The key to eating crawfish is all in the technique. This scampering shellfish bottom-dweller in Louisiana’s wading waters is a long-time delicacy of Cajun and Creole cuisine. If you’re a seafood lover, once you discover and master the technique, especially amid the confines of a crawfish boil or a New Orleans Cajun or Creole eatery, you realize what you’ve been missing—how something old becomes something new. New Orleans is an example of how things can change in an instance, yet many things stay the same. New Orleans took a crippling blow after Hurricane Katrina that had many wondering if the city would ever be the same. But the loyalty, heart and sour of the city emerged, and as news spread, locals, favored visitors and celebrities took to the streets to repair, restore and renovate damaged areas worth preservation, creating what is now the “New” New Orleans. That’s why Best Vacations Ever and Preferred Guest Resorts have recently added New Orleans, also dubbed The Big Easy or NOLA to its list of preferred destinations, offering customized low-cost vacation packages so you can enjoy first-hand something old and something new at the same time in one of the world’s most unique and historical cities. Be one of the first travelers to explore this national treasure with a serious money-saving, low-cost vacation to the mysterious and magical destination of New Orleans with Best Vacations Ever by calling 800-656-2780.
Celebrities Pour in Millions to Aid in Restoration
Succulent Cajun and Creole cuisine, the birthplace of jazz, amazing architecture dating back to the 1700s and the eclectic mix of cultures are metaphoric with The Big Easy, which has served as the backdrop for numerous TV shows and films and setting for many top-selling novels. That tradition can continue, thanks to the state of Louisiana state, inspired locals and numerous celebrities like native jazz mogul Harry Connick Jr. and silver-screen mega-star Brad Pitt, multi-millions of dollars and reconstructive initiatives have been poured into this city that has inched its way into many hearts and souls. Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation has commissioned a slew of new houses in the Lower Ninth Ward, helping to provide sustainable habitats to many who lost their homes.
Stepping Inside or Outside Your Comfort Zone
You can’t duplicate this kind of heart, soul and spirit; you can only experience it. Once you have visited this culturally enriched treasure, you’ll understand why there has been such investment in restoring the area, especially in its vintage architecture, and jazz and soul clubs and entertainment venues devoted to its musical roots as the birthplace of jazz. The Big Easy has this way of bringing out your wilder side and willingness to try new things outside your comfort zone, like eating a crawfish or looking into the various often controversial cultures like the real beliefs behind voodoo. Numerous celebrations of New Orleans’ famous food, ethereal beauty, foot-stomping music, vintage architecture and rich history is all part of the one the most unique experiences and destinations– a popular port destination in Louisiana. Sure, damage was done but what hasn’t changed is The Big Easy’s unwavering and whole-hearted spirit, faithfulness and often bursts of joy and celebration seen throughout the streets. Unlike its stereotypical reputation, Mardi Gras and New Orleans is very family friendly with activities for everyone.
Dedication to Preservation & the City Treasures
Many counties like Italy, Israel, Greece and Egypt date Before Christ and have numerous historical landmarks the world would move heaven and earth to preserve, and it has! Since America was founded much later and became a melting out of cultures as settlers found their way here, the U.S states and land is much younger but still dates back to 1492 and has just as many treasured landmarks and historical treasures as the older countries. You have the chance to experience these treasures now with customized Best Vacations Ever promotional vacation packages to New Orleans—the smarter way to travel.
New Orleans is one such city that locals and favoring visitors have long visited and would move mountains to preserve. The Big Easy streets are filled with an unmatched heart and soul even after Katrina’s damage, emerging even more spirited and more motivated to not transform the city, but restore and make it better, stronger—and safer. A big part of the draw is its mystical and bewitching cultures, vintage architecture and musical influence that has spawned many of the top jazz legends in the clubs of the famous French Quarter—the oldest neighborhood and visiting travelers social centerpiece—that also is the birthplace of jazz. Even graveyards are a sight to behold with cultural rituals that have grave s above ground. Some credit the news attention to New Orleans to aid in restoration by actually tugging at hearts all over the world and educating people on this magical destination right in our own U.S. backyard. Refusing to see it succumb to such devastation and engaging in restorations efforts also uncovered its roots and helped make jazz and big band “cool” again among the mainstream.
