Weekend getaway

Takin' it easy in the Big Easy: A girls getaway guide to New Orleans

The French Quarter
Carousel Bar in the Hotel Monteleone.
Creole Creamery
Bourbon Street

Sometimes you just need to get away from it all, and New Orleans is one of the best cities in the country to escape to. With the prevalent sounds of jazz and smells of Cajun cuisine filling the air, it feels like a whole new culture. Even better, it’s driving distance or just a quick flight from Houston.

So ditch the boys, call in sick and try out some of these suggestions for great eating, drinking and merriment on a girls' weekend in The Big Easy.

Eatin’

New Orleans is full of incredible food and surly, inattentive servers. For breakfast, try one of the amazing egg options at Slim Goodies Diner (3322 Magazine) or head to Surrey’s Uptown (4807 Magazine) and be prepared for a bit of a wait. If you’re craving home, the migas are incredible (I know it’s wrong to eat migas in Louisiana, but it just feels so right).

Coulis (3625 Prytania) also has a good breakfast and an interesting but delicious take on hash browns — they’re more like fried potato slices.

For a snack, hit up the The Creole Creamery (4924 Prytania) for some unusual and fantastic flavors, such as Creole Cream Cheese, Cucumber Dill or White Chocolate Butterscotch Swirl (flavors rotate). Grab an obligatory beignet from Café du Monde (800 Decatur), but save your coffee craving for Hey! Café (4332 Magazine), which has some of the best coffee in the city.

For dinner, check out the tapas-like menu at Bouligny Tavern (3641 Magazine), where the fried zucchini is like none you’ve ever had. The restaurant also has a fantastic cocktail menu, including the Nocino Sour, a mix of Aviation Gin, green walnut liqueur and lemon juice. Also try the Crepe Provencale from La Crepe Nanou (1410 Robert), where you’ll be greeted at the outdoor reception desk by a neighborhood orange tabby known as Little Man. Slice Pizzeria (1513 St. Charles) has some great pizzas and calzones.

The French Quarter is also home to many of the more famous (and pricy) New Orleans restaurants, such as Mr. B’s Bistro (201 Royal), Muriel’s (801 Chartres) and NOLA Restaurant (one of Emeril’s restaurants; 534 Saint Louis).

Drinkin’

What’s not to love about drinking in New Orleans? (Aside from the hangovers.) This city has an incredible variety of creative cocktails and bars in which to drink them. For a pre-dinner drink, head to The Delachaise (3442 St. Charles). Split a bottle of wine and a cheese plate — there are an overwhelming but delicious 21 choices of cheese!

The famous Carousel Bar in the Hotel Monteleone (214 Royal) is a popular and whimsical choice. Sit at the slowly rotating wooden carousel in the center of the bar — if you can get a seat — and enjoy the ride. Columns Hotel (3811 St. Charles) is located in a beautiful old house with ridiculously high ceilings. The house, which was built in 1883, is listed in the National Registry of Historic Places.

There are also a ton of great neighborhood bars, and pretty much everywhere you go will serve beer, wine and strong drinks — in a to-go cup, if you like! There’s no need for recommendations on these bars. You’ll find ’em.

Creative pickup lines abound.

Doin'

If you’ve ever thought to yourself, "You know, I wish Austin's 6th Street were just five times sleazier," then Bourbon Street is for you. Grab a Hurricane (mostly sugar and food coloring and will give you a headache two sips in), make friends with the drunk homeless dude grabbing your ass, and see what the night has to offer.

For the rest of us, a quick walkthrough for anthropological curiosity should suffice, then get the hell out and visit Frenchmen Street. Hit up Maison or The Spotted Cat for some live jazz. Also try Rock ‘n’ Bowl (3000 South Carrollton) to hear a concert while showing off your bowling skills (if you get there early enough).

During the day, walk around and explore the French Quarter and do some people-watching. Take a stroll down Esplanade or St. Charles Avenue to see some beautiful old houses, and visit one of the city’s historic cemeteries (or take a cemetery tour). Ghost tours and swamp tours are also popular.

And be sure to visit the New Orleans Museum of Art (1 Collins C. Diboll Circle), an incredible museum whose permanent collection includes almost 40,000 objects, especially in the areas of French and American art, and works from Africa and Japan.

After all that, you'll be so exhausted you can't think straight. But you'll return ready to reconnect with your boys — especially the ones who can help you re-create some of the more creative cocktails you tasted in New Orleans. Yum.

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Airport News

Both Houston airports would be affected by air traffic slowdown

Photo by David Syphers on Unsplash

Flights at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston will run travelers about $392 on average.

The Federal Aviation Administration plans to reduce air traffic by 10 percent across 40 “high-volume” markets to maintain travel safety as air traffic controllers exhibit signs of strain during the ongoing government shutdown.

The affected airports covering more than two dozen states include the busiest ones across the U.S. — including Atlanta, Denver, Dallas, Orlando, Miami, and San Francisco. In some of the biggest cities — such as New York, Houston, and Chicago — multiple airports will be affected.

CBS News has a list of all the airports affected and that list includes both DFW Airport and Dallas Love Field. Other airports in Texas that would be affected include both airports in Houston — Houston Hobby and George Bush Houston Intercontinental.

The FAA is imposing the flight reductions to relieve pressure on air traffic controllers who are working without pay during the government shutdown and have been increasingly calling off work.

Controllers already have missed one full paycheck and are scheduled to again receive nothing next week as as the shutdown drags on.

The FAA has been delaying flights at times when airports or its other facilities are short on controllers.

Passengers should start to be notified about cancellations Thursday. Airlines said they would try to minimize the impact on customers, some of whom will see weekend travel plans disrupted with little notice.

United Airlines said it would focus the cuts on smaller regional routes that use smaller planes like 737s. United, Delta Air Lines, and American Airlines said they would offer refunds to passengers who opt not to fly -- even if they purchased tickets that aren’t normally refundable. Frontier Airlines recommended that travelers buy backup tickets with another airline to avoid being stranded.

Experts predict hundreds if not thousands of flights could be canceled. The cuts could represent as many as 1,800 flights and upwards of 268,000 seats combined, according to an estimate by aviation analytics firm Cirium.

Air traffic controllers have been working unpaid since the shutdown began October 1. Most work mandatory overtime six days a week, leaving little time for side jobs to help cover bills and other expenses unless they call out.

Major airlines, aviation unions, and the broader travel industry have been urging Congress to end the shutdown, which on Wednesday became the longest on record.

Staffing can run short both in regional control centers that manage multiple airports and in individual airport towers, but they don’t always lead to flight disruptions. Throughout October, flight delays caused by staffing problems had been largely isolated and temporary.

But the past weekend brought some of the worst staffing issues since the start of the shutdown.

From Friday to Sunday evening, at least 39 air traffic control facilities reported potential staffing limits, according to an Associated Press analysis of operations plans shared through the Air Traffic Control System Command Center system. The figure, which is likely an undercount, is well above the average for weekends before the shutdown.

During weekends from January 1 to September 30, the average number of airport towers, regional control centers and facilities monitoring traffic at higher altitudes that announced potential staffing issues was 8.3, according to the AP analysis. But during the five weekend periods since the shutdown began, the average more than tripled to 26.2 facilities.

politics transportation