Mandy and Friends take NOLA - Part 1

Alright ladies (and a gent or two), I've decided to shake up my blog a little bit. I know you all love decorating ideas and shopping bargains and such (as do I) but I decided to let you all in on what it's like to be friends with little 'ol me. It's always an adventure, I'll tell you that. So sit back and relax because it's story time! 

My favorite adventure I've ever taken with my friends was our road trip to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl in 2009. Somehow the Cincinnati Bearcats made a BCS game......shocking. Actually that was our second in a row! We were at the Orange Bowl the year before in Miami (which I also attended). Both games were complete massacres. We weren't ready for the big leagues I guess. 

Anywho, we were fortunate enough to spend three nights of partying in the coolest city in the world, one of those nights being New Years Eve. How awesome, right?!

Well let me tell you a little about where we stayed. We're all college kids and so we were trying to find a place for dirt cheap. My sorority sister found a place that looked pretty dece, so I went ahead and booked it. It was only $30 a person for 4 days/ 3 nights. That should have been my first sign that things weren't going to go well.

 It wasn't on Bourbon Street, which wasn't a big deal because it said there was a shuttle service. Perfect. I only put that one person was staying in the room to get a better rate. Great. How could anything go wrong?!

As I was anticipating our trip, I started reading reviews of the hotel. Not so sure why we didn't do this before we booked it. To give you first hand reviews, I've copied and pasted some of what I was reading. mind you, I'm reading this a week before we leave while all of the other hotels in the city are booked up.

very unsafe hotel. no phone, no curtain, no chair. there were bugs in the bathroom. also everytime we took a shower the drain would clog and the tub would fill up. only had 1 lock for door and is not enough in this kind of hotel. air conditioner was very outdated in order for it to work on to leave on high at 55 degrees. 

do not leave a nice car here. make sure to always leave/enter in a group. 

of course no breakfast was served, no wake up calls. 

if you have an option do not stay here.

i also got a rash.

one towel and a fifteen inch t.v. with no sound. urine stains chairs, and the door lock all you had to do to open it was to lean on it. buy the way if you were alone and needed some company for the night or buy the hour, just go to the lobby for a while you could find some in a short time. this place should have a sign at the door. STAY AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Nasty Nasty Nasty!!!!!!!

There were bedbugs in every bed, the carpet was moldy, the service was abyssmal, the bathroom was a horrible nightmare come to life. We could not walk barefoot in our room without the fear of being injured or infected with something. We could not sleep with peace, we were so scared of the bedbugs and probable other nastiness of the bed that we slept in our clothes, wrapped up completely with all of our coats. One bed was so bad that one of us tried to sleep in the corner but it was worse there than the bed. The hotel amenities were broken if present at all. And we had an ever looming feeling of danger, whether it being hurt, robbed, or killed in the entire premises. It appeared that the entire hotel hadn't been cleaned since its construction. Also, the window, neglecting the fact that it was simply broken, proved to be a fire hazard. For what we got, they should have paid US to stay there. We would have had a nicer time sleeping in the street. We will never go back or recommend to anyone other than sworn enemies to stay there. It needs to be condemned!

I ALSO READ A REVIEW THAT SAID THE MANAGER WAS SHOT DEAD IN HIS HOTEL ROOM IN AUGUST.

Awesome, just awesome. 

I quickly Googled other hotels and found a very nice hotel on Bourbon street for what seemed to be a reasonable rate, $200. I figured if we all split that it wouldn't be bad at all, especially because we wouldn't be staying at that hell hole. 

So I entered my credit card information and booked the room. Before doing this though, I made sure to call the original hotel and cancel our reservations. I was notified the booking went through with a notice that said "Thank you for booking with us! Your total will be eight hundred something dollars"

EIGHT HUNDRED.

At this time, I'm 19 and my credit card has a limit of only $500. My mom was going to kill me.

After spending what felt like hours on the phone with the better hotel, they informed me that I canceled that reservation so quickly after I booked it, the charge didn't have time to hit my CC. If I've ever doubted God, at that moment I was assured that there is one and sweet Jesus does he love me.

So we re-booked the shittiest hotel in the nation and packed up for NOLA. 

Oh yeah, ps. at this point my friends haven't read any of the reviews or seen the pictures of the place.

I'm such a great friend, right? This is also why I'm not allowed to plan trips anymore......

Check back tomorrow for part TWO which will include pictures, hotel stories, and lots of stories involving adult beverages :)