Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with NOLA

Why are we planning New Year's Eve this early?

unexpected — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:27:53 -0800

My friends and I trying to plan New Year's Eve. Help us figure out if New Orleans or Miami would be better... Hey everyone,

Even though it's August, my friends want to plan New Year's Eve. We've narrowed it down to two choices: Miami or New Orleans, and we're having trouble deciding.

If you have any experience with either of these two cities (especially around New Year's) I'd appreciate your input.

New Orleans:

Pros:

1) We'd stay on Bourbon St. All the action is centrally located here.

2) Sugar Bowl is going on. It would have lots and lots of people

3) We feel like drinks/entertainment would be cheaper here.

Cons:

1) NO seems to be a lot more "dirty" - especially Post-Katrina

2) There doesn't seem to be much to do besides drinking.

3) Potentially colder

Miami (South Beach)

Pros:

1) BEACH! (Though weather seems to be hit or miss)

2) More glamorous

3) Seems to have more non-drinking activities

4) Potentially warmer

Cons: (Basically the NO Pros)

1) We're a pack of 7 guys. I feel like we'd have an easier time getting into places in NO than Miami

2) Miami nightlife is going to be more expensive

3) Everything is more spread out in Miami - a lot of time in cabs traveling to and fro, no central location like vegas.

So HiveMind, I turn to you. If anyone has experience with either of this two cities (especially on NYE), I'd appreciate the input.

Let me know if you want more info about us, and our tastes.

Looking Not to Melt in New Orleans in August

extraheavymarcellus — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:33:05 -0800

My erstwhile traveling companion and I are going to visit The Big Easy in the dead of August, specifically the 13th - 18th. What would be some activities we could do during the daylight hours to keep cool and out of the sun and are there still any Goth nights or the like to entertain us after dark? We are pale, Gothy types who have been to NOLA a few times but never this time of year.

New Orleans wedding officiants for the not-so-religiously-inclined?

Mayor West — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 08:41:09 -0800

New Orleans wedding officiants for the not-so-religiously-inclined? My fiancée and I are getting married in April of next year. Yay! We've got most of the planning done, but since we're planning from afar (the wedding is in New Orleans, and we're in Boston), there are some parts that we can't do very well. Notably, we're scratching our heads on finding an officiant that we'd both be happy with.

Our requirements are pretty simple, and I'd love to hear any recommendations that y'all might have for anyone in the greater NOLA area. We're going to be down there for a few days in two weeks, and can briefly interview any candidates then.

Our criteria:

This will be an outdoor, Saturday-afternoon wedding in Jackson Square.

She's a lapsed Catholic, and I'm an atheist who is willing to put up with some degree of spirituality in a wedding to make some interested parties happy. Any mentions of Jesus will make me unhappy, and a complete paucity of religious sentiment will probably upset these interested parties, and generally make her unhappy

My first inclination is to split the difference and find a Unitarian
officiant, but this is by no means requisite

We've talked about writing our own vows, but that's not firm yet. Ideally, I'd love to find someone who has done some really beautiful ceremonies before, and who would be willing to talk with us to figure out what themes we'd like to have in our ceremony.

Does anyone here have any recommendations for us? Thanks in advance!

Travel package recommendations to NoLa

iamabot — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 22:01:42 -0800

Does anyone have any experience with book it . com ? More specifically their travel packages to New Orleans? So Mrs. Iamabot is looking to fly in to New Orleans from the bay area April 5th to 8th, we've looked around a bit and the best deals seem to be from the site mentioned above so far, but we're hesitant to use an unknown name at this point. We've checked out the BBB rating (A+) and looked around for anecdotal evidence which has been mixed, but the hive mind may have some opinions as well.

Any recommendations for tour companies, swamp tours (airboats), city tours, etc ? Hotel recommendations and anecdotal do THIS, but never do THAT, or go here and make sure you see this, eat that, and experience this are also welcome.

Hive mind, help my wife have a great trip!

Where to get hitched in NOLA?

mostlymartha — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 14:11:30 -0800

Where should we get married in New Orleans? Next fall (October or November) the boy and I want to get married in New Orleans. It's just about our favorite city in the world, and since we want fun rather than formal, seems ideal. We're planning sort of a low key destination wedding-type deal.

