Today was quiet in New Orleans. The crowds were gone, the State holiday over, and most were nursing weekend-long hangovers. Not us, though. We were up and packed so we could do a final walk along the Mississippi River. We passed workers dismantling the Spanish Plaza stages and the Lundi Gras tents. We watched the ferry crossing the river by going upstream then letting the strong current take it to the dock on the opposite bank. Joggers ran by tourists like us, enjoying New Orleans without the madness of Mardi Gras. It had been a fantastic time but now was the time to repent.
We left the hotel before noon to catch our 2:30 flight. The trip that took two hours on Friday took 20 minutes. We reached the gate only to be told our luggage was overweight. I had tried to distribute the beads among our bags but our carry-on could hold only so much. And of course, some of the coconuts had not been emptied of their milk.
During the parades, those on the floats would toss out their empty bags so people could stash their beads. We unpacked one of these and filled it with 10 pounds of beads. This brought our suitcase down to 45 pounds so we didn't have to pay $125 extra. I have never unpacked a suitcase in an airport before but then, I have never brought home so many souvenirs.
We weren't the only ones dragging our beads onto the plane in a parade bag. In the States, you are allowed one carry-on and one purse/briefcase/laptop bag. Not sure we'd have been able to fly into the States with three pieces of carry-on.
Our trip home was uneventful except we were carded in the Denver airport bar where we had supper. We sat beside another white-haired couple and had a good laugh over it. They were from Washington, D.C. so had some snow stories to tell.
Our plane was delayed leaving Denver as we waited for 20 passengers from Orlando. We had not been seated together but another couple had suffered the same fate so we just changed places. The line-up at customs was horrendous and we always pick the worse line. We were the last to leave the customs area. The questions the woman asked us were pretty funny.
Why were you in New Orleans? Mardi Gras. Where did you stay? Courtyard by Marriot. Did you bring back anything? Beads--tons of beads.
The look she gave us led us to believe she had no idea what we were talking about.
As I predicted, our luggage was not on the carousel when we arrived. I swear Calgary is the slowest airport to off-load its baggage. But, we were home by midnight so I guess that was something and the coconuts came home in one piece. The pralines did not.
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