Bachelorette Weekend in New Orleans

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My bestie and longest friend since five years old recently married. She wanted to have a Bachelorette Party, but wanted to make a Girls Trip out of it. She knew to look no farther than the lady on the other side of her phone because I love organizing Girls Trips and this one would be special because it was in celebration of someone dear to me.

Four months prior to traveling her Bride Tribe voted to visit New Orleans, Louisiana as they’d been influenced by the 2017 film titled, “Girls Trip.” I began to make phone calls to get these ladies nothing shy of what the expected. The itinerary was short yet full of exploration.

I arrived a day early with my homie to prepare welcome bags and get things all set up for the nine ladies expected to arrive. We checked into Holiday Inn Express New Orleans Downtown French Quarter and begin to roam the streets of New Orleans visiting a local Walmart and having dinner and daquiris at Willies Chicken Shack on Canal Street. Most of the ladies begin to trickle in around 7:30 a.m. the next morning and checked into their hotel rooms. We were accommodated at International House New Orleans located in Downtown New Orleans just two blocks from the French Quarters. The staff was amazing, from the Bell Boy & Concierge, to the Front Desk, to House Keeping, to the General Manager. Welcoming us with champagne, everyone was really nice and they treated us like we were the only guests present in a sold out boutique style hotel.

International House New Orleans is a 4 Star property that consists of 117 guestrooms, suites, and penthouses. Amenities include free WiFi, a restaurant (Rockrose), a bar (Loa Bar), spa, and a gym. As a person of history I can’t resist sharing the story of the Boutique property. Taken from their website, it first began in 1906 as the Canal Louisiana Bank & Trust. It was the leading financial institution of its day, an era of remarkable wealth creation in New Orleans. In 1943, the 12-story building transformed into "International House", which was literally the first World Trade Center in the world. Dedicated to world peace, trade and understanding, it helped rebuild war-torn Europe, thrived as New Orleans' most prominent business address and inspired more than 300 World Trade Centers in 100 countries. In 1998 owner Sean Cummings and architect Brooks Graham delivered the third incarnation, creating New Orleans’ first boutique hotel. The rooms were spacious and the bathrooms were big enough to be turned into hair/make up studios.

What did we do?

Day 1: We had a reserved meet and greet at The Court of Two Sisters for their infamous Jazz Brunch Buffet. The food on the buffet was delicious and there was a large variety of options to experience and deserts.  The grits were mouth-watering even after they began to get cold. Afterwards, we did the Saints & Sinners Tour, which wasn’t bad, but it was quite lengthy and not as engaging and interactive as I would’ve preferred. Once the tour was over we scrolled through the French Quarters not really having lunch, but stopping at Café du Monde for Beignets before returning to our hotel to prepare for dinner. What did you say? Of course the lines were long. WE had maybe a 20-30 minute wait, but the lines went fairly fast. We had dinner that evening at Deanie’s Seafood. We arrived and had a long wait. We may have had to wait 45-60 minutes before we could be seated. It was a Friday night around 7:30 so we expected a long wait time. The food is usually extraordinary here, but this time it was missing some seasonings. However, our waitress did provide me with my own container to sprinkle on. The quantity of the food for the amount of money was pretty fair.  

Day 2: We wanted an authentic NoLa experience so we skipped the car rentals and utilized public transportation (buses & trolleys) and when we were short on time, Uber came to the rescue. We skipped breakfast because some of the ladies moved a little slow. Perhaps they were a little hungover from the night before. We attempted public transportation for nearly 45 minutes before one of the ladies had the unique idea of taking an Uber. We’d been lost on the bus passing our stops and not receiving adequate guidance from the bus and trolley drivers. We had an 11:30 a.m. Twerk Class at The Mo Joe Gallery where our instructor, Mo Joe herself, provided is with a gallon of daiquiri and an hour of great dance moves, loud upbeat music, and plenty of laughter. That girl is thick but can twerk! She taught us all sorts of tricks. Afterwards we scrolled over to Frenchmen Street where we ate lunch at Willie’s Chicken Shack. We were able to successfully take the bus back to our hotel in the French Quarter. At that moment, everyone did their own thing (shopped, ate more beignets, napped) for a while before getting dressed for the evening. That evening we all dressed in black and wore sashes that the bride thought fit our characters. The bride to be was decked out in her veil and bouquet. We headed to Bourbon Street where we club hopped and danced in the streets before eating at Hard Rock Café. My food wasn’t that great.  

Day 3: The final breakfast took place at Ruby’s Red Slipper. There was an hour and a half wait for breakfast and we had a slight problem with the hostesses but the food was delicious. We waited in a little mom and pop store next door sipping on daiquiris at 9 a.m. until our table was ready.  A few ladies begin to trickle out as departure flight times varied. But before we officially parted ways, we headed to Tao Spa for massages. The staff were so accommodating and very nice. Most of them did not speak English but our communications were enjoyable. We left out of there floating. As the other ladies headed for the airport, my homie and favorite travel buddy Gilbert and I took a trolley ride to the French market and then headed for our final hotel of our visit Holiday Inn Metairie New Orleans Airport. When we arrived we realized how exhausted we were and did nothing but lie in our beds and watch Jamie Foxx on BET. We eventually ordered Fire House Subs via Uber Eats and slept until it was time to wake up, eat breakfast at our hotel, take a shuttle to the airport and return to Atlanta.

We had an enjoyable weekend full of penis (fakes ones of course), drinks, food, walking, ladies and laughter. I’m happy to have played a part in creating such a memorable moment for the bride.

 

If you are interested in having me plan your next Girls Trip rather to New Orleans or anywhere in the world, please contact me.

Nicole Peyton

(678) 396-3569

Nicole.peyton@cruiseplanners.com

www.weexploretravel.com

@weexploretravels