We're foodies, so the bit that's most important to us is the dinner afterward (we're thinking a private dining thing at Restaurant August). We don't really want a traditional reception with a band and cake and whatnot, that just isn't our thing.

So the question is, what kind of venue for the ceremony itself. We'll be in NOLA in January to do some reconnaissance, and we'd love suggestions for places to check out. Here are our requirements:

-Holds 25-35 people.
-Indoors or outdoors is fine, but it needs to be pretty enough that it won't require piles of expensive flowers (we'd rather spend the money on food). We like the idea of interesting courtyards or spaces in historical houses.
-This is important: won't require us to do some kind of package with a catered reception there afterward. We'd be cool doing a little champagne toast thing, but we'd mostly be in a hurry to get to the dinner portion of the evening.
-Won't cost a huge pile of cash.

American South Road Trip?

The Whelk — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 07:57:11 -0800

Road Tripfilter! Is it feasible to drive from NYC to New Orleans, hitting stops along the way, without going insane? The Boyfriend and I are thinking of driving from NYC to DC to Ashevillie to Savannah to New Orleans this winter over the course of 2 weeks. Any route recommendations? Things to see and do and eat along the way? Is NOLA in any shape to be visited?

Side Note, The Boyfriend is British and never been south of D.C and is convinced we'll be killed by rednecks. What should we see/do to convince him otherwise?

We wont be killed by rednecks, right?

Gift for the New Orleans-bound?

MaddyRex — Thu, 22 May 2008 11:19:27 -0800

NewOrleansFilter: What should I get for my girlfriend, who is going to New Orleans for the summer? My girlfriend is going to take a summer job working for a public defender in New Orleans. She's a law student and this will be her first time in New Orleans. I want to get her a present that's appropriate to the setting.

Difficulty: She doesn't like jazz.

Friendly accommodations in NOLA for a hospital patient?

greatgefilte — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 20:57:19 -0800

Short-term accommodations in New Orleans, preferably home-stay or something budget-friendly? Not your average story. It's a bit of a complicated situation. A dear friend of mine traveled from home (Toronto) to NOLA for inpatient treatment at a specialized program for eating disorders at a New Orleans hospital. She's been there for about a month now, doing well in the program, and the nice doctors are encouraging her to think about a partial-hospitalization plan, where she'd spend her days in hospital, but spend nights elsewhere. For patients who live in New Orleans (at least, before Katrina), this probably wouldn't be so bad, but she's totally new to the city, and is anxious about staying alone in a hotel (and rooms are expensive and/or difficult to come by, it seems). She agrees that some kind of home- or apartment-stay situation would probably be better for her well-being, not quite a supportive housing gig, but not shacking up with a total stranger either a la Craigslist.

What's our best bet? Would something like CouchSurfing work in this case, or is there any kind of resource for non-evacuees seeking temporary housing? She would probably need to stay for one to three months, and could certainly pay rent, though nothing exorbitant.

The hospital in question is located in the Harahan/River Ridge area, and the girl in question is the sweetest, most unintrusive thing alive. Any advice?

Why would one snipe a medical convoy?

goodnewsfortheinsane — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 14:09:45 -0800

KatrinaFilter: I don't understand most kinds of violence, but seldom am I as baffled as in this case: why would one fire at a medical convoy performing rescue work, as has reportedly happened in New Orleans? The report gets copied everywhere, but I haven't seen any news source offer some kind of background as to the motivation of the shooter(s). Discussion is fine, links are welcome too.

New Years in New Orleans

AlisonM — Thu, 23 Dec 2004 08:40:20 -0800

New Orleans. I'm going next week with a couple of friends to celebrate New Year's. While we plan on doing some of the typical touristy stuff (Cafe du Monde, Bourbon St., Preservation Hall, etc...), I was wondering if there was anything some locals (or non-locals familiar with the city) can recommend that's off the beaten path. [MI] It's our third time there, and I while consider myself familiar with the French Quarter, unfortunately we didn't venture out of the Quarter that much. Are there any must-sees outside of the Quarter (or in the Quarter that a tourist may have missed the first couple times around)? We'll be there Dec 28th through Jan 1. We won't have a car, but I'm very comfortable with mass transit and seem to be able to find my way anywhere without too much trouble (as long as I grab a map, of course).

For the record, I did check older threads, but the most recent (tourism related) post was back in April. Just wondering if anyone had anything new to add.