The Best Bachelorette Trip Ever!!!

There are two things you should know before I tell you about my bachelorette in New Orleans.

First, I’m a planner. The kind of person who has a colour-coded itinerary, restaurant reservations booked weeks in advance, and a backup plan for the backup plan.

Second, I had absolutely no idea what we were doing for three days. :p

My best friend planned every minute of the trip. Every reservation, every surprise, every meal. My only responsibility was to get on the flight. For someone whose default setting is “let me just check…”, handing over the reins felt strangely freeing. I trusted her completely, and looking back, I think that changed the way I experienced New Orleans.

Our weekend started somewhere over the clouds with Crazy Rich Asians playing on the seatback screen. A few hours later, we’d landed, checked into the Roosevelt, dropped our bags, and headed straight to Ruby Slipper.

If there was ever a way to announce to your stomach that you’re on holiday, it was with a table full of cocktail floats, waffles, French toast and beignets. We also learned something important: neither of us likes Bloody Marys, despite giving them yet another chance. We met Eric over brunch, and by the time we left, it felt like we’d known him much longer than an hour.

That became a theme.

Everywhere we went, people became part of the story. A waitress at Salon Salon who insisted on joining one of our photos. Two groups we met at Carousel Bar who turned one drink into a whole evening. A true crime guide who happened to be a lawyer working with murder victims and had lived for six months in one of New Orleans’ most infamous haunted murder houses. Complete strangers we’d end the night talking to over one last drink.

Looking back, I don’t remember the buildings first.

I remember the people.

With my “Bride” bag slung over my shoulder, we wandered through the French Quarter, stopping at St. Louis Cathedral where jazz spilled out onto the streets, ducking into little art shops and gift stores along the way. Somewhere in between, we got a tarot reading. Was it overpriced? Absolutely. Would I still do it again? Also absolutely.

Then came the Vampire Café, where we fully leaned into the city’s commitment to the theme with a sangria served in a blood bag, house fries and a slice of chocolate cake. It was gloriously touristy, and we had the best time.

After a quick outfit change back at the hotel, the evening began.

Cocktails and dinner at Salon Salon, where the waitress became part of our camera roll. Then Carousel Bar, where we somehow managed to get seats at the actual rotating carousel and stayed much longer than we’d planned. Dinner at Mister Mao followed, where we somehow found ourselves eating pani puri and Kashmiri chile fried chicken in New Orleans. If you’d asked me to predict that meal before the trip, I don’t think I could have.

We ended the night squeezed into the tiny black-and-white photo booth at F&M Patio Bar. Those little photo strips might be one of my favourite souvenirs from the weekend.

The next morning started a little slower.

We made our way to Court of Two Sisters for breakfast, where we finally got to try some proper Cajun and Creole dishes before wandering over to PJ’s for coffee and the “Greetings from New Orleans” mural. The city was already getting ready for St. Patrick’s weekend, and there was a buzz in the air that made even an ordinary walk feel like something was about to happen.

Then we did something I almost never do on holiday.

We went back to the hotel.

I got myself a matcha, curled up with my book, and read for an hour while the afternoon drifted by. There wasn’t a checklist waiting for us or a rush to squeeze in one more attraction. Somehow, slowing down became part of the trip too.

That evening was probably my favourite.

We started with the Spirits and Spells tour, wandering through stories of witches, vampires and ghosts while stopping at filming locations from American Horror Story: Coven and The Originals. After a quick dinner at Bamboula’s, we headed off on a true crime bar crawl that ended up being just the two of us and our guide.

It felt less like a tour and more like listening to someone tell stories they’d lived through. Between her work with murder victims and her time living in one of the city’s haunted murder houses, every stop came with another story that somehow made New Orleans feel even more mysterious.

We had every intention of partying until sunrise.

Instead, we spent our last drink talking to strangers before going home and promptly falling asleep.

On our final morning, we wandered through markets, ate what were easily the best beignets of the trip at Loretta’s, and then made what was probably the quickest major decision either of us has ever made.

Matching tattoos!!!

A few minutes later, we walked out with matching tattoos to remember our friendship, our first girls’ trip together, and a little piece of New Orleans we’d get to keep forever. We got lillies to signify NOLA!!!

Before heading to the airport, we squeezed in one last meal: espresso martinis and shrimp po’boys at Ye Olde College Inn. I finished the book I’d been carrying around all weekend, and somehow that felt like the perfect way to close the trip.

People always ask whether New Orleans lives up to the hype.

I think it depends on how you experience it.

Talk to strangers.

Say yes to the tourist trap.

Order the thing that makes absolutely no sense.

Leave room in your itinerary to wander.

If you’re lucky, New Orleans will do the rest.

As someone whose sample size for bachelorette trips is exactly one (and will very happily stay that way), I can say with complete confidence—

This was the best bachelorette trip ever planned!!! And I am the luckiest friend in the world!! Love you, Juhi Shahani aka best roommate/best friend in the whole entire world.