Sarahritchie17 
The past few posts have been a lot of personal growth tips and tactics, and I realize it may have been some dense content. Hopefully it’s useful, though, and you’ve set yourself up and started 2020 strong.
Shifting gears, I figured I’d write a travel post this week. Mardi Gras is coming up next month in my new home town of New Orleans. Though it’s my first Mardi Gras actually living here, I actually visited with my boyfriend for the weekend before Fat Tuesday (AKA Mardi Gras weekend) in 2018. It was amazing and wonderful and outrageous and chaotic and overwhelming. So in this post, I’m going to share with you 5 things about Mardi Gras I learned from that trip or since living here that you should know before you go.
1. Be mindful of flight times
I flew in on a Friday night and stayed at the Mercantile Hotel on South Peters Street. It was a nice hotel in a great location, and everything was a short walk. But it also meant that coming in during the evening-time made it impossible to get to. One of the larger Mardi Gras parades was happening one street over from the hotel, so my Uber driver couldn’t get me very close. We drove for a while trying to find a way around the parade and eventually gave up. I got out to walk the rest of the way, but it probably took me another 20-30 minutes to find a walkway across the parade route. With my backpack and suitcase, after a day of work and travel, bumbling through the type of crowd you might find in Times Square, except make it drunken, was not the greatest first impression. I recommend getting a flight earlier in the day before they close down streets for the night to make your travel experience smoother.
Also, keep in mind that while the biggest parades happen closest to Fat Tuesday, there are parades for the whole month leading up to Mardi Gras. You can get the experience with a bit less of the chaos if you come one of the other weekends in February leading up to the main event.
2. Download the app
There are a few apps for parade tracking that you can download for your trip. I used one called WWL Mardi Gras Parade Tracker. It was super helpful in navigating Mardi Gras and maximizing our time. The app shows the parade schedule, details about the different Krewes, the route each parade will run, and any cancellations.
Some of the biggest parades are the Krewe of Zulu, Krewe of Endymion, Krewe of Rex, Krewe of Orpheus, and Krewe of Bacchus.
The biggest parades tend to be Uptown and run from the French Quarter through the Lower Garden District and Garden District, but there are also parades in Metairie and Slidell, suburbs of New Orleans if you get overwhelmed by the crowds in the city. The French Quarter also has smaller, walking parades because of the size and condition of the streets in the area.
For a crazier vibe, head towards Canal Street and the French Quarter; for a more local feel, head towards St. Charles Street and Magazine Street in the Garden District.
3. King cake
A great between-parade activity is to head to a local cafe and grab a coffee and king cake. A Mardi Gras tradition you can’t miss, king cake is made from brioche dough, cinnamon, icing, and purple, green, and gold sprinkles. It sounds simple, but just try it, and you’ll be amazed, I promise. Now, if you find a piece of plastic in your piece of the cake, don’t be alarmed. Traditionally, a small porcelain baby Jesus is hidden in the cake. Whoever gets the baby is responsible for buying the next cake or hosting the next Mardi Gras party. It’s also a symbol of good luck and prosperity.
My favorite local cafes where you can try a piece are La Boulangerie and Mojo Coffee House, but you can find King Cake at almost any NOLA cafe.
4. Recycling beads
A major part of Mardi Gras festivities is obviously the bead (or assorted throw) catching. But have you ever thought about what happens to the beads after the parade? If you don’t have room to take all your beads home with you, chances are they’ll end up in the streets. A few months ago, I read an article from Bloomberg Businessweek (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-03-06/what-happens-to-Mardi-gras-beads-after-festival-ends). “In January 2018 the city said it had pulled 93,000 pounds of beads from just five blocks of storm drains and more than 7 million pounds of debris overall, the Times-Picayune reported.”
Instead of being part of this statistic, recycle your beads!
ArcGNO is one of the few organizations that recycles beads. They set up bead drop-off bins at various locations throughout the city and employ people with disabilities alongside volunteers to sort the beads throughout the year. They resell the beads for a fraction of the price that bead sacks/packs normally cost and use the proceeds to support programs for their employees. For more information, visit https://arcgno.org.
5. More to NOLA than Mardi Gras
I’ve already made this post way longer than I thought I would, so I’ll keep this last one short. While Mardi Gras is definitely a bucket list/once in a lifetime experience, there is so much more to the city of New Orleans than Mardi Gras festivities. I highly recommend coming back during a non-peak season and experiencing all the other wonderful things this place has to offer including beignets, jazz culture, and seasonal festivals, just to name a few.
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Cheers!
Sarah
