Ah, where to start... I caught my train early in the morning and began the long, tedious waiting game.. Since it was still so early and so dark, I tried to sleep as best I could, given being on a train. Last time, I was around people, this time however, I sat alone and nobody really sat near me. We left San Antonio and went through Houston, stopped there a couple hours so I decided to wander a bit from the train. It was a beautiful day, compared to the weather up to that day, first clear day since I left. It was hard to find anything to eat, so I ended up back on the train, waiting for things to pick up again. As it would go, I'd start to fall asleep, wake up, still going.. I was on the train from 6:30am to 10pm. It was a long, slow, relaxing, and boring ride haha we'll leave it at that, if it wasn't for Molly and Meagan, I would have been a very boring train ride, but they kept me entertained for a bit while service was good.
Upon arriving in New Orleans, Louisiana, I had to find the hostile I was staying it. A pretty cool place only a few blocks from the station, only booked one night, but the following day I booked a few more. When I arrived at the hostile, everyone was getting ready to leave, to checkout a brass band at some club in the area, so I accepted their invitation to join them. We took a streetcar, a trolley, to this place, but unfortunately they wanted more than everyone was willing to spend to get in, so we headed for this really great dive bar, they didn't even have normal lights in the place, they had Christmas lights that illuminated the place. Snake and Jake Christmas, or something, it was pretty cool. Met some people from other countries there too, I guess there's a University not far from here. Anyway, we are there for a long part of the night, and as we left, our group started getting spread apart and we ended up losing someone, so being my well-meaning self, volunteer to run back to the bar to get them... but I end up getting lost as hell, my cellphone dead, no cash on me... I ended up wandering for a while before I was fortunate enough to find a couple that was outside for a smoke, asked them if I could charge my phone or maybe see a map so I could figure out my way back to the hostile, but they were generous enough to just call me an Uber, so cool of them to do that, really saved me.
The next day, Wednesday December 7th, I walked into down, wandered down St Charles Ave and just really got a feel for what was around. Still hard to believe I'm here, I'm traveling, I'm in New Orleans.. After returning to the hostile after a day of just exploring, the group got together and invited me to join them for Pint Night at The Bulldog, a cramped and crowded bar with a lot of different types of beers, off Magazine Street. I ended up getting a few compliments on my shirt, a Nintendo controller, never had compliments on it before haha. I met a few people there, gave some cards for my blog, just tried to get a feel for the place, it was packed, anxiety was getting pretty bad, but I held together. After a while, the group split into two, ones that wanted to go home, and ones that wanted to keep exploring. I stayed with the group that wanted to explore, 6 of us in total, so we piled into an Uber and headed to the French Quarter! Now, it's a Wednesday night, not Mardi Gras time, but it's still pretty busy on Bourbon Street. I don't know the places we stopped, but the first one we went to had a pretty awesome band going, very cool, got a video I posted on the Facebook page, if you haven't checked it out, just click on the Facebook icon in the corner to check it out. Anyway, from there we hit a few more places, end up a strip club for a minute while we decided what the plan was, which ultimately was to head back to the hostile. Well, when we're down the street myself and another guy decide we're hungry, so we opt to wander till we find somewhere open at 3am. We try a few places, and eventually end up at a place called Igore's.. and they make the best burger I've had in a while, just might pop in again tonight for a late dinner. Anyway, we wander through and eventually get back to the hostile about a quarter after 4am, and at some point I've lost my favorite old hat, so it's been tough. New Orleans has claimed one of my camera lens and my favorite hat haha, be good to me!
It's Thursday now, and I'm staying in tonight to just update the blog, kind of relax while everyone is away doing whatever it is they decide to do, I think it was checking out a band. I'm hoping to find some work so I can stay here a while longer, it's a cool place with a lot of opportunities to have some memorable moments. Hell, one of the girls that works here is going to give me a tattoo, so that'll be cool. She does poke style tattoos though, so I'm curious to see it done, her work looks really good from what I've gotten to see. That's what this trip is about, really, just seeing what comes up in life, where life goes, taking chances, telling stories, making friends, and just seeing more. Hoping I haven't forgotten anything, if I did, I'll add it another day, or something. I think I'm going to run to the store and grab a drink or something, been trying to get this post typed up for a little while now.
Later days.
“Alexander, our older brother,
Set out for a great adventure.
He tore our images out of his pictures,
He scratched our names out of all his letters.
Our mother shoulda just named you Laika!
Come on Alex, you can do it.
Come on Alex, there’s nothin’ to it.
If you want somethin’ don’t ask for nothin,
If you want nothin’ don’t ask for somethin’”