That’s right, after listening to Taylor Swift since 2008, your girl finally got to see her live.

We originally had tickets to see the Eras Tour in Atlanta, but that fell through. So instead, we secured tickets to New Orleans N1, October 25, 2024.

Now we can’t just go all the way to New Orleans, LA, for one night. So, of course, we made a whole weekend of it.

Swamp Tour

Friday morning, myself & Billie Jean went on a swamp boat tour in the bayou about 30 minutes outside of NOLA. Overall, it was just really neat. However there were a couple of highlights. Our guide kept throwing marshmallows out to the alligators, raccoons, wild hogs, etc.. Well, there was one girl on our boat who was obsessed with raccoons, so he let her feed one of the more social ones a marshmallow. And you know what followed? Him deciding it wasn’t fair to give her that opporunity and not anyone else. I got to feed a marshmallow to a wild raccoon! I also got to hold a baby alligator, which despite the look on my face in the photos, I was actually really happy about doing.

Eras Tour

Marvelous. 10/10. Highly recommend. I dressed as a friendship bracelet (as did the stadium) and made a Junior Jewels shirt for Billie Jean. We sang and danced and the stadium moved with the crowd. I cried during Fearless. The whole stadium had a shared cathartic moment during ATWTMV. The post-concert “what now” hangover was REAL the moment the lights came on and we were sure she wasn’t going to come back out for a surprise encore.

Food Tour

Saturday morning at 9:30am, Billie Jean & I did the New Orleans Food Walking Tour of the French Quarter through Destination Kitchen. Food tours are one of my absolute favorite ways to see a city. They’re generally led by locals (or people who have lived in the city for years), and you find out all sorts of information that you’ll NEVER hear see in the brochures and guide books.

Now, scheduling a food tour at 9:30am the morning after a concert and post-concert Waffle House run was a choice. Not necessarily one that I’d recommend for everyone, but it was a fantastic decision for us.

Not wanting to be late, we got an early Lyft from our hotel and wandered the empty streets of the French Quarter. After an ice cream breakfast of champions, we met up with our tour group at Roux Royale, on the corner of, you guessed it, Royal Street. This is where we got our first treat, a butter cookie with a praline center.

We spent the next 3-ish hours being wowed by samples from local restaurants and hearing all sorts of tidbits from our guide, Roland. If you’ve never heard of Rose Nicaud, you need to look her up before going to New Orleans. Hearing our guide talk about Rose’s story gave me goosebumps. This woman started the New Orleans coffee culture long before Cafe du Monde was even a thought. She was an enslaved Black woman who started out selling coffee from her coffee cart every Sunday and eventually was able to buy her freedom and establish a permanent location near the end of the French Market by the age of 28. This woman was an amazing powerhouse.

Outside of the history of the area, the food was fantastic. We had lots of things, but my highlights personally were: alligator on a stick from a stall in the French Market, a po’boy from The Market Cafe, calas from Bon’s, gumbo & a char-grilled oyster from New Orleans Creole Cookery, and of course we had to end the tour with a pecan praline from New Orleans School of Cooking.

Everyone’s pralines taste slightly different, so if you can stand the sugar, I highly recommend making your own food tour afterward of just trying pralines from all the different places you see them.

Mardi Gras World

If you’re a fan of Mardi Gras parades, Mardi Gras World is the absolute cheesiest tourist trap (remember I use that term endearingly, I love them), and you’re going to love it. They have a bus that will pick you up throughout the French Quarter. You just give them a call and they’ll get you from the closest stop. Once the bus drops you off, you enter through this warehouse building into the gift shop where you buy your ticket, get your string of beads (this is your ticket), and wait. Your experience starts with a video about Mardi Gras and a slice of king cake.

Side note: Don’t worry about the mortal sin of having that king cake outside of carnival season. It’s okay. They’ve got a contract with a local bakery who makes them year-round just for them. It will be fresh, and it is the exception to the rule.

Once you finish your king cake, you tour the warehouse where they build and store Mardi Gras float decorations and props for all sorts of companies, including some pretty well-known theme parks. If you’re lucky, you might even get to see an artist working on their latest creation.

When you get done with the tour, my best advice is that if you can’t catch the bus back to the French Quarter immediately, just call a Lyft/Uber. It took FOREVER (maybe 30 minutes) for that bus to come back and there were too many people waiting to fit in it, meaning some people that had been sitting there waiting had to wait for the next one.

Once in a Lifetime Experience

New Orleans will never be among my favorite cities. I will start there. It’s hot, it’s humid, Bourbon Street (where I always end up somehow) smells like vomit. I never feel completely safe, always feeling like I’ve got to keep my guard up. I enjoy New Orleans, don’t get me wrong. I’ve been there many times for many different occasions/types of trips. There are just places I enjoy more.

That said, there will never be a weekend in New Orleans quite like this one. Throughout the weekend, the New Orleans police even seemed to be in good spirits and enjoying their weekend with the Swifties, most of them rocking friendship bracelets on their wrists. Bourbon Street smelled nice and felt so safe. The sounds of Taylor Swift karaoke poured out of the bars along Bourbon Street, along with bubbles and giggles. The entirety of the French Quarter just felt like one big celebration of girlhood. It was amazing. If I could guarantee that NOLA would be like this every trip, I’d find a way to be there every weekend.

Looking at TikTok after the weekend, bartenders and other service industry workers made lots of posts about how different the weekend was and how the Swifties were generally nice and tipped well. That’s what we like to see. Service workers are so important, and they work so hard. Tip them well.

The tourism revenue that the city brought in over the weekend was insane as well. I can’t remember the numbers anymore, but I remember hearing that it was a relatively large percentage compared to the whole of Mardi Gras season. Over one weekend.

Know before you go:

• New Orleans is below sea level, and it’s always hot & humid. Be vigilant about staying hydrated (and no, alcohol doesn’t not count as hydration).
• As with any city, be careful and keep safety at top-of-mind. There are lots of pick-pockets and robbers, as with any largest tourist destination. Don’t be scared to go, but be aware of your surroundings and stay with your group.
• Be prepared to walk a lot. You’re not going to want to try and drive/park around the city. And if you even think you might drink while you’re there, do NOT get behind the wheel.
• To visit St. Louis Cemetary No. 1 where the tombs for legendary people like Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau are, you MUST be part of a tour group or have a family pass authorized by the Archdiocese of New Orleans.