a very comfortable 6 bed dorm with private ensuite and breakfast. This place was run by the very helpful Juan-Pablo and we would highly recommend it. From here we caught the bus up to Purmamarca which is about 1hr15mins from Jujuy. This is the gateway village to Quebrada de Humahuaca. The bus cost $67 Peso ($5.50 AUD/4.20 USD) and took just over an hour from Jujuy's bus terminal. Purmamarca has been written off by many as a tourist trap village with its countless market stalls but we didn't find this to be the case. Yes, there are lots of market stalls and people selling handicrafts but we felt Purmamarca was pretty picturesque place with loads of charm. It's beautiful adobe architecture and the stunning Cerro de los Siete Colores (Hill of the Seven Colours) makes it worth a visit and it can be a good jumping point for other villages. We stayed at Don Tomas which was a cute guest house with very basic but comfortable facilities. It was $150 Peso ($12.50 AUD/9.30 USD) per person for a 4 bed dorm and ensuite. We decided to use this as our base as we were catching our bus to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile from here. One thing worth noting is that water in many desert areas is not drinkable from the tap and even when boiled or purified tastes pretty foul, so bottled water is pretty much a must in these areas. To catch the bus up to Tilcara from Purmamarca to see the ruins or hike Devil's Throat it costs $16/17 Peso ($1.40 AUD/ 1 USD). Once in Tilcara, we decided to catch a taxi up to the start of the Devil's Throat and hike the 4km back into town afterwards. This cost us $200 Peso ($16.70 AUD/12.50 USD) for the car and was split between 3 of us. We didn't get time to see the ruins but they cost $100 peso ($8.30 AUD/6.25 USD) to enter. We did however get a great view of them from the hill on the way to dinner. Other trips that can be done are up to Humahuaca and Iruya, however this is not something we managed to do in the time that we had. On enquiry however, we were told that it cost around $60 Peso ($5 AUD/3.70 USD) to get to Humahuaca from Purmamarca and takes about an hour. There are many buses daily to and from the villages but a handy tip is to check the bus timetable before you leave the bus station to explore. I say this because Dani and I ended up waiting for close to 2 hours to get back to Purmamarca from Tilcara because buses are more frequent travelling north and become significantly more sporadic in the evenings. We were told by a local hostel manager that many people make the mistake of going back to Jujuy or Salta to continue their journey on to Chile. This isn't necessary and saves you not only time but money. Bus travel in Argentina is great, but very expensive. The Jujuy to San Pedro de Atacama bus will stop in Purmamarca if you have booked in advance. The bus stops outside Hotel El Manantial del Silencio. This is not the same place as the buses to Humahuaca stop and is about another 500 meters up the road that runs alongside the highway. All you need to do is stand outside the entrance, by the large sign for the hotel and wait, the bus will come down the slip road and pick you up! Budget Time $$:At the time of writing the exchange rate was: $1AUD = 11.75ARS (Argentine Peso) $1USD = 15.96ARS Obviously exchange rates are subject to change and where, when and how you exchange money will always effect the rate that you are getting. We chose an official money changer (cambio) in Buenos Aires to change our money. We payed a nominal fee (approximately $30AUD to change $1000AUD) and were guaranteed the security of exchanging at a bureau. There are many street money changers who will chant 'cambio, cambio' at you as you walk down any of the main tourist streets in the city (particuarly Florida Street). They seemingly offer very good rates for a range of currencies but obviously you are always taking a risk trading money on the street. After a very bad experience in Bali a few years ago this is something we wouldn't risk again! What it actually cost: 13 days = $1,061.14 AUD for 2 people Transport: $472.16 Accomodation: $263.03 Food: $225.72 Entertainment: $48.14 Drinks: $46.50 Souvenirs: $1.29 Daily Budget: $40 AUD/30 USD each. We did go over this ever so slightly and it ended up being $40.80 AUD a day each. The most expensive part was transport. The other buses that are not costed above were $780 Peso ($65 AUD/48.80 USD) for the bus from Buenos Aires to Córdoba and $993.50 Peso ($83 AUD/62.20 USD) for the bus from Córdoba to Jujuy. Transport took up almost half our budget but did save us on nights of accommodation as they were night buses. Given the relatively high level of comfort in semi-cama on a bus in Argentina and the extortionate cost, saving on accommodation by taking the night bus is a very smart budgetting option! Food is also not cheap if you're eating at restaurants and be warned sometimes sitting down will cost you as will tips and cutlery charges and that's even before you order. We went out one night with some guy friends and they were charged for the entertainment as well (girls are never charged for the entertainment). Argentina isn't really in to street food but you can get empanadas to go which should cost no more that $15 Peso ($1.25 AUD/0.93 USD) and a couple will set you up for the day. Tamales are also a great snack/meal costing around $10-20 Peso ($0.83-1.66 AUD/0.62-1.24 USD) each. Alcohol from the supermarket is ridiculously cheap and is often cheaper than soda (but beware you sometimes have to pay a bottle fee which you get back if you return the bottle). We could find 1lt beer bottles for $33 Peso ($2.70 AUD/2 USD). Prior to heading to Argentina we had concerns about the ability to change money outside major cities and the exchange rates that we would get, both for major world currencies and other South American currencies. Our worries turned out to be unfounded as there were 'cambios' is every city/town/village we stopped in, many with the facility to change a range of major and minor currencies and all with surprisingly good if not down right astounding exchange rates! LGBT: As far as the big cities go Dani and I were fine both in public and when we were getting private double rooms together. At least in the big cities Argentina is progressive and even has marriage equality. That being said it is still a very Catholic orientated country so discression in smaller towns is advised. We however had no issues what so ever in the north and found people welcoming and friendly. |
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