The Next Day
I realized after writing my post on Eating and Drinking in the Big Easy that I never bothered to give an update on my last day in New Orleans… I’ve shared this story with a number of friends and they’ve all decided to get a good laugh at my expense. Without further adeiu..
Needless to say, I wasn’t exactly in great shape the next morning. I couldn’t move, still needed to pack, etc. I thought I was going to puke, but couldn’t get anything up. I finally managed to get a couple of Excedrine migraines down. I knew I had to leave by 11:00. I’d get up, pack some things, move stuff around, lie back down. I finally got the energy to take a shower, but afterwards I had to go back to bed. It was horrible. I finally got everything packed and headed downstairs. I realized that I didn’t have my camera. I checked my purse. Nothing. My carry-on bag? Nothing. So I rushed back upstairs to see if I left it in the room.
The maid was there and she didn’t speak English. I asked her if she found a camera. No. Then I was frantic. I took everything out of my suitcase (which was already a jumbled non-packed mess) two or three times. I accused the maid of stealing and demanded that she call her manager. Her manager didn’t come for a while, so I demanded that she call again. The manager came up and kind of half-assed looked around. I got angry. REAL angry. Finally, I said: ‘can’t you like rip the sheets off the bed or something? I mean, seriously… if it’s not in my stuff and I had it this morning, that means YOU stole it.”
So, I ripped the sheets off the bed myself, and there it was…. And the ladies just left the room. I got IRATE. I mean, they weren’t even trying to be polite. They just left the room and ignored the situation. Grrrr.
I repacked my stuff, went downstairs and then got some $$ out of the atm. After all that excitement, I was feeling HORRIBLE so I sad down for a second and promptly puked on the carpet. Classy! It was all water, but still gross.
I made it downstairs and asked for a cab. The bellman said there was a woman who was also wanting to go to the airport, but wanted to share a cab. Fine. She was in the front seat and she had been at the meeting I was working. We chatted for a while, but I was sitting in the back, so I just kinda chilled.
All of a sudden it got really hot in the cab and he cabbie was swerving quite a bit (thank goodness it didn’t smell). I rolled down the window thinking that some fresh air might help. It did. For a bit. Then I proceded to puke out the window. Yep, that’s right, I hung my head out the window like a dog and threw up all over the side of the cab, and the seats inside, and my hoddie. Awesome!
We get there, I give him an extra $20 for puking in his cab and offer to pay for the entire ride. (esp. since this girl was a member and I introduced myself as staff…talk about professional!) Luckily, the lines are super short at the airport and I make it to the self check in. It goes through the whole “is this you?” “is this your itinerary” thing and then it tells me my flight has already departed. SHIT! I thought the flight left at 1:55, so I get there a little before noon. No… it was scheduled to get to CHICAGO at 1:55. FUCK!
So, I have to stand in yet another line where she tells me my best bet is to pay $100 and have a guaranteed spot on the 4:55 plane. That would get me home around 9:40. Fine. I had over my card and go find a place to sleep. Yep, you read that right. I was THAT GIRL who was lying down in those airport seats trying to grab a nap. I as using my jacket as a pillow and had to cover up with my puke-stained hoodie. I was one hot mess.
So, I waited in the airport for another 5 hours w/o moving. No food, no water. I just wanted to die.
A few random tidbits:
1) There’s a “slumber party” convention in town. I’m pretty sure its for people who sell sex toys. Awesome!
2) Apparently Louisiana is famous for their strawberries… they were on the menu for EVERY restaurant we went to and I finally asked our waiter about it last night.
3) This trip has made me remember how much I like having guys as friends. Now, I probably should have restrained myself a bit more, but I had so much fun with ‘the boys’ this trip.
4) My brother told me I should just eat crawdads the whole time. I didn’t eat them by themselves, but there was a wonderful crawfish soup, so I guess that counts.
