But not NOLAβ¦at least not prior to my first visit to the city. You know, those beautiful Creole cottages with wrought iron balconies and hanging plants. That much was accurate, but I also pictured quiet streets with restaurants serving up Cajun or Creole food and jazz music playing as visitors and locals alike dined together in harmony. Instead, I encountered quite a different experience when I went out for a midnight walk through the French Quarter.
The streets were packed. The smell of weed was overwhelming. I was approached at two different points by guys wanting to know if I wished to buy drugs. Then there was another girl who just came up to me and started twerking. And the French Quarter is not one jazz kitchen after another, but one bar after another, filled with drunk and boisterous tourists. Honestly, what got to me most was that pervasive smell of pot. Oh how I detest it. So yeah, impression meet realityβ¦what a letdown.
I was only in town a couple days, but I can certainly attest that the bustling city itself is not defined by the French Quarter. To the French Quarter? No thanks. Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than , miles by air and has visited more than countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.
I also hate the smell of pot, and hate being solicited for drugs or sex. In Vegas this has happened to me, but only very very late at night and comparatively discreetly if anything in Vegas can be called discreet.
NOLA is different. You should be there during an event like gay pride or Mardi Gras where people are openly having sex in public. The French Quarter is mostly tourists and sex workers. There are other nice areas of New Orleans but it is certainly a town filled with sin. Having lived in the area, you really have to see other parts of town. The city was run by a pirate back in the early 19th Century and used to have legalized prostitution in Storyville.
