The Bubble and Beads Tour, October 2010 About This Page:

[DouglasE]

The Bubble and Beads Tour

This trip was the brainchild of my boyfriend, Criag. He wanted to celebrate his birthday in a big, big way. We both love to travel and he wanted to go away to someplace special for his birthday. His birthday is October 29. Way back in April, I guess I got a message from him stating that since his birthday is so close to Halloween he wanted to celebrate his birthday in a place that did Halloween in a big way. Because I live only two hours away from New York City, I was assuming he would want to go there. They have a great big Halloween parade in the West Village every year among other things. But no, two weeks later he surprised me by saying New Orleans. I said that I was onboard because I had never been to New Orleans before and had always wanted to visit. A few weeks later he contacts me and says, “You know, New Orleans is a port city”. Ok, I respond rather cluelessly. Not too much later than that he sends me a link to a cruise that uses New Orleans as its embarkation point. The timing of the cruise would allow us to return to New Orleans in time to celebrate Halloween there. The ports of call were more exotic than cruises I had heard in the past so I gave a tentative go ahead. My issues were would I still have the same employment and be able to take the time off and would I have enough money. You know, the usual. Since we are a gay couple all of my gay friends always assumed it was a gay cruise. No, it is not. This would be your garden variety Carnival cruise. The fact that it was Carnival did give me cause to pause. I was not terribly thrilled with their reputation. However, I am a big believer that you get what you pay for. I can’t afford much so gourmet meals should not be expected. Craig was a past guest on Carnival. We were able to get a lower price on the cruise with his past guest discount. No other cruises would be cruising out of New Orleans that would make the trip doable with us being in the city for Halloween. The cruise was a seven night Western Caribbean cruise to Belize, Roatan Island, Honduras, and Cozumel Island, Mexico. In my mind, Western Caribbean cruises typically involved Key West and Cozumel so this itinerary was more appealing to me. Even though Key West is one of the gay meccas for the English speaking world, I was seeking more exotic destinations.

Craig often is the idea man and I am the guy who takes care of the details and puts them in place. We are in a long distance relationship. I live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and he lives in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. He has the intent to move here to Philly in the near future. As part of the planning process I discovered CruiseCritic.com. It is an incredibly informative web site providing the latest up to date information on cruising. The discussion boards were priceless in what they gave me. Part of the boards was a Roll Call for all those who intend to be on the same sailing. I joined the roll call soon after Craig had put down the deposit for the cruise to book the trip. As this story unfolds you will see that this was such a boon for us. I highly recommend you join a roll call on cruise critic before any sailing that you do. Craig was able to take a little bit of more time off work than I could so he arrived on Thursday, October 21, 2010 in New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA). He had been in contact with a local via the internet. They ended up spending the day together on Friday, October 22, 2010 touring local plantations. We both wished that I could have been there to share that. However, that’s one more reason to return to the Big Easy, right!?!

My journey begins on Friday, October 22, 2010. Grofe’s Sunrise movement of the Grand Canyon Suite – so hopeful- matches my mood as I embark on this holiday. Crescendo builds and I emerge from underground on my train to the airport. The regional rail arrives in plenty of time to not worry about missing my flight. I had spent the morning and early afternoon at work and was going directly to the airport. I had recently purchased a big, thick paperback for the cruise. It is “London” by Edward Rutherford. It’s a historical fiction novel that follows the course of London from the beginning of history to the 20th century. I’ll let you know what I think of it later. But I begin reading it on the train.

Money is always tight so I refrained from grabbing a meal or a snack. Oddly enough as I read my novel at the gate at the airport I really wasn’t hungry. I’m always hungry. I must be really excited about this trip. My wait was uneventful until an announcement comes over the speaker informing me that the crew had not arrived on time. The good news is that they had arrived at PHL. The bad news is that they were in a completely different terminal. The crew would be about 20 minutes late.

US Airways boards its passengers in an odd way these days. They do it in zones instead of calling aisles. The zone is dependent on your class an how you purchased your ticket. So when they announce your zone it is a free for all. Luckily I had very little trouble finding space for my carry-on. This was critical because I arranged for a shuttle to pick me up at the airport allowing no time for waiting for checked baggage. Everything I was taking for this trip was either in the carry-on that was stowed overhead or in a smaller bag that fit under the chair in front of me.

Everyone gets on board and then the pilot announces a further delay. Wha-a-a-t!?! It’s rush hour at the airport and there are 25 planes ahead of us all waiting to taxi out and fly. Are you kidding me!?! Am I going to be an hour late now?! Ugh!

On board the flight I had a good conversation with a woman who was having a little holiday weekend for herself. It made the time go by more quickly. The three hour flight passed relatively quickly but by now I’m getting hungry. But I am not willing to spend any money for a snack. I miss the days when a full meal was included in the flight. But then, I don’t think I was flying quite as much back then. I guess the opportunity to travel and explore the globe is better compensation for a missed turkey sandwich and salad.

As soon as the plane lands I turn on my phone and within a matter of seconds I get a call from my shuttle driver. He is at the airport. I tell him I’m on my way and we describe each other for easy recognition. My driver was extremely personable. We talked about all sorts of topics regarding our respective experiences. As we approach downtown NOLA, he give me a quick overview to the city. We encountered little traffic and I arrive at my hostel around 9 pm.

I was only going to be in NOLA for one night and only using the hotel for 8 hours of sleep. I didn’t feel like it would be worth it to get a nice hotel. As a result, we booked the AAE Bourbon House Hostel.

NEXT: My first impressions of NOLA