Blake

New Orleans is one of those cities that surprises you at every corner. First impressions aside, this place has moved up in the ranks of my favourite US cities, stealing the fourth spot place from Portland.

I didn’t realize until my last day that I was staying in Americas #1 hostel for 2106, as awarded by Hostelworld. Staying at The Auberge Nouvelle Orleans made my visit to NOLA unforgettable.

Kiek and Bella from Holland were especially awesome to hang out with, always getting a laugh when I tried to speak Dutch to them (Picture at left: Kiek foreground on the left, Bella behind me on the right).

I decided to take a bike tour of the city with Free Wheelin’ Bike Tours. The $50 tour was three hours and covered the majority of the city with a focus on the “back streets” of New Orleans (officially called the Creole & Crescent Tour).

My biggest mistake was booking the tour on probably the coldest day of the year in New Orleans. By the time the tour started the mercury had hit a balmy 4°C!

I wanted to try a po’ boy before leaving, so my recommendation was to head out to Mother’s. The key to a good po’ boy is the bread, so I was told this place had the best bread in the city.

The po’ boy got its name from “poor boys”, which were two street car drivers who were selling them to other drivers while they were on strike.

The bottom half of the sandwich was soaked with jus, while the top half had a soft & chewy crumb with a crunchy crust.

Getting back to the hostel after lunch, I was met with a shower and a nap to recharge the batteries. The gang was going out for a night of drinking along Frenchman Street, so I wanted to make sure I was good to go.

We hit up 30/90 (again) where the group split into two. One group headed upstairs to listen to some hip-hop, while the other half (mainly me) stayed downstairs to enjoy New Orleans finest jazz.

The rest of the night was quite the blur. However, my uber receipt shows me getting home at 6:30am.

I’m proud to say that I didn’t party along Bourbon Street the entire time. Something I’ll save for when I go back for Mardi Gras.

Travel blogger and computer security engineer, Anil Polat, understands the struggle of sitting in an airport without free Wi-Fi, so he created a handy interactive map for airport-goers to easily find Wi-Fi passwords.

The majority of the SSIDs and Passwords are from airline lounges and other “exclusive use” areas. So you’ll need to be physically close to them to “borrow” the wifi signal.

He’s also created an app call WiFox for iOS and Android that allows you to easily search the database.

Continuing my journey eastbound along the Southern United States brings me to New Orleans.

After checking in to my AirBnB, I decided to head down to the all famous French Quarter to see what’s up.

After eleven years, New Orleans is still rotting from Hurricane Katrina. Run-down and boarded up buildings sprinkle even the most touristic and popular corners of the city. However, the spirit and character is still alive and well.

I hit up 30/90 to grab a pint and to sample some local cooking. Some of the classic New Orleans fare included: Alligator Po-Boys, Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo, Crawfish Étouffée, and Oysters done a dozen of ways (including: baked, fried, BBQed, etc…).

Their take on a poutine was also interesting: Beer Battered fries topped with crawfish étouffée and sprinkled with Parmesan and Romano cheeses.

I settled on the Chicken & Alligator Sausage Jambalaya.

Moving north along Frenchmen Street, I walked into The Spotted Cat, which was another place that was recommended to me.

The standing room only club was pumping with a killer jazz quartet. The singer was able to wail out our lyrics without the help of a microphone.

The musicians are paid on tips only, so it’s important to drop a few dollars in the collection cup if you enjoyed the song. Lousiana is one of a handfull of states in America to not have a state minimum wage. This means that they fall under the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hr. However, tipped employees (like those working in bars and restaurants) make a paltry $2.13/hr!

I’m moving from my AirBnB to the Auberge Nouvelle Orleans today. I’m going to fill that annoying time between check-out (11 am) and check-in (3pm) place by doing laundry. Oh, the glamorous life of a backpacker.

Rain, rain, rain. It’s been raining non-stop in Texas for the past three days.

Regardless of their questionable history (the Don’t Ride Megabus twitter account is scary) I decided to take a Megabus from Houston to Austin. Their reserved seating allows me to sit right up front on the second level of the bus to get a “front seat” view of the trip.

Thanks to the rain, the view was not worth the extra $7.

I’m staying in the Firehouse Hostel, an old Firehall that was built in 1885. I forgot how much fun hostel life can be. Meeting so many interesting people. I’m bunking with a French woman who will be in New Orleans the same week I’m going to be there! Contact details exchanged – we’ll see if we get together for some sightseeing.

After checking in, I headed to the kitchen to introduce my self to the other guests and see what’s going on tonight.

We ended up getting to know each other over beers before hitting up Violet Crown Social Club to imbibe some more. The place was packed so we were forced to sit on the patio, freezing our asses off.

