New Orleans, Louisiana.

On to New Orleans! This place shocked us on arrival, in all honesty we wanted to just turn around and get out of there! It is still almost war torn after hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005. There are people who have lost their homes that are now living in tents under the over passes as you come into the city, and there are a lot of derelict buildings scattered all over the place which remain damaged from the hurricane three years ago. You can't help but wonder if the city can actually ever recoup its losses after such a tragedy.

It's not all bad however, far from it, the French quarter of this city is really nice and it is very much a party town. There is a casino and a countless number of bars, pubs, restaurants and various other venues to peruse. The swamps here offer all types of activities such as fishing, boating and general wildlife tours although they are quite expensive.

The city is quite easy to navigate and the public transport system is quite good and cheap and there are a number of horse drawn carts operating in the city centre for hire or for tours (prices vary) which are expensive but are definately the way to go in this city, especially in the French quarter with its beautifully decorated buildings.

The crime rate as with Memphis, is high and there are under cover police, drunks and homeless all over the place, especially on the cities main drag, Canal street. We stayed in the Canal street hotel wich is supposed to be a good quality hotel and apparantly a foamous one at that but it was honestly a joke! The place stank of wet musty carpet and was full of bugs not to mention the view of all the homeless people living in tents outside our window under the overpass.... How are you meant to enjoy you stay when you are worried that when you walk out the door you are gonna get mugged! Not to mention the feeling of guilt, here we are on holiday throwing our money away on hotel stays and the people out the window are living in tents with nothing left to thier names. So I recommend if you do travel here, stay closer to the river or in the French quarter itself.