Tristan Chatburn was amazing. His support and contact throughout the process was excellent. Would not hesitate to recommend and we will definitely use your company in the future
The issues we had coming home with BA weren’t DialAFlight's fault but maybe warn clients that if flying home from New Orleans that the airport and airport lounges all shut at 9pm and you can’t get food or drinks anywhere. So if you’re delayed make sure you eat before you go to the airport!
As always -amazing and unfaltering service from Nicky. I’ve used them for years and will continue to use DialAFlight for my travels
Thanks once again to Adam for exceptional service and for helping us organise our perfect holiday
Philippa Devlin was excellent throughout the whole process. We are considering a further holiday and will certainly come back to her and DialAFlight.
When we booked our trip it was for ddrect flights to New Orleans. Unfortunately BA stopped flying there direct on Fridays so we had to travel via Dallas which made the journey extra long
Another very successful adventure organised to perfection by Adam Siu
Another faultless experience. Thanks to Jessica and her team
Marshall's knowledge of the hotel and the area were bang on and placed us right in the heart of everything.
Always great service and support
Nicky kept in touch and her friendly personality made it a lot easier and instilled confidence in me as she understood my anxiety at travelling longhaul alone
An absolutely excellent trip to the USA organised by Billy and his team. Many thanks for going the extra mile.
Harriet Hall was patient, efficient and very helpful. Excellent service
Very helpful over several Covid cancellations and changes of mind. Riley exceptional.
A great all round experience
Had to wait 2 hours in New Orleans to collect hire car. Avis had one member of staff and so queue was ridiculous especially after such a long journey. But on a good note they gave us a bigger car probably by mistake so can live with it.
No complaints
Trip worked well. Am going to send more detailed report soon as I feel it helps with future bookings
Jamie literally saved our holiday after BA cancelled our flights. I was in such a panic, but he was brilliant and found us flights £460 cheaper than BA was charging us.
Michelle is amazing. She has been booking my travel now for over four years and having flown to New Orleans during the COVID situation only to have to return two days later Michelle cancelled all our hotels and found us flights to return home within minutes of making the phone call. Amazing.
Stephen worked as quickly as possible to change my and my daughter's flights and hotel bookings as the Corona virus situation on both sides of the Atlantic got worse. He was most helpful and understanding
Really great communication, super helpful staff - great trip!
Will was brilliant throughout the whole process and answered all my questions.
Really good service as usual from DialAFlight.
We couldn't have asked for more. We got the holiday of our dreams at a very affordable price with constant contact and updates right up until the day before we flew. Excellent service.
Brilliant service, right up to the day before leaving for our holiday. I was given valuable support and advice.
We have been dealing with Glen Blackburn for several years and he never fails to deliver. Extremely informative, his knowledge is excellent and his travel tips are invaluable. Thank you Glen.
Logan was very efficient and patiently answered our endless questions. Everything went like clockwork.
Third time we have used DialAFlight - always excellent
Great service, updates and advice from Kieran. I have highly recommended to friends.
The evening slams into action with a long blast of brass. Ronell Johnson has swung to his feet and is squeezing every last bit of jazz out of his trombone.
Rickie Monie, meanwhile, is tinkling the ivories at frantic speed. I'd been told the Preservation Hall in New Orleans was the place to see live jazz, but never realised it would be as moody-blues as this.
All the local jazz legends have blown their trumpets here, from Punch Miller and George Lewis to Sweet Emma Barrett and The Humphrey Brothers. The Preservation Hall continues to attract the best acts.
FINDING THE MUSIC
Jazz is everywhere in New Orleans - in the bars, in the streets and in the psyche. This, after all, is the city of Louis Armstrong, who played his way to fame on the paddle-steamers that plied the Mississippi river.
This, too, is where the early jazz legends Buddy Bolden and Jelly Roll Morton once jammed through the night. Their local haunt, the Little Gem Saloon, has recently reopened and serves cocktails and food along with the music. Even those paddle-steamer river excursions still serve up jazz with their Creole cuisine.
PRESERVATION HALL
'Welcome to New Orleans,' whoops the compere at the Preservation Hall in a pause between acts. Welcome indeed. New Orleans has to be the funkiest city on earth, where the
streets are filled with buskers and the back-alleys packed with cocktail bars. They even have drive-thru daiquiri bars where - I kid you not - the daiquiris are sold by the gallon. A visit to Louisiana's most beguiling city ought to begin with a government health warning: this is a place that takes partying very seriously.
The wildest district is Bourbon Street, the setting for some of America's most outlandish clubs, strip-joints and cocktail bars. It's about as raw as it gets.
Women dressed in knickers and nipple-tassels parade the street touting for photos ($1 a snap) while men hang out in doorways drinking 'hand grenades', a Bourbon Street speciality that will blow your socks off. It comes in a yard-long vessel that's tinted green and shaped like a grenade at the bottom. The recipe is a guarded secret.
FINDING THE CALM
Apart from Bourbon Street's excesses, the rest of the city winds down to a gentler pace at around midnight. Then it's back to the hotel - in my case, the historic Maison DuPuy - where the party continues in the inner courtyard at a more subdued pace.
In 2005 Hurricane Katrina caused catastrophic devastation. More than 1,200 people died and 400,000 left homeless. An excellent (if sobering) exhibition in the city's Presbytère - a branch of Louisiana State Museum - recounts the horror as the levees collapsed and a tidal wave hit the residential quarters.
THE FRENCH QUARTER
The only part scarcely touched was the historic French Quarter, home to many of the oldest buildings, jazz clubs and museums. 'New Orleans is not an American city,' explained John, my guide. 'It's half European, half African. It's unique.'
Founded by the French, ceded to the Spanish, sold to the Americans and besieged by the British, it was populated for much of its history by slaves from Africa. Allowed one day off work each week, they would congregate in local parks and improvise the musical riffs of their African forbears. This was how jazz was born.
Jackson Square is home to fine museums: the 1850 Museum, the Cabildo - the old town hall - the Presbytère and nearby Gallier House, with a preserved mid-19th century interior.
In the French Quarter, head to the Gumbo Shop restaurant to sample typical New Orleans fare: shrimp Creole, seafood gumbo (a thick Creole soup) and deep-fried alligator (straight from the swamps surrounding the city).
COCKTAIL HOUR
But I'm in need of a cocktail and take myself back to Bar Tonique, which serves the best sazerac in town (New Orleans's signature cocktail: cognac, absinthe and a shot of local Peychaud's bitters.) As the sun oozes itself into the Mississippi, I down a couple before taking myself back to Preservation Hall.
There's no Ronell Johnson on tonight's programme. But local star Clint Maedgen is on the sax, and that'll do for me.
First published in the Mail Online - April 2018
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