Since the bar didn’t sell food, we were able to grab a few pizzas from Via 313 Pizza. Known for it’s authentic Detroit style square pies. The gang scarfed them down in no time.

I said goodbye to the crew and walked to Kingdom, a local club, that was playing Dirty South (City of Dreams). It’s been awhile since I’ve listened to decent house music, so this filled a craving I was having for awhile.

As my drunk ass poured out of the club at around 2:30 am, everyone was heading to a place to eat something to soak up all the alcohol.

I ended up at P. Terry’s Burger Stand, a local chain of late-night burger joints in Austin.

Don’t expect me to give you an honest and sober review of this place, because I was far from it when I inhaled the burger and fries.

The rain continued as I stumbled back to the hostel.

Waking up at 10am the next day, I got dressed and hit up the 24 Hour Fitness to do a BodyPump class. This was probably the best instructor I’ve had on this trip so far…

Hopped on the bus, in the rain, back to the hostel were I ended up chatting with a few people and enjoyed lunch in the kitchen. I was bored, Austin was supposed to be this “awesome town”. Yet everyone I’ve talked to so far can’t really pinpoint what makes this place so “awesome”.

Trying to cure the boredom, I went to a coffee shop to sip on a cortado and figure out what to do. Someone recommended that I check out do512.com, which didn’t disappoint. I figured out where I was going for dinner!

Taking the damp ride up to the north part of town, I ended up at Black Star Co-Op to try their smoked Helles beer. I didn’t end up trying it, instead having a red ale called “Double Dee”. It was brewed with locally grown barely.

Settling up my bill at the end of the meal, I didn’t notice a place to write in a tip on my credit card receipt. When I asked “what’s up?”, the server replied: “we don’t accept tips here!”.

Houston was way better than I expected.

The AirBnB that I stayed was close to most of the great bars in Midtown, and a 10 minute walk to 24 Hour Fitness. I was expecting the city to be dead after work, perhaps it was in downtown, but midtown it was hopping.

I’ve been finding my self using Googles “popular times” feature quite a bit on this trip. It’s super handy if you don’t want to show up to an empty bar or restaurant on your own. I was going to check out the Kirby Ice House, but alas, didn’t want to be the only guy at the bar.

I decided to make an educational trip to the Johnson Space Centre (JSC) to learn more about the United States space program. For $30, you get to check out the exhibits and museums. Where I think you get the most bang for your buck is with the tram tours (which are free with admission). The two tours take you onto NASA grounds where you get to visit working facilities, including Mission Control. I didn’t have enough time to do both tours, so I missed out on the Mission Control one.

Another highlight of the visit to the JSC was visiting the 747 shuttle carrier. The pilot in my geeked out at how they modified the Boeing to be able to carry the 150,000 lb shuttle.

If note, was having to deal with the weight and balance of the aircraft when carrying the shuttle. The 747 was so tail heavy, that they needed to bolt 1,710 lbs of raw iron to the floor, ahead of the first row of seats.

Another 7,000 lbs of gravel was added as ballast in the cargo hold.

The rest of the aircraft was stripped of everything (including insulation) in order to keep the weight down. It was a chilly ride in first class!

The round trip cost of an uber to the JSC would have been close to $70. The bus would have taken over an hour and a half. I was able to find a car rental with Avis for $32, plus parking $5, and gas: $7… still cheaper than taking an uber.

After a workout at the gym, I decided to hit up Julep for a drink. To my surprise, they had a Gibson on the menu! My favourite drink! The “Farmhouse Gibson” was made with London Dry Gin, Blanc Vermouth, orange bitters, and of course: the onion.

My god was it delicious! The onion brine had a slightly roasted flavour to it, which really gave it that rustic farmhouse quality. This particular drink has given me a better appreciation for gin (I normally stick to vodka).

I made my way back to Midtown and bar hopped around. I spent most of my time at Howl at the Moon, my first dueling piano bar. It turned out being way more fun than I expected. The crowd was great and dancing up a storm.

The rest of my time in Texas will be spent in Austin, I’m going to try to see if I can find a party happening tonight. The Austin Texas EDM facebook group suggested that I go checkout Vulcan Gas Company.

I’m on my own.

The crew slowly left over the past couple of days back to Toronto. I feel like my trip has now officially started, considering that I’m now solo.

Yesterday we spent the day checking out a few sites in the city, including Griffith Park and its observatory.

We drove up to the Trail Cafe, where we parked the car. Hiking up to the observatory took about 25 minutes and was totally worth it. Take the time to stop half way up and look behind you to see great views of Los Angeles and Santa Monica.

The Observatory was built in the early thirties in order to make astronomy more accessible to the common folk. Previously, all observatories were inaccessible because they were located high atop mountains, which only dedicated astronomers would take the time to go visit.

