From Blow Outs to Passing Out: A Day on Bourbon Street
Bourbon Street is an iconic place. You can’t visit the New Orleans French Quarter without hitting up Bourbon Street and experiencing all it has to offer. Of course, like any party destination, it has its ups and downs, especially for someone past their under-grad crazy co-ed stage of life.
So here it is, from blow outs to passing out,
A Day on Bourbon Street
When you first arrive, you are all kinds of pumped. Pedro and I had woken up at 3am to catch our flight and didn’t get to our apartment until close to 3pm. Sleep depravation be damned, we needed to start drink immediately.
We started out strong. We got ourself some stiff drinks and fried and blackened alligator because NEW ORLEANS BABY! Wooo!
But then we made the mistake of going back to our apartment for a “power nap”
Which obviously turned into a several hour nap. We ended up ordering mashed potatoes and giant sandwiches from a 24 hour bar/restaurant around the corner called Deja Vu. Mashed potatoes upon waking? Thats kind of a party, right?
We had to try this Bourbon Street thing again
This time, I was so ready. We were well rested. Plus, I went to a salon and spent an absurd amount of money on getting my nails done and my hair cut. As she dried my hair I said “Make my hair as big as you can make it. The bigger the better.”
Im part asian, this is as big as my hair gets. It lasts for about an hour. PARTYING HAS TO START NOW.
And girls know. Blow outs mean you are ready to party.
I also got the lowdown from my stylist, who told me that just a block away from Bourbon Street, I could get way cheaper drinks at an awesome cash-only bar.
Chart Room is way too much of a dive bar to bother with a website, so I’ll just save you the googling and tell you it’s at 300 Chartres St, New Orleans, LA 70130.
Do not spoil it’s low-key awesomeness with your sloppy post-Bourbon street debauchery. START your night at Chart Room. Enjoy the jukebox, old-school bartenders, and cheap drinks. Once you are drunk, you can venture back to the madness of Bourbon Street.
I recommend doing more people watching than buying of anything. I was lucky enough to have an AirBnb a block away from Bourbon Street, so I popped back into the apartment to take shots from time to time. Normally, sneaking home for shots would make you an alcoholic, but in New Orleans it makes you a thrifty genius.
Shots shots shots shots shots shots EVERYBODY!
The logical, budget-friendly person in me will tell you to avoid buying gimicky drinks at all costs. However, drunk Rease definitely told Pedro it was an AWESOME idea to buy a drink that came in a glowing souvenir skull cup. Because, you know, you get to keep the flashy-lights cup, so $13 is a steal, am I right?!
Luckily, that was the only overpriced nonsense I bought on Bourbon street. I did, however, make two more very important purchases: Pizza and a jello shot.
There are several pizza places sprinkled throughout Bourbon Street. They all look basically the same and the pizza is cheap, so it’s perfect for hungry drunk people. I chose to go to the pizza shop that called out to me with this sign:
Because why would I want a normal shot when I can have a jello shot that comes in a syringe?
As you can see, my blow out was long gone, along with all the elegance it implied. Shortly after consuming delicious pizza and a jello shot, we wandered back into our rented apartment and passed out. I’d call that a perfect night out on Bourbon Street.
