Day 5: We Got The Best Souvenir!!

Well after a later night than we had planned on last night, we woke up around 9am to get ready for our last day, pack up our stuff, and finish any last minute things we needed to get done before we left 😦 We quickly realized we wouldn’t be able to fit our souvenirs in our bags for the flights, so the first stop of the day was to the post office to ship anything we had that wouldn’t fit. We checked out of our hotel room, brought our luggage down to store until we came back later in the day, and made our way over. 

From there we headed out to lunch on Magazine Street to a place called De Ville Coffee House and Creperie. HIGHLY recommend this place if anyone ever goes there because it was BOMB. I had a grilled cheese crepe with tomato and avocado, and it was probably the best thing I’ve had for breakfast this entire trip. We almost wished we would’ve known about this place earlier so we could’ve gone there more than once, but now we know for next time! Across the street from this cafe was a wall mural welcoming us to NOLA. Of course we couldn’t pass up a photo op so we walked over and spent a few minutes taking some pictures. 

Sam watches American Horror Story, and I guess this season they filmed in New Orleans at the Buckner Mansion. This was about a 10 minute walk or so from the breakfast place (we planned it that way), and we got to see the outside of the house! After a few minutes of pictures and storytelling from Sam about the purpose of the mansion (she was our tour guide to anything scary or death related), we called a lyft to bring us to our next stop….

TATTOOAGOGO – YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS 

We had been trying to figure out over the course of the weekend what kinds of tattoos, if any, we wanted to get to commemorate our trip. Originally we were thinking something New Orleans themed like a Mardi Gras mask or something, but after going to the Audubon Butterfly and Insectarium, we knew exactly what we wanted. During our walk in the butterfly garden, we saw a beautiful Blue Morpho (?) Butterfly flying around and even got a picture after it landed on my back! Without having to try too hard, he (do butterflies have sexes?) quickly became our favorite. This, along with the fact that the Insectarium was Kaitlyn and I’s favorite thing thus far (Sam’s was the Museum of Death – shocker 😉 ), seemed to fall right into place. We had called the day before to make an appointment just incase they were going to be busy, and they were all ready and waiting for us when we got there. About an hour or so later, all three of us walked out with matching butterfly tattoos! Kaitlyn and I got the exact same design, and Sam had drawn a cute little one for herself. Sam and Kaitlyn both got theirs on the insides of their ankles, and I got mine on the back of my leg right under my calf. This now became our favorite experience of our trip. 

We had a little bit of time to kill before we needed to head back to our hotel, so we walked around a little bit before finding a place to sit outside somewhere to talk about our trip and everything we had done. We talked about how much fun we had, reminisced on the excitement and unforgettable time we had the night before at the casino singing karaoke, and talked about our top favorite experiences. 

Before we had left for our trip, I had asked everyone on my Facebook for any recommendations they had for us to try out as well as did some of my own research online to find the top places to see – thanks to everyone who gave us any ideas! We were able to hit just about every single thing that was on our list (with the exception of a few food places, bars, and restaurants) which I believe to be pretty impressive (GO LISTS!!) 

However, the tattoos were the last item on our list of things to do so we were now headed back to our hotel to grab our bags, change into our comfy flying clothes, and make our way to the airport 😦 We had gone through security (luckily we all had the same concourse so we didn’t have to leave each other just yet) and then stopped to get something to eat. We had some time to kill since my flight wasn’t supposed to leave until almost 6pm, and Sam and Kaitlyn’s flight wasn’t leaving until about 6:45pm. 

Has there ever been a time that I have taken a trip and haven’t had some sort of flight issue? Recall Day 1 and just about all the travel days I’ve ever had prior to that. Well today was no different. As we were sitting there eating our food, I got a notification that my flight was delayed until 6:45 – over an hour! Since I was flying to Dallas, this now meant that I would be missing my connecting flight – again. I went onto my American Airlines app to see if I could find any other information and it actually gave me the notice right then that since I was missing my connection, I could change my flight at no charge to me (yay for not having to wait in lines to speak to the desk people). There was only one flight for the night, and THIS TIME it actually happened to work in my favor!

Originally, I was supposed to leave from New Orleans to Dallas for a layover and connecting flight, and then go from there to Connecticut. With these flights, I wouldn’t be landing in CT until about 1am. From there I’d have to go pick up my car from the mechanic shop, go home, and wake up at 6 to work at 7:30am for about 13 hours 🙂 fun right? However, the next flight they offered me was flying to Charlotte for a quick layover, and then to CT. Since this was actually on the route to CT instead of going the opposite way first then home, my flight was actually shortened! Now I would be leaving at 6:15 from New Orleans and eventually arriving in CT at 12:15am. I ALSO got a call from my manager letting me know that I didn’t have to come in until 11am since it hasn’t been too bad the last couple of days, and he knew I was getting in late (there is a God *praise hands emoji*) It feels nice to finally have a flight problem work in my favor, and luckily, everything fell into place. 

I am currently on my way to BDL (CT airport) as I’m typing this and, while I am sad that my New Year New Place trip has come to an end, I am extremely happy to be sleeping in my own bed tonight (in a very cold room because our hotel has been HOT). I am overjoyed that the time had come that I was able to share my travel experience with someone else (from planning everything to executing it start to finish – not just meeting up with people from the places I have been going) and not only just one person but TWO. I am so happy that Sam and Kaitlyn were able to come and celebrate a little belated birthday trip with me, and the trip truly would not have been the same without them ❤ . We were able to make memories that will last a lifetime and have a forever souvenir to prove for it. 

I cannot wait to see what the New Place will be next year and to see everything that happens between now and then. Feel free to follow my insta @ brittneylee_96 to get any updates as well as some cute pictures of me 😉 For those of you who have been following since Day 1 of this trip, or the original Day 1 from the first trip ever, I appreciate you always! I’m always open to any feedbacks or comments so feel free to leave them here or on my Facebook if you have me on there! 

Until next time! 🙂