36 hours in New Orleans Travel Guide

The genesis of how my trip to New Orleans came about is a bit of a long story…

I met my boyfriend Christian Labor Day weekend of 2014. A few weeks later he celebrated his 26th birthday. Since we had just met getting him a present felt a bit over the top. I didn’t want to come on too strong right out the gate, but just ignoring his birthday also felt wrong. We were long distance at the time so it wasn’t like I could take him to lunch or something casual to celebrate. Then it dawned on me that I could send lunch to him. I remembered he had mentioned during one of our many cross country phone calls that his absolute favorite meal in the whole world was a bologna sandwich, chips, and a coke.

Sending him lunch to his office felt like a completely reasonable thing to do in honor of his birthday. Sweet and thoughtful but not stag five clinger. Although I did have to do some considerable cyber sleuthing to figure out the address of his office, which probably revealed a little more of my psycho side that I had intended but OH WELL. Once I found the address, I set to work finding a place that would deliver a bologna sandwich in South Florida. Long story short, I owe that sandwich a lot because we have been together ever since. It has become a tradition of mine, every year no matter where I am, to make sure that he has a bologna sandwich for his birthday.

This year will be his 30th birthday and my 5th year of supplying him with a bologna sandwich. So I decided to up the ante. After doing a little research I came across an article mentioning that the Turkey and the Wolf has one of the best fried Bologna sandwiches in the country. So I impulsively decided to book two tickets to New Orleans on a Tuesday for that Friday. When I started looking up flights it was only going to be $100 RT per person! Shout out to Expedia for always having the best deals. I felt like it was fate. I had Christian take off Friday and told him that he was in for a fun surprise. I had to assure him that it was not in anyway blog related to get him to agree haha. I revealed our destination thursday night while helping him pack by throwing Mardi Gras beads at him and yelling “show me your boobs’. He caught on that we were headed to NOLA pretty quickly after that haha.

It was such a quick whirlwind trip but we both had the best time. I’d never been to New Orleans as an adult so it felt like a whole new world. I can’t wait to plan another trip back because I feel like I just barely scratched the surface of what the city has to offer.

Where We Ate

Turkey and the Wolf

This restaurant was basically the reason for our whole trip – and it did not disappoint! Christian loved his fried bologna sandwich and I was obsessed with the deviled eggs. We got there around 11:30 and by noon the place was packed. Definitely come early or be prepared to wait in line, but the turnover is pretty quick.

District Donuts

This was the perfect spot for an afternoon pick me up and snack. I saw their Croque Madam donut sandwiches on instagram and knew I had to come try them for myself. We also loved the kolaches and my chai tea latte was delicious.

Restaurant R’evolution

Since we only had one night in town I tried to be very strategic with my choice of restaurant for dinner. I wanted someplace that had authentic New Orleans cuisine, but wasn’t a played out tourist trap. We started off with the beer battered crab beignets…OMG. Those were the best thing I ate on the trip hands down. For our main courses I got a steak, which was solid but not life changing and Christian had the scallops which he said were great.

Couvant

Conveniently located in the lobby of our hotel Couvant, was the perfect spot for us to have brunch before we popped out of town. If you love french food and oysters this is the place for you!

How cool is the decor at Couvant? I literally had to struggle to narrow down which pictures to post.

What We Did

The National World War II Museum

The weather in New Orleans can be a bit unpredictable and as it happened we had a lot of rain during our trip. But the World War II Museum was the perfect way to get out of the storm for a few hours. Christian and I both really love history, so this was right up our alley. The museum was really well done and I felt like I learned a lot. The submarine simulation was definitely Christians favorite exhibit.

Haunted History Ghost Tour

Christian and I had taken a ghost tour on our trip to Savannah, so I thought this would be a fun way to see our way around the city. It was fun and silly, and the tour company had deals with a couple of bars on two for one hurricane’s so all in all we enjoyed it. I think for the future I would opt for a private tour that maybe focuses a little more on architecture and legitimate history 😉 You can find plenty of other great tours here.

I wanted to wear a comfy and yet cute outfit that would take me from the plane all they way to our ghost tour at 6pm. I love these Steve Madden flats – I actually got them in white for my Paris trip. They’re super comfortable and can easily be dress up or down which I love.

On the right you’ll see the LaLaurie Mansion … I won’t go into too much detail, but this by far the creepiest stop on our tour. Happy Googling.

Where We Stayed

The Eliza Jane Hotel

I can’t say enough good things about this hotel. From the friendly staff to the great location to the gorgeous decor. It was also recently renovated so everything feels brand new. I would definitely stay here again in a heart beat! We were right in the middle of the business district, so everything we wanted to do or see was a quick walk or cheap lyft ride away.