(Red) Beans, Beignets, and Blow-Up Dolls

Some of the greatest fun in traveling occurs during the "getting there." My trip began too early for my tastes - around 6 am on Sunday. I had been out with friends on Saturday night, when we were alerted around 10pm that Sunday morning would bring the switch to Daylight Savings Time. As yet unpacked and having just instantly lost an hour of already brief sleep, I pretty much gave up on getting a good night's rest. On the plus side, I knew I had first class comfort waiting for me on my first flight - US Airways had inexplicably upgraded my frequent flier ticket the previous day. I have never had the opportunity to fly first class before, even if just for a brief jaunt to Washington, DC. Everything was just...easier. My bags were checked for free, the gate agent was nicer than usual, I had a drink in front of me approximately 2.5 seconds after I boarded the plane, and of course, I had no concerns of being cramped in my seat. Ah, how the other half lives.

I would soon realize the other, and potentially most important, perk of first class: the people who sit there are quiet and boring. Generally, neither of these personality traits appeal to me, but they can be golden when you're jammed like a sardine into a narrow metal tube at 36,000 feet. I knew I was in trouble the second I boarded my flight from DC to New Orleans, when my seat mate desperately caught my attention to say hi and flash his blinding pearly whites. "Hi," I said. "How's it going?" he asked, as if we were old friends. "Fine, good," I said, before turning my head towards the window. Maybe this guy would catch a hint. No such luck. He was at it again with the "So how's it going?"s not more than 10 minutes later. When I finally decided to give up and give the guy his small talk, he had a little bit of a social justice-gasm when I told him why I was headed to New Orleans. At that point, I got drilled on my life's future plans. Later, he would get up to hold ANOTHER couple's baby as they rearranged themselves in their seats. By the end of the flight, he was nudging me like we shared some long lost secret, and I was plastered up against the plane window, desperate for landing. He refused to leave without jotting his e-mail address down for me. "Just make sure you write, 'Met on plane' in the subject line", he said. I wonder how many "Met on plane"s this guy has in his little black book.

In any case, in the course of the flight, amidst dodging awkward advances from Pearly White, I realized that we were crossing into the midwestern time zone (and so negating that hour we had just lost to daylight savings?) . I wouldn't have really cared, except for the fact that I had an evil plan to watch the second half of the Duke v. UNC ACC Tourney Championship as soon as I landed, and that this little chink in the iron meant that I would only be able to catch the last 10 minutes...if I ran. So it was that I nearly bolted off the plane as soon as the jetway was attached, and immediately found the first airport bar broadcasting the game. Thus far, I've neglected to mention my traveling companion, Suraj, who just happened to book the same flights as I did. Suraj and I had met at Boston Logan literally as I was boarding the plane, and then had an approximately 15 minute conversation during our layover in DC. So, it was safe to say, I was still in the midst of making my first impression on the first trip companion I would meet - as I busted my tail down the terminal at MSY to the nearest bar. Thank goodness the Duke game wasn't close, or the kid REALLY would have seen me for the nut job I often am. After Duke completed its whipping of the boys in baby blue (2011 ACC Tourney Champs!!!), I thanked Suraj for indulging my insanity, and we made our way towards the rental car company shuttles. He really is a nice kid, and probably one of the few people who would have put up with my nonsense. And of course, I WOULD end up cosmically travel-partnered with the one Indian kid on the trip...

It was at this point, searching for and boarding the shuttle, that we began to feel like we were in the first episode of a Real World season. Two other of our trip-mates had already arrived and already pounded the Bourbon St. pavement. The feeling was only intensified when we arrived at Advantage Rent-A-Car, a swathe of land I would have dismissed as an abandoned used car lot if I hadn't known any better. The rental office was a small, bedraggled, white cinder block structure, the car selection was rather sparse (our choices were a Nissan Versa, a Nissan Versa, or a Nissan Versa), and the place employed a total of 4 employees. Everybody was very nice, however, and we had little problem obtaining our Nissan Versa. Using the power of Droid, we easily made the 15-minute drive into downtown New Orleans and found our hotel. Our two new companions, Andrew and Maggie, were waiting for us in the lobby. Starving, we decided to head straight to the French Quarter. We ended up in a bar, where I had some pretty good red beans & rice and a very good Abita-made craft beer. Following that, we wandered around the French Quarter towards Jackson Square and Cafe du Monde. Unfortunately, the line at the world-famous beignet and cafe au lait establishment snaked around the building a few too many times for our liking, but we made unanimous plans to return for powder-sugared goodness.

As the rest of the build team had arrived, we started to make our way back towards the hotel. Unfortunately, I was in desperate need of caffeine, and could not resist the McDonald's iced coffee beckoning to me on Canal St. I figured I would have coffee in hand and be out in 2 minutes. What actually ensued was the most ridiculous McDonald's experience of all time. I should have known upon seeing the crowd of people waiting for food - or upon waiting in line behind 0 people for 20 minutes - just to order. Or, upon the following interaction ordering coffee at the counter:
- Cashier: "You have exact chaaaaange?"
- Me: "You need EXACT change?"
- Cashier: "Yeah, I ain't got no ones."
- Me: (Look of disbelief/confusion/ire)
- Suraj: "Can we, uh, pay with a credit card?"
- Cashier: "Yeah"
- Me: (Proceeded to successfully order iced coffee)
- Andrew (one of our group) to the cashier: "Coffee please."
- Cashier: "We ain't got no coffee."
- Andrew: "How about a milkshake?"
- Cashier: "Naw, the ice cream machine's broke."

And then we waited for another 10 minutes behind no one for our coffee - the coffee Andrew couldn't have. When it was finally delivered without straws, we decided they weren't worth the effort. After all, this McDonald's had signs posted everywhere imploring customers to request their condiments - in limited amounts.

Following our McDonald's adventure, the whole crew finally met, and we headed to a seafood restaurant in the French Quarter for dinner. Having an apparently well-functioning hippocampus (and thus decent spatial memory - at least when it comes to a city I've visited once for a span of 3 days), I soon found myself leading a group of strangers through a strange city. I somehow managed to land us right at the door to our restaurant, thank goodness. I'll be honest - I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. I've been slightly shocked by the lack of knowledge surrounding Katrina in our group, especially considering our reason for being here, so I tend to throw a few pieces of Katrina trivia around here and there with the navigation. Hopefully it's enough and not too much.

When our waiter offered Hurricane-esque "Katrina" drinks in light-up glasses, I was the first one to awkwardly take him up. Others eventually followed, and we soon had a brightly-lit, if headache-inducing table. Hush puppies soon arrived, which our poor waiter had to describe to the Boston crew as "fried cornbread". Watching everyone attempt to daintily eat their hush puppies with silverware, I kind of giggled and just wished for honey butter! We all enjoyed a fresh seafood feast - I had crab-stuffed fried shrimp in hollandaise sauce, and it was divine. For the nightcap, we ventured back down to Cafe du Monde, where we ingested copious amounts of that substance that resembles crack in so many ways - powdered sugar. I think the beignets have become our trip's culinary mascot.

It's about time for me to call it a night - it's been a long, exciting, and exhausting first day of building, the story of which I will share tomorrow night. For now, some much-needed rest. As we do our small part aiding in the recovery of this disaster, we send our hearts to the victims of the current one in Japan.