Newberrys Go Disney - TR

[Mum from oz]

Great start Jess. Love the look of your hotel!

 

[Marlea98]

Me too I'm ready and waiting Can't see the pics as I'm on my phone but I'm here anyway

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[JessNewbs]

Jess - I hope you don't mind. I took a look at your Flickr links as I'm pretty sure you want the pictures to show in the post; rather than for the reader to have to click on the link.

There were additional "codes" around the link from Flickr. Are you using the Insert Image function on the Dis? If so, I recommend that you copy and paste the link from Flickr directly....no need to use the Insert Image.

I deleted the additional codes from your post.

And if I've over-stepped the mark, happy for you to tell me to mind my own business!

No not at all, Thanks so much for sorting that out for me it was driving me nuts!! As you know it's my first TR, will take your advice for the next posts. It took me hours to try to figure it out and I still couldn't get there so thanks for the help

 

[JessNewbs]

Sorry I haven't made any more posts lately, I have been really ill and then super busy with work Hopefully I will get my butt into gear and get more done!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Hope you're feeling better, Jess. No rush. Look after yourself.

 

[JessNewbs]

Day 3 - Woke up super early realising that we just cant sleep even though we are exhausted! We got ready for the day and took off down to the lobby for our free continental breakfast and that's where we were pretty shocked.....the food was completely different to anything we had ever known and a lot of it we just couldn't get used to! The bacon there was TERRIBLE, although it was terrible everywhere we went is what we would later find out. So smoky and thin, anyhow....after the shock of finding out that the trip would not include any bacon (except for DD who would eat any product that contained even traces of bacon) we finished off the rest of the breakfast which was very nice even if we had trouble getting used to what everything tasted like.

We stood out the front in anticipation of our 8am tour bus to pick us up and take us to our swamp tour. Now my family LOVES the show swamp people, we are all die hard fans so a trip along the swamp looking for gators was a must for our trip. Lucky for us we had a super nice bus driver who also doubled as our tour guide for everything NOLA, talking us through everything as we drove out to Slidell which was around 20-30 minutes away. During the ride we found out a lot of interesting stuff about Hurricane Katrina and other stuff.

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Six flags magic mountain abandoned


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The swamp tour with Cajun Encounters was amazing, saw lots of gators and other swamp creatures like snakes (really close), birdlife and tons of turtles. After the swamp tour we got dropped straight into the french quarter to get something to eat before our next activity for the day. So what else do you eat in New Orleans? Beignets of course! Absolutely LOVED Cafe Du Monde, awesome staff, great atmosphere and the food was to die for! Coffee was undrinkable but I guess you already knew that


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[JessNewbs]

Day 3 Part 2 -

So after we got some yummy beignets we boarded the Steamboat Natchez to take a scenic ride down the Mississippi River. The ride was very informative and the view was captivating. We learnt alot about the area whilst given the opportunity to down a couple of drinks and attempt to eat an icy pole before it melted (almost impossible). There was a band inside and we also had the opportunity to visit the engine room, it felt like we were way back in the olden days.


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After the ride we took off to see if we could find some real New Orleans inspired eats. We found a really nice little restaurant and we ordered red beans and rice, jambalaya and gumbo to try. DH thought it was amazing but I found it a little smoky for my tastes. The flavour is very strong and unique.


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[PrincessInOz]

Great updates on NoLa. Looks like you had amazing experiences there.

 

[australiankaren]

hope your feeling a tad better......now waiting for the next installment.. oh and yes, coffee in the states is HORRIBLE.....no one believes us till they live the dream

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Enjoying hearing and seeing your travels in New Orleans as its on the bucket list. Sounds like a great first day.

Yup bacon...a lot of the bread unless its a bakery sourdough (you can't put vegemite on their sweet-tasting bread)....coffee...they have so much good stuff to eat - and some real disasters. I still can't believe so many people are excited about Starbucks at Disney - they really need a lesson in what GOOD coffee tastes like! (with apologies to any Starbucks fans).

Glad you are over your bug and looking forward to more.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Forgot to add - I have been enjoying snooping on your other pics on Flickr you didn't include in your TR!

 

[JessNewbs]

Forgot to add - I have been enjoying snooping on your other pics on Flickr you didn't include in your TR!

Snoop away I am going to try and include all of them that I have on Flickr eventually!

 

[JessNewbs]

Day 4

Our last day in NOLA so we headed down to the French Quarter ready to check out the French Market. On our way we found a few cool sights.


