First things first. I am a teacher that lives in Charlotte, NC who will be moving overseas to Kazakhstan in August of 2011 to teach at an American International School. As a gift to my mother before going overseas, I wanted to present her with the "trip of a lifetime" as she has never really gone on a major vacation anywhere. I had so much fun planning this trip and trying to attend to every last detail for my mother.

We left out of Atlanta on Saturday, July 23rd and flew Delta direct to New Orleans (MSY). The flight was quick and under an hour. I used A1 Limousine rentals to drive us from the airport to our hotel. As soon as we went downstairs to baggage claim at the airport, we saw our driver there with our name located on the sign. Once we retrieved our luggage, he took my mom's bags and escorted us past the VERY LONG taxi line straight to his air conditioned town car for us.

I decided to stay at Loews Hotel in New Orleans as it is located with a view of the Mississippi and I could get a double queen suite at a reasonable price ($132). Once we arrived at the hotel, a bell hop came straight to the car, picked up our luggage and within minutes we were checked in and in our riverside (very large) room with a view of the Carnival ship getting ready to sail out that day. We asked for dinner recommendations and went to Mother's right across the street from the hotel. This southern style food place was great. My mother got a "po boy" and I got breakfast for dinner. We walked over to Harrah's casino (located across the street from the Loews Hotel as well) and each spent $10 in about 20 minutes and walked out. We are not gamblers and it was evident by the quick disposal of our money. Read more