The City of New Orleans

Well, I did it. There was a smoking sale from Southwest Air and I booked a trip to New Orleans in September. By myself. You have no idea what a “wow” making idea this is.

In the past I’ve taken the big summer trip with friends. But last year, I said I’d had enough of the stress for awhile, and I wasn’t going to wrangle a big trip again until somebody else did one. On the one hand, it does cause me a fantastic amount of stress. I worry about everybody’s schedule, and what the weather will be like, and are there enough things to do, and is the rental house big enough, close enough, cheap enough, and who’s bringing what and cooking what, and is everybody happy and having a good time, and blah blah blah. On and on. Stressful.

But the stress is only part of the equation. I need somebody to feel my pain. Because as it is, I start planning early, and making people make decisions early, and everybody thinks I’m this giant nervous Nelly, who is bugging them with all these silly concerns. But because I’m the one who’s handled the details, I know that if you don’t get people to commit to a day, people’s schedules book up. And if you don’t get a rental house early, all the reasonably priced places are gone in the week you need. And if you don’t organize food ahead of time, you get five people showing up with buns, and nobody showing up with hot dogs. What I need is somebody else, anybody else, who has done the wrangling too. And if they’ve been through what I’ve been through, the next time that I organize one of these things, there’s another voice saying, “Seriously, guys, she’s not nuts.” Cause right now it’s like herding cats. And I’ve had enough. Or if I actually am over planning this whole extravaganza, then they can tell me, “Seriously, you’re making this harder than it is. Chill.” And I’ll accept that too. I just need a second pair of eyes here.

But that was a year and a half ago. Nobody has stepped up. And I’m tired of waiting. I want my vacation. And I have a sneaking suspicion that everybody thinks that if they wait me out, I’ll jump in and fix it all. Nuh uh. Not happening. I’m not going to play cruise director for everybody, but I sure as shooting will do it for myself. I guess I’m kind of making a point.

So. NOLA. I’ve always wanted to go. Southwest has a sale. It seemed like a sign. Of course, I also booked in hurricane season, cause I’m smart like that. But since it’s just me that I need to wrangle, I’m not all that uptight about it. Whatever will be will be. Laissez les bons temps roulez.

But, still, being me, I’m already starting my little folder of stuff to do. I only have 4 days (I’m not sure how much I’ll like my own company – I’ve never been on vacation by myself before. Oh, my.), and I don’t want to over book myself so that I have time to do the Tennessee Williams thing and write, but I also want to get a good taste of New Orleans. So if anybody has a “don’t miss” they’d like to recommend, I’m up for suggestions. I’m all ears.