Back In The Crescent City

USA music Tour 2015 Day 18

New Orleans Louisiana (or “N’awlins Lose-e-anna”) Monday 7 September

Today is Labour Day, a national holiday, so a good day to travel I expect.

The VW Passat was packed and we departed our ‘adorable cottage’ in St Augustine Florida at 8.45am. If you ever need good central short-term rental accommodation there, go to airbnb and search ‘adorable cottage’ and bingo.

We set the car’s GPS for the Alamo rental return at Jacksonville International Airport and had an uneventful drive north, with the traffic light all the way. With only a few miles we pulled in for gas (to return the car with a full tank).

Within a minute, we arrived at ‘our destination’, which turned out to be a road construction site! We needed to use our cell phone to complete the final leg of the journey.

Two Delta flights today.

Forty five minutes to Atlanta, a two-hour stop-over and a little over an hour to New Orleans.

Domestic flying in the US has become much easier over the past couple of years, in two ways. First, airline self-service check-in kiosks now work for international travelers, with only a passport scan required to get started. Second, this year, for the first time, we have been assessed for pre-TSA security clearances which have much less stringent rules – no need for body scans, belts and shoe removal, and you are not obligated to empty pockets completely.

Free WiFi on the planes today as well.

While in the air, I put together an ad hoc list of tips for Australians travelling in the US (some serious, some not), in no particular order:

Drive on the right hand side of the road
Get in the left side of the car where you will find the steering wheel
Indicator lever will be left of steering column and wipers right (generally)
Miles are quite a bit further than kilometers
A lot of traffic lights hang from wires and not atop poles. If you have stopped at the lights and are tall, you won’t be able to see them
You can turn right on a red light unless there’s a sign to the contrary
At a four-way stop sign, it’s a fifo arrangement – (first in first out, second in second out etc)
Do NOT obey the speed limits (if you do, you will be overtaken by all vehicles, including tractors and steam rollers)
When hiring a car, you will be besieged by a list of upgrade options (larger car, accident insurance, liability insurance, roadside assistance for non breakdown occurrences, fuel options) – now, depending on your travel insurance and risk appetite, resist them
When communicating, speak up, no ums, pleases or would you minds
EVERY time you say “thank you”, the response will be “you’re welcome”, so to save everybody effort, thank them once
Coffee is pronounced “Carfee”
Rob is pronounced “Rarb”
Mostly prices do not include local taxes which will mean lots of change
So, keep your coins in a separate place, ready to hand over. If not, you may need to buy another bag!
Queues are “lines”
Turn left is “take a left”
Toilets are “restrooms”
Capsicums are “peppers”
Biscuits are “cookies”
Soda Water is “club soda”
Margaritas are both cheap and compulsory
Car parks are either “garages” or “lots”
Car indicators are generally decorative, but may be used in the case of an emergency
Garbage is “trash”
Footpaths are “sidewalks”
Walking around most cities is allowed, but do not expect sidewalks or working pedestrian lights
Petrol is “gas”
Banjos are allowed, even encouraged in some places
Treat the term “thongs” with extreme caution, they are not skimpy footwear but skimpy women’s bodywear
When a phone company uses the term ‘unlimited’ in a plan, it does not mean without limits

That reminds me. Remember when full meant no more room at all? As any flyer would know, airlines these days have trouble with storing the amount of carry-on luggage. So, in order to get through to passengers, the description of full is not enough, they’ve gone one better, like today’s announcement “Ladies and gentlemen, this flight is ‘completely full’ today, so…”. Well, Delta flight 1277 from Atlanta to New Orleans had at least a dozen seats empty. Now ‘completely full’ doesn’t mean full.

Made it our hotel The Maison Dupuy on Toulouse St in the French Quarter by 5.30. A quick turnaround.

A drink at Pat O’Briens