Destination Experiences with Worth the Miles Travel- Crescent City Version
- worththemilestrave
- Apr 8
- 7 min read
This career comes from a love of travel. But one of my favorite types of travel is getting to join my family on it. When my cousin Gunner contacted me to plan his trip to New Orleans, first I was excited to help family, second nothing was keeping me from joining him down there, since I myself live in Louisiana.
Since this wasn't my first trip to New Orleans, or my first trip where I joined clients, I got to be a little bit tourist, a little bit guide. So, enjoy what I got myself and my clients into while in the Crescent City!
Let's get into where we stayed while down there. It is important part of my job to get to know my perspective clients a little bit so I can find them a perfect place to stay while visiting different destinations. When choosing New Orleans, there are different districts to choose from, some make an appearance throughout this article.
Let's start with the French Quarter which is where we ended up staying. I know the first thought you have with the French quarter is Bourbon Street... This may shock you, but you won't read a single thing about Bourbon Street in the article except for this once, not only because I don't visit it when in New Orleans, and the only relevance to it in my blog is we stayed at the Wyndham French Quarter on Royal Street which is the next street over from Bourbon.
This amazing hotel was perfect. We arrived around 9PM on Wednesday night, and upon pulling up to parking garage for the hotel we were greeted with a friendly bell hop and valet. (Valet parking is $50 a night with unlimited IN/OUT privileges, honestly everywhere there you will be paying for parking). They got us loaded up, while I went and checked in. The front desk attendee Maurice was seriously the kindest soul there was. Your stay at the Wyndham comes with an Included 24-hour Streetcar pass to use to get around the city. He asked us what we would be doing while in the city, and when we said the WW2 Museum, he pulled a map out and instantly started telling us routes we would take and more highlights to the city. Thankfully I know some insider tips because I got certified with the City of New Orleans to try and be the best for all of my clients. If you're wondering what other certifications I have taken please feel free to check them out here Certifications | WORTH THE MILES TRA
The amazing features don't end with the streetcar passes. They give you a collapsable water bottle to use on their water machine. You can add flavoring, electrolytes, vitamins and even make your water sparkling.
I don't know about you, but I appreciate when Hotels care about their guest's safety and enjoyable experience. That is why after 9pm you can only enter through the side door and must show security your room key. It doesn't stop there; you can't utilize the elevators until you scan your room key and push the button. I really think it's the little things that can really elevate a person's stay and the Wyndham French Quarter really does just that.
The next morning it was time to meet up with my family for the day of activities I had planned for us.
Travel Tip: Always ask the locals where a good place to eat is. I promise you'll discover something great.
The very nice bellman at the hotel suggested Cafe Fleur de Lis located at 301 Chartres St, New Orleans, LA 70130.
It was only a couple blocks from our hotel. They were amazing at accommodating my group of 6 with minimal wait. We had some amazing food items like eggs benedict, pecan praline pancakes, and biscuits and gravy. They added some red pepper flakes to those biscuits and gravy and what a game changer.
Now that we were full it was time to head to the WW2 Museum. So, we walked down to Canal Street to hop on the St. Charles Streetcar.
Fun Fact: St. Charles Streetcar is the oldest operating Streetcar in the World.
We did stay on past our stop, to take a little ride down to the Garden District. One of the most beautiful parts of New Orleans. The trees were still hanging with Mardi Gras Beads. I won't lie to you guys it was my only second time riding the streetcars, so I didn't know you were supposed to pull the handle when you wanted off at a stop.... SO we rode and enjoyed the view.
This museum has now become my top recommendation that my clients need to visit when they go to New Orleans. It was an absolute fantastic experience. You can pre purchase your tickets right here:
General Admission:
Campus Pass plus 4-D Movie:
You'll get your clip-on ticket, and map at check in.
Then you head on over to the train experience. You will get to board a stationary train that will mimic what soldier's experienced when leaving their small home towns to go and fight for this country. The windows are tv's showing you America's Homeland as you go along, the tv's in front of you show real stories from soldiers who fought in the war. One of the best experiences at a museum ever. When you exit that you can begin your exploration of the entire museum. You could honestly spend an entire day if not 2 days there to really read everything and experience it all. It's honestly quite emotional as well so you already know I wiped tears away more than once.
Tour Tip: Stop at the top of the stairs and go and register a Dog Tag. You can either choose or be assigned a real person's journey through WW2, they have scan kiosks throughout the museum where you can listen in on what your person's experience was.
Although I absolutely love the convenience and total experience of a streetcar, they can be full coming from Canal Street making it a bit difficult to catch one back. So, we decided to just go ahead and walk. A little after Lafayette Square we were all getting a little thirsty and one of my favorite drinks that New Orleans knows how to do right is a Bloody Mary. So, we set our eyes on the green and white striped awning where I found one of the best Bloody Mary's I have ever had. This little place was called Streetcar Cafe. Located at 312 Saint Charles Ave, New Orleans, LA 70130
When we got back to Canal St. we were able to hop on a streetcar and head down towards the Riverfront. I wanted to show everyone where to go for Jackson Square and the French Market.
Traveler Tip: Go to Frenchmen Street for those authentic jazz vibes minus the party hard crowd.
As we walked along the Riverfront, we got to watch the Carnival Valor leave port. I could hear the fun I know they were having from the shore.
You would know how much fun the Valor is if you read my previous Blog post on it.
One of the best things to do and costs you zero dollars is take a walk around Jackson Square in front of St. Louis Cathedral to watch the local artists create master pieces.
We headed back to our hotel to rest a few minutes before we headed to one of my favorite restaurants. Another perk of staying at the Wyndham French Quarter is they give you a $15 voucher per day to Mr. Eds Bar and Grill connected to the hotel. So, we stopped there to use ours.
Now like I said earlier this wasn't my first visit to the Crescent City, and I crave the bread pudding from this one restaurant down there. Mulate's the Original Cajun Restaurant, located 201 Julia St, New Orleans, LA 70130
I knew that we were going to experience some Zydeco music, good food, and of course the bread pudding... have I said get the bread pudding yet?
Okay, now that I made sure you know to get the bread pudding for dessert, don't forget the stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer either.
This was unfortunately a small getaway for me and my dad. So, the next morning it was time for us to head home. The rest of the group was in for a treat for the rest of the week though. I'm going to share what I planned for them below with links so you can enjoy some of these things on your next trip to this amazing city.
That Friday morning, we went our separate ways while they went for their airboat tour.
While we were walking around the city after the museum I showed them where their double decker bus tour stops could be found. I honestly recommend this to all clients going to any city. They all pretty much have them. You get on at one stop, ride it completely all the way through to see everything then decide what stop you'd like to get off on and explore more. Don't worry you can hop back on and head somewhere new when you're done.
We are all just big kids at the end of the day, so they chose to experience the aquarium and zoo while down there.
Their last night they got to take a nice float down the Mississippi on the Creole Queen with jazz music serenating them and good food to fill their bellies.
This city really is a gem. The history, the culture, the people. It's what makes it a favorite for a lot of people.
So with all that.... Laissez les bons temps rouler! (Let the Good Times Roll)
As always Take the Trip
-Samantha Cooley
Owner/Agent
Worth the Miles Travel
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