dat4life

Glad to know I’m not the only one who has this thought

wakesetter93

wakesetter93

I left the SkyClub about 5 minutes before boarding was scheduled to begin and made the trek down to the F concourse. When I arrived Pre-Boarding was already underway.





Delta Air Lines
DL 1303
MSP-AUS (Minneapolis/St. Paul International - Austin-Bergstrom International)
Seat: 17C (Economy)
A319-100 (N370NB)
Scheduled: 9:35p-12:24a (+1)
Actual: 9:31p-12:03a (+1)

Once onboard, everyone got settled quickly and we pushed back a few minutes ahead of schedule. Since it was late and I was seated on the aisle, there were no views on taxi or take off. Once in the air, the FAs came through the cabin with a drink and snack service. Since I have some free drink coupons to burn before the end of the year, and it had been a long day, I had a Woodford and a couple of Biscoff cookies. The flight attendant and I struck up a conversation and realized we were both LSU fans so that meant extra cookies for me!




We landed in Austin over a half hour early but had to wait a few minutes for another plane to clear our gate. Even with that delay, we still managed to arrive at the gate 20 minutes early and I was off the plane in no time. The Austin airport was fairly empty at this point and, after a quick stop at the cupcake vending machine to pick up some sweets for Mrs. WS93 I was in the car and headed to the house, for a few hours at least.

TommyD2

Guess so. Supposed to be ~18k square feet (the F club is 12k or so). Will have a SkyDeck and showers.

Supposed to open officially in April.

wakesetter93

I'll have to find an excuse to get up there once it's open then

theshaun

Welp, looks like SFO777 had a hell of a game with the right result! Of all the days for a windstorm to knock out my power. Missed the whole thing.

wakesetter93

What. A. Game.

48vpat

I guess you can start looking for tickets to Atlanta

wakesetter93

18 hours after arriving home, I was headed out the door again, this time with Mrs. WS93 in tow. After saying goodbye to Gumbo we were off towards the airport, but first we made a quick pit stop at Torchy’s for dinner.




Filled with tacos we headed over to ABIA and were in the terminal by 8:25p. With CLEAR being closed and no priority security, we still made it through quickly and we were at Gate 14 a couple minutes later.



Since I was traveling the day before, we missed the check in window and ended up B49/B50. However, thanks to my Southwest credit card, I get 4 free upgraded boardings per year and was able to snag A12/A13 for us instead.

Boarding was slightly delayed thanks to a late inbound aircraft, but the gate agents did their best to get the plane turned quickly.



New catering?

Southwest Airlines
WN 743
AUS-MSY (Austin-Bergstrom International – New Orleans Louis Armstrong International)
Seat: 12A (Economy)
B737-700 (N7839A)
Scheduled: 9:20p-10:35p
Actual: 9:24p-10:33p

Once onboard, it was the standard Southwest seat roulette but, thanks to our early boarding positions, I managed to snag the best seat on a Southwest flight, 12A. The exit row with a missing seat in front, providing endless legroom and even some leftover snacks from the previous flight.


A+ on the cleaning

We pushed off the gate a few minutes late and taxied out to the runway. Once airborne, the FAs came through the aisle and, after a couple days of hectic travel, and facing a late-night drive, I had a cup of coffee. I love the fact that WN serves Community Coffee.



The flight went by quickly and soon we were landing in New Orleans. We parked next to a couple of Breeze EMB-190’s and headed out to catch the shuttle bus over to the rental car center.





We followed the signs for Hertz and then the Gold section where there were only a couple of cars available. There was a well-appointed Ford Escape, but it had been smoked in so, we settled on the Mustang. It had a couple of dents and dings but overall, it got the job done.






With the bags loaded, we headed off for the roughly 1 hour drive up to Baton Rouge.

wakesetter93

Hotel prices for the game were already crazy, if you could even find availability. The Homewood Suites had availability, but the rooms were $345 a night. Fortunately, I was sitting on a stash of HHonors points and 33k points per night sounded much better than spending over a thousand dollars on a hotel.

We arrived after midnight so we had no issues waiting on our room and the check in process was quick, even though I think I woke the night clerk up from his nap. Keycards in hand we headed up to our room on the 3rd (top) floor and settled into our one bedroom suite.

Our suite consisted of a large kitchen area complete with a dishwasher, cooktop, microwave and a ¾ size refrigerator/freezer.




The living room had a couch and a chair and faced a small TV and what appeared to be a dresser standing in as a TV stand. There was also a small dining table against the wall.




The bedroom was a decent size and had the same TV setup as the living room. Though the furniture in here was looking worse for wear.




The sink and mirror for the bathroom was located in the bedroom and the shower/tub combo and toilet were located behind another door.



The hotel served a continental breakfast each morning in the lobby and while it wasn’t high end by any means, it was hearty and filling.