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The French Market was pretty cool, scored lots of bargains. DS nagged us over gator heads until we caved and let him buy one.....of course that one turned out to be not quite big enough and we ended up with two that we had to cart through every airport, the whole trip! We then strolled along the French Quarter stopping for yummy eats of milkshakes and beignets before making it to the tram for a ride to Canal St. (which during more than one part of the visit we found to be a little unfriendly).


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We decided we better go home to pack and do some laundry at the local laundromat before grabbing some yummy hotdogs and heading to bed. We were up for a big day tomorrow.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Lovely pics Jess. Gator heads??? Have you got a picture of them?

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Definitely need a pic of the gator heads?? My mind is boggling and whatever they were made of you obviously got them through customs? and Canal St unfriendly??

 

[JessNewbs]

Yup, real gator heads. Got them trough customs at every stop! Canal st. was where we went for dinner the first night we went there as it was a walk from our hotel. It was very dodgy, I felt really anxious the whole time we were there. We tried it again on the last day in the day time and it was just a really dodgy kind of place to be.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

I told DH - he thinks this is brilliant....a picture is now mandatory.

 

[JessNewbs]

Day 5 - New York, New York, New York!!!

Got up and had breakfast at the buffet, ignoring the bacon and coffee of course then off we trot to our room to grab our bags and then headed for reception for our cab to the airport. Cab finally arrives....and then another....and then they begin fighting over our bags. After we stand there gobsmacked for a few minutes the woman who was actually called by the hotel to pick us up surrenders to the other cab driver and lets him take us to the airport. That is after we have to hear all the whining and cussing We finally head off to depart New Orleans and welcome NYC!


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On the plane (with Delta) to NYC we go....am next to a lovely woman from NYC, Originally Boston, who is a granny and has tons of wonderful tips for our visit! Then comes the drama that is DD, finally get her to sleep after lots of there theres and playing patient mummy. Then after what seems like forever we are finally at the end of our flight....or are we because of the recent air traffic controller drama our flight is sent up in the sky to "circle the block" before we can get word and descend. Around 30 extra minutes later we start our descent! So I wake DD up....BIG mistake she screams the entire plane down the rest of the way, which may have only been around 20 minutes but seemed like FOREVER!

So we get off the plane, much to the other passengers delight and DD keeps screaming We get our bags while *scream scream scream scream plays in the background.....geez I get so sick of that tune! Then the screams continue due to a tummy ache so we decide she is hungry and stop to get her some cookies, problem solved. So out we run to try and get a cab so we can get to NYC before sun down. DH misses the gigantic billboard that warns us all about getting a ride with strange people in SUVs that are not affiliated with any particular company and do not have a logo on the side and he heads straight for the men in plain clothing trying to flog off lifts in unmarked SUVs !! So after I tell the nice gentlemen NO DH begins to argue the point with me before I lead him off out of earshot and I explain the dangers, then of course we both laugh

We finally get safely into the cab before you guessed it, DD feels sick again This goes on and on and the warnings get more and more urgent. If you have ever been in a NYC cab you will share our pain, the drivers eyes are everywhere but the road in busy traffic. He is talking on his phone, on his cb and busy shouting at other drivers oblivious to DDs pleas. Too late DD can't hold it any longer and starts vomiting EVERYWHERE, and I am next to her in the car! All I can do is cup my hands and try to save the interior of the cab as much as I can. Four times in a row she vomited those cookies up FOUR TIMES! By this stage it is all over me, her and the car (luckily she spared her brother who is starting to look ill from witnessing the event). The cab driver just casually glances in the rear vision mirror and keeps driving, casually passing back some paper towel! Lucky DH is in the front seat and is just out of reach of helping in any way!

So I tip the left over cookies out of the bag and just let her keep vomiting into the bag until we reach NYC. I wipe the seats down and change DDs clothes while we are moving, and good thing too because that cab had another fare before we had even exited the vehicle! Then he had the hide to suggest we should pay more due to DD vomiting, this is after the whole thing is cleaned up by me! Gah, we finally made it to NYC but not in a Sex in the City kind of fashion. I had vomit all over my pants and was in desperate need of a shower. All DD could say was "I feel much better now Mummy"


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[JessNewbs]

I told DH - he thinks this is brilliant....a picture is now mandatory.

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These are those pesky things that cost me so much packing space and time! They look small here but as you can see the big one is from an 8 foot gator, very large.....almost a whole carry on bag!

 

[PrincessInOz]

DSC09557 by JessNewbs, on Flickr

These are those pesky things that cost me so much packing space and time! They look small here but as you can see the big one is from an 8 foot gator, very large.....almost a whole carry on bag!