New Orleans Travel options—cost

[AppSt94]

I stayed at the one hotel with Parking in the French quarter last year....looking at options this year. Did anyone drive and have a good parking option around French Q/Riverside? I’m not trying to pay whatever hotel I stay an additional $50 per night to park. There were a few $20/24hr lots on the other side of the Quarter.

The Hyatt Regency across the street from the dome is $25 dollars a night to park.

[biggie]

Just looked to confirm what I thought. Still no way to afford that. Cheapest I saw was still over $300 per person.

[appstatealum]

I rebooked the Hotel Villa Convento aka House of the Rising Sun. It's not a cookie cutter hotel, but my kids enjoyed it and they are the only Hotel with free parking. It's kind of dingy, but the sheets were clean and it's a true authentic experience in the heart of the Quarter. Since I'm a returning customer, they gave me a sweet deal. If you are one of those people that can trade a few modern amenities for an experience and some history, I highly recommend Villa Convento. Super friendly people and a historic boutique hotel at a great price. Walking distance to everything and in a quiet part of the FQ.

[EastHallApp]

I’m not seeing any direct flights from RDU. Anyone know if there’s a chance one gets added late? I remember Allegiant added the Thursday-Sunday direct flight apparently largely for App people last year, but I can’t recall how far in advance that happened.

[BayouApp]

Please share any good flight or travel cost options to/from New Orleans.
I’m finding round trip air is about $450-500 from multiple airports. I looked ar Amtrak and it was $150 (each way I think) and about a 15 hour trip.
Thanks. Go Apos! 1-0.

Amtrak is actually kind of fun but long. Nice way to see some beautiful country. Can sometimes get lower fares when checking stations up or down the line of the one you prefer but still fairly close to preferred start.

[AppSt94]

I rebooked the Hotel Villa Convento aka House of the Rising Sun. It's not a cookie cutter hotel, but my kids enjoyed it and they are the only Hotel with free parking. It's kind of dingy, but the sheets were clean and it's a true authentic experience in the heart of the Quarter. Since I'm a returning customer, they gave me a sweet deal. If you are one of those people that can trade a few modern amenities for an experience and some history, I highly recommend Villa Convento. Super friendly people and a historic boutique hotel at a great price. Walking distance to everything and in a quiet part of the FQ.

It looks like a cool place. Will have to remember that for next time.

[appstatealum]

Just looked to confirm what I thought. Still no way to afford that. Cheapest I saw was still over $300 per person.

I do well for myself and travel for work often. We stay at all of the Flagship hotel banners and I always laugh at how much my company pays per night, but hey, I wont complain. But when it comes to my personal travel, my wife will tell you, I’m a penny pincher. I’d rather not waste money on where a sleep at night and use that money saved for experiences and stuff for my kids.

I just booked a hotel in the heart of the FQ for two nights + Free parking and WiFi for $200 + tax. Add in my four game tickets. I’ll drive down since I don’t mind driving and it’ll save money, I’ll stay in Auburn somewhere cheap on Thursday night. Now we will have spending money to eat and enjoy the festivities. My kids look at it as a big part of their Christmas presents so we won’t waste a bunch of money on other worthless stuff for Christmas. I’m a frugal guy.

With gas money, hotel in Auburn, food, hotel in NO, game tickets for my family of four....I’m looking at around $700 for the weekend for the whole family. Not too bad for another year of great memories.

[biggie]

I would have a free place to stay. But I can’t deal with that drive again. And it would be $1600+ for airfare for the 5 of us. That combined with being so close to Christmas takes it out as an option.

[appstatealum]

I would have a free place to stay. But I can’t deal with that drive again. And it would be $1600+ for airfare for the 5 of us. That combined with being so close to Christmas takes it out as an option.

Yeah, if you don’t like driving, it’s a long ride. It wasn’t bad on the way down when I stopped halfway overnight, but the drive back on Sunday would suck if I wasn’t taking that whole next week off. I’m one of those guys who loves road trips (to an extent) and I drive a lot for work anyway (about 2k miles per month) so it makes it easier on me. Because it’s only a few major highways and interstates, it’s really an easy trip with my Honda “Driver Assist” Accord. I have my iPad and hook it up to the car speakers for my son and he watches football or NetFlix the whole way. Listening to that helps me stay pretty alert.

[biggie]

We went down last spring break. 3 kids and a dog. I can do it alone in 13 hrs. Took us over 18 hrs.

[appstatealum]

We went down last spring break. 3 kids and a dog. I can do it alone in 13 hrs. Took us over 18 hrs.

Oh God. Bless you. I put my kids on potty quotas and they have to go whenever I decide to stop. Thank God for iPads and Company unlimited data plans. My plan is to leave Thursday night after a work Christmas dinner and drive to Auburn. My kids will be knocked out the majority of the way and I should get down there after midnight, gaining an hour Central Time. Sleep a few hours and get up and drive the rest of the way. Get down to NO sometime around 3pm. I’ll be officially on vacation for the rest of the year by then, so I’ll catch up on sleep after I get back home.

[biggie]

On that last trip my 8 y/o was awake and talking for 17 of the 18 hours. Terrorists would have broken during that faster than water boarding.

[HkyMtneer]

I would have a free place to stay. But I can’t deal with that drive again. And it would be $1600+ for airfare for the 5 of us. That combined with being so close to Christmas takes it out as an option.