In addition to the coffee station, they had cereals, pastries and make your own waffles on offer each morning while the offerings from the hot bar rotated throughout our stay.








Ms. Creola, the lady responsible for cooking, was out and about in the lobby talking to guests each time I went down and even remembered Mrs. WS93 one morning when I came down to get her breakfast. She went in the back to find me a tray so I could “properly serve her breakfast in bed” and was a joy to talk with each time I saw her.

Though the hotel was far from luxurious it was close to campus in a good location, was comfortable and the staff was friendly which is all I really need on a weekend dedicated to football

drminn

Hey, now that you are married put that toilet seat down! Will save you a lot of trouble in the years to come

wakesetter93

Just noticed that it was up in the photo! I took these pics as soon as we checked in so housekeeping must have left it up

glasman19

Wonderful trip report wakesetter93 ! Looking forward to Game day in Baton Rouge 😜

wakesetter93

Thanks glasman19, if tomorrow isn't absolutely insane maybe I'll be able to get that part up!

wakesetter93

My first day in Baton Rouge I had some alumni association business to attend to and after a long day of meetings we finished up in true Tiger fashion at the Lod Cook Alumni Center bar as the fans streamed in for the game this weekend.


Lod Cook Alumni Center bar

Mrs. WS93 met me there and we headed off to meet our DFW based friends at Beausoleil for dinner.


First the Quail and Crawfish Spring Rolls


Then the spicy Shrimp roll


And finally, some Lobster mac and cheese


After dinner, we headed back to the hotel, dropped off the car, and grabbed an uber over to L’auberge Casino for the grand opening of the Barstool sportsbook. We spent a few hours there hanging out with friends and I managed to play a few decent hands at the blackjack table that had me up on the weekend. After the casino, we called it a night and headed back to the hotel to get some sleep before gameday.

L’auberge Casino/Hotel




The next morning, we grabbed a hearty breakfast from Ms. Creola and called an uber to Campus, which was already packed. We got dropped off at The Chimes and made a stop at Bengals and Bandits before heading off to tailgate through the North Gates of campus.




We headed past the Parade Grounds and the bookstore and rendezvoused with our DFW based friends at a tailgate on the south side of the stadium. Unfortunately for us, since we got “stuck” with a 2:30p kickoff we only had a short time to tailgate before we needed to head towards the stadium.

Parade Grounds

Bookstore


Shot Ski time



We made our way past the stadium, and the Ole Miss team busses, over to see Mike the Tiger. Back in grad school my office was right behind the stadium, and I had a chance to see Mike VI every day. Now, with Mike VII reigning over LSU. Fortunately for us, he was out and about in his habitat enjoying the gameday atmosphere.

Losing team busses


Tiger Stadium

Mike the Tiger habitat


Mike VII

After our visit with Mike, it was time to head into the stadium. We had great seats on the 50 yard line and we took our seats as the Golden Band from Tigerland took the field.


Ole Miss sideline

These seats will do!



Golden Band from Tigerland


A US Coast Guard chopper provided us with a flyover and then it was gametime!

USCG flyover


Here come the Tigers!

The tigers got off to a slow start which, until the Bama game, has been our gameplan all season. Fortunately, they came roaring back and ultimately walloped Ole Miss 45-20, giving Brian Kelly his first top 10 win as the head coach of the Tigers.




Tigers Win!

After the game, we made our way back towards The Chimes as the sun set over campus. While we waited on a table, we grabbed some drinks at the bar and watched Texas blow a game to Oklahoma State, which didn’t make Mrs. WS93 happy but did make one of our DFW travel buddies happy.




After a 45-minute wait, we grabbed a table upstairs for dinner before heading back to our hotel to rest up after a long, exciting day.

Rooftop at The Chimes

The next morning, we were in no rush to get moving since our flight wasn’t until late, so we had a nice, lazy morning before hitting the road to New Orleans just before 11:00a. We had plans to meet up with Mr. and Mrs. SuperG1955 for lunch but made it to town 45 minutes early so we stopped in at a local beer garden for a drink before heading over to Parkway Bakery for some delicious Po-Boy sandwiches.

Driving through Nola

Bayou Beer Garden


Parkway Bakery



After stuffing our faces, we headed uptown to meet some of our NOLA based friends at Urban South Brewery. We had the opportunity to try some of their beers during our visit, but it was great getting to see all of the options they had available in the tap room.

Urban South Brewing



After a couple of hours at Urban South, we headed down to the French Quarter in search for some dinner.

Canal Street

Our first stop was Carousel Bar at Hotel Monteleone but it was packed full so we headed around the corner to Bourbon House for dinner.

Hotel Monteleone

Carousel Bar

Brennan’s Bourbon House



First, the Seafood and Sausage gumbo


Then some Boudin balls


And finally, Shrimp and Grits


After a great dinner, it was time to head back towards MSY to catch our flight home.