I was supposed to head back to Japan this year. I wanted to see more of the country and perhaps step into a studio with my old friend Hiro and record some tracks or something. For various reasons I wasn't able to save the amount necessary for such a trip. I still needed to get away, but I'd have to do it closer to home.
Reading some (Prince?) news on the MTV site (or was it rollingstone.com?), I
came across something about the 2003 Voodoo Fest, a three day music event I'd
seen advertised on Spike or Fuse or whatever MuchMusic is calling themselves
nowadays. Marilyn Manson, The White Stripes, and Fitty Cent seemed like a cool
line-up, and I'd never been to a large scale multi-artist concert event before.
Also it was in New Orleans, a place exotic enough and affordable to get to.
So, after thinking about it for a while, I decided I was going. I still hadn't
really saved any money (bills and distractions are always popping up), so I
bought the three day pass to the show one week, booked the flight the next,
and on the following week booked the hotel. I planned to be there about 5 days,
which would give me time enough to wander and get lost.
I arranged both the flight and the hotel, through Priceline.com. The flight
was $135 roundtrip (from NY) plus taxes, fees and the $15 travel insurance (optional,
but I opted for it). Altogether it came to $195. Much cheaper than the other
online sites I tried, however when I entered my price the site notified me that
I might have a better chance if I chose La Guardia as my departure point instead
of Kennedy. I normally chose Kennedy and got quoted prices from $205 and up
(not including taxes, etc.), but I never chose La Guardia before. It wasn't
familiar, I didn't know how to get there, and it never occurred to me that there'd
be that much of a difference in price. I wonder how low I could've gotten. The
hotel was $35 a night, which I thought was cool, and once again, since they
accepted that price, I wonder how low I could've gone price-wise. There was
a problem, though. One based on my own carelessness; The location. Priceline
let's you choose the areas to include in your search, and even provides a map
for each one. I clicked on the maps for most of the locations I chose except
one. New Orleans Airport. I figured that being close to the airport can't be
a bad thing, right? A quick glance at the larger map showed the airport to be
left of everything else, but I didn't click on the map of the area itself. I
assumed that New Orleans airport was in New Orleans, and couldn't be THAT far
from everything else. well, I found out as soon as my price was accepted and
the address showed the hotel to be located in Kenner, LA. At this point I had
a week to figure out just what this meant.
I don't use my time wisely. I don't know what I did that week, but I spent very
little time researching the trip. I did read parts of the Fodor's guide that
I bought during lunch breaks at work, but nothing in the way of planning my
time outside the three days of the concert. I figured I'd do that on the weekend.
As luck would have it, my cat came down with something during the week and I
planned on taking him to the vet. He spent the weekend at the animal hospital,
and seemed to be having a re-lapse the night he came back, so I spent even less
time thinking about the trip than I normally would've. He was better for the
remainder of the time prior to the trip, so my mind was set at ease as I prepared
to leave.
© 2004 George-Williams Isaacs