The Merriment of Mardi Gras
Locals and many avid travelers to The Big Easy couldn’t imagine life without New Orleans’ historical landmarks and grandiose celebrations like Mardi Gras, which to outsiders is the true metaphor for the Big Easy and just as enticing to travelers as Manhattan is on New Year’ Eve. All locals, kids and many travelers annually attend the Fat Tuesday festivities the Tuesday before Lent begins that often includes gorging on all kinds of Cajun and Creole cuisine and king cakes, plus several festivities, coveted beads and coconut, thousands of people is costumers in masks and fashioned in purple and gold, a parade rooted on St. Charles Street and more risqué club and street-filled activities for adults. These visitors want the real thing and visit for Mardi Gras as often as possible to be part of the authenticity, rather than a cotton-blend copycat celebration in other cities and states. Restoration became a national effort that touched the heart of many Americans, and the lucky locals who live there and those who have the memories of already having visited.
Celebrities Take Root
Many travelers have predicated a visit to New Orleans just to see the colorful characters, rich history, 1700’s architecture and eclectic mix of cultures that make up this melting pot and musical birthplace of jazz or to experience the poetry that is New Orleans. There’s also the charming, atmospheric Streetcars, with touring an traveling lines like the popular St. Charles Streetcar Line that that goes through the famous Garden District and under its canopy of huge live oaks overhanging the street to where America’s sweetheart, Sandra Bullock, has taken up residence in one of its spectacular vintage mansions. Among the many high-profile celebrities who have rooted in New Orleans include, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie who are on the second floor of a French Quarter walk-up. It was reported that Jolie reportedly spent two hours chatting up the patrons at the Abbey, located just steps from their residence on Decatur Street.
Visiting New Orleans
People from all over the nation, came out to help with the initiatives to restore this national landmark and popular port city for generations to come—and with such devastation, there is still work to be done but it’s an infectious and most impressive destination worthy of your next family or couples’ vacation, especially with a the money-saving customized vacation packages Best Vacations Ever can offer.
Is the area a target for more hurricanes? Just like many other U.S. states, of course. It’s just like Tornado Alley, which stretches across the Midwest states, has chances for tornadoes. But Katrina was a category 5, the highest strength and very rare, and restoration efforts have made the “New” New Orleans much stronger and more resilient to the effects of such inclement and devastating storms. With so many activities and attractions competing and commanding your attention, there isn’t any chance of distressing boredom.
Get Bookin’!
Thanks to Best Vacations Ever, provided by Preferred Guest Resorts’, and its most recent preferred partner destination of New Orleans along with a set of primly located accommodations, an ideal vacation for you and a loved one or you and your family. Flex your muscles and salvage hundreds of your travel budget with a variety of complimentary accommodations on many of the main thoroughfares and right in the heart of the action—plus a little something extra for travelers, which also called lagniappe. So turnoff the work computer and the daily stress, and get ready to uncover a secret treasure around every corner in The Big Easy while enjoying the health and wellness benefits of a vacation.
Book your Best Vacations Ever promotional vacation package to New Orleans today at 800-656-2780 and you’ll get the traveler’s lagniappe of a Historical Inn and Brunch at the Roosevelt Hotel, a Waldorf-Astoria Property that’s filed with rueful fondness and treasured landmarks. Be sure to visit bestvacationsever.com to download a handful of fun, short and educational videos about legitimate promotional vacation packages with Best Vacations Ever and Preferred Guest Resorts that can save you hundreds of dollars with complimentary accommodations. Also be sure to ask your travel representative about Alamo® rental cars, another incentive and preferred partner of PGR—a little more lagniappe for travelers looking for benefit-enhanced vacations at the lowest possible costs.
What do you think has changed in New Orleans or is it the same as you remember?
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