The Griffith observatory was used during the second World War to teach pilots celestial navigation. Later, during the 60s, it was used to teach the Apollo astronauts the same thing.

Being Los Angeles, even this place of science has paid homage to the world of film by recognizing the movie “Rebel Without a Cause” for its accurate portrayal of the observatory in the film. Don’t forget to checkout the bust of James Dean in the north-west portion of the grounds.

After filling up on scenic views and science, we decided to head down to Melrose to checkout some of the eclectic stores and tattoo shops. Personally, I was a little underwhelmed with the Melrose strip. It had a similar feel to Queen West in Toronto, but just wasn’t able to pull it off.

Having lunch at Ta-eem grill was the highlight of the afternoon. This place is hands down the best Shawarma in the city.

After having a nap back at the AirBnB the four of us decided to head up to one of LA’s infamous comedy clubs. We decided on the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood. This was the same location where Michael Richards (of Kramer fame) had his meltdown.

$20 and a two drink minimum bought us 2 hours of laughs. It was way better than I expected and the comics (with the exception of the last one) kept our bellies hurting all night with laughter.

Tipsy and hungry, we stumbled to the Pink Taco, just down the street. Taco Tuesday didn’t disappoint with $3 tacos.

The next day, after the rest of the crew left, I headed into Downtown LA to enjoy some amazing German food at Wurstküche. Their beer selection is great. I had two pints, a Kölch and a Schneider-Wiesse. The mango jalapeño sausage was decent, I should have known to stick to traditional german sausages.

Getting around town is super cheap with Uber Pool. It only cost me $3.89 to go about 9km. Back home, in Toronto, this would have cost me closer to $13.00. Taking Uber Pool also gives me an opportunity to meet super interesting people. Just today, I was riding with Nicol. She want’s to be a fashion forecaster. Yup! That’s right. A full time job exists for people who can predict the next trends in fashion.

Armed with cheap Ubering and a $50 off for my next 10 Lyft rides… seeing America by ride sharing companies is totally doable.

Tomorrow I’m off to the largest state in the USA: Texas. Keeping an open mind, and I’m looking forward to checking out Houston and Austin.

Dreamstate was a success! This was the best run festival I’ve attended to date. Insomniac really does put the fans first!

The only issue we had was with the weather. Both days it dropped below 10°C. Once you got dancing though, you kept warm. The unicorn hat I was wearing also kept my head warm.

This was Mariet’s first time at a Trance festival, so It was interesting to talk to her about her about the music and culture through the view of fresh eyes. I was happy to be part of her experience!

After checking in to our AirBnB in Los Angeles, Ali’s cousin invited us over for dinner at his place in Beverly Hills. It was a legit house on the hill. His hospitality was amazing with great Persian food on the menu.

My first introduction to authentic Iranian food included: Fesenjan (Chicken in a walnut and pomegranate stew), Sabzi Polo (Rice pilaf with Lamb), Salad Olivieh (Potato and chicken salad), and Kuku (almost like a frittata).

I’m already missing the gym, expected since I haven’t had a workout in almost a week now. Now that we’re in Los Angles for the rest of the week, I’m hoping I can hit a Bodypump class at a Hollywood 24 Hour Fitness.

Last night I realized I made a small mistake! Shaun and Mona are leaving for Toronto on Wednesday at 12:40. I was able to find a flight to my next destination that also departed at 12:40, so I booked it.

It wasn’t until yesterday did I realized that my flight departs Thursday instead of Wednesday! Whoops! So I need to figure out what I’m going to do and where I’m going to stay on Wednesday night.

Well, this is it.

Day one of what I hope will be a year long journey exploring everything this world has to offer.

The adventure starts with a two day trance festival called Dreamstate by Insomniac. The great thing about electronic music events put on by Insomniac is their focus on fan experience, as opposed to ticket sales and profit.

At last summer’s EDMbiz conference, Insomniac founder Pasquale Rotella boasted: “Our strategy moving forward is we don’t want to book the [big] guys… I don’t want to be a promoter. My passion is not selling tickets and making money. I want to create an experience. You don’t need to book the big acts who sell out arenas.” – Spin

As such, the term “headliner”, normally used for the big name act, is reserved for the fans themselves.

I’ve never been to one of their events before, so I’m looking forward to experiencing what Rotella’s vision of a music festival should be.

One of Insomniacs more famous and well known events, Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC), attracts 400,000 fans over the three day festival!

Dreamstate is being held in San Bernardino, California. They will be running four simultaneous stages aptly named: The Dream, The Vision, The Sequence, and Timeless.

There is a group of six of us going, and in an attempt to keep everyone together, I decided to build a totem.

It, unfortunately, did not make it on the flight! All that hard work, for nothing.