Yeah, if you don’t like driving, it’s a long ride. It wasn’t bad on the way down when I stopped halfway overnight, but the drive back on Sunday would suck if I wasn’t taking that whole next week off. I’m one of those guys who loves road trips (to an extent) and I drive a lot for work anyway (about 2k miles per month) so it makes it easier on me. Because it’s only a few major highways and interstates, it’s really an easy trip with my Honda “Driver Assist” Accord. I have my iPad and hook it up to the car speakers for my son and he watches football or NetFlix the whole way. Listening to that helps me stay pretty alert.

Same here...I love road trips! If it's less than 12 hours or so each way I almost never consider flying...especially around the holidays. I love flying but it's often a pain and when all you have is time (which the holiday period affords me, personally) it's no biggie. First key is a rental car...we always take a rental car for pretty much all "decent" road trips - just too cheap out of Hickory not to and we save the miles on our vehicles and get something smaller with much better gas mileage.

In a case like this my wife and I will usually leave Hickory around 5:00 pm and drive overnight, stopping a time or two, for an hour or two each time, at a rest stop along the way...pulling into town mid-morning. We'll then kill a few hours by getting into vacation mode (usually at a local brewery or distillery) and then check-in to the hotel a little early, which is almost never a problem. We may or may not take a quick nap, grab a shower to freshen up, and then we're good-to-go for the evening. No time wasted.

I learned a love of overnight driving from my Dad and our cross-country trips when I first started driving. I remember being 16 and driving our family's conversion van across the plains of the Midwest or down the PCH for hours on end while my parents slept, driver window down ever so slightly, tunes playing softly...good times. Not to mention, when we drive I have plenty of space left for Bourbon purchases along the way. Proper checked-bag storage for bottles just eats up way too much luggage space. Ha!

[appstatealum]

HkyMtneer, you sound like my type of people. I started doing overnight driving 10 years ago when my son was born. We used to drive to the Fort Meyer area of Florida every spring break to stay with family and my son handled the trip better (and I could do it faster) when he was sleeping. I like the flexibility of driving and having my own transportation. I just bought a 19 Accord with driver assist and drove it to Alabama coast back in April. The gas mileage is absurd compared to my Mazda Cx9 that I have been using previously and interstate driving is a breeze. I love seeing new places and googling good places to stop and grab food along the way.. Flying is always great when traveling for work so I can make it home with no lost time, but road tripping with no time restrictions is experiencing American culture in a way flying can't get you.

[AppSt94]

I prefer to drive as well. It’s a 12 hour trip to Boone but I would rather drive than fly. I drove to Mobile from Tampa for the DG Bowl. Drove up, got dinner, went to the game, drove home. Did the same thing for SC this year.

[Gnomeneer]

I’m not seeing any direct flights from RDU. Anyone know if there’s a chance one gets added late? I remember Allegiant added the Thursday-Sunday direct flight apparently largely for App people last year, but I can’t recall how far in advance that happened.

Check Spirit...we got roundtrip at $200 each.

[appstatealum]

I prefer to drive as well. It’s a 12 hour trip to Boone but I would rather drive than fly. I drove to Mobile from Tampa for the DG Bowl. Drove up, got dinner, went to the game, drove home. Did the same thing for SC this year.

The worst stretch of driving out of Tampa is the initial leg out of Florida. It was always miserable whether you choose 301 or I-4. Depending on when I was heading down there or back up, sometimes I would choose to go through Atlanta to I 75 as the traffic issues between Hilton Head and Columbia would cost me so much time.

[AppSt94]

I prefer to drive as well. It’s a 12 hour trip to Boone but I would rather drive than fly. I drove to Mobile from Tampa for the DG Bowl. Drove up, got dinner, went to the game, drove home. Did the same thing for SC this year.

The worst stretch of driving out of Tampa is the initial leg out of Florida. It was always miserable whether you choose 301 or I-4. Depending on when I was heading down there or back up, sometimes I would choose to go through Atlanta to I 75 as the traffic issues between Hilton Head and Columbia would cost me so much time.

I would never take I-4. I use 301 from Ocala to Callahan and US 1 from Callahan to I 95. They just opened a bypass around Starke which easily shaves about 10 minutes. They moved the on ramp to I 10 from 301 to the right side so it isn’t as long of a wait.

[Overcashed]

Looks like $500 seems to be the cheapest flight out of Charlotte, probably can't make this make sense this year unfortunately.

[WASU 93]

I’m not seeing any direct flights from RDU. Anyone know if there’s a chance one gets added late? I remember Allegiant added the Thursday-Sunday direct flight apparently largely for App people last year, but I can’t recall how far in advance that happened.

You have to travel Friday/Monday, but Allegiant does have a direct out of Concord.

Also, you can look at packages on the American and Delta sites. I have a 24-hour hold on a Friday afternoon, Monday Morning Delta Flight for 2 out of Charlotte with three nights at the Residence Inn warehouse district for $954. That breaks down to $300 for the flights and $100 a night for the hotel room. If I book them separately, it would be $500 more.
Plus, the 24 hour hold allows me to sit down with my wife this evening and decide if it works for us.

I looked at Friday/Sunday, Saturday/Monday Friday/Monday out of CLT, RDU, GSO,GSP, Fayetteville, and Columbia + driving to Atlanta and flying and Amtrak (17 hours each way leaving and arriving in Clt in the middle of the night). The Delta deal was the best that I could find as of last night.