Well my time in New Orleans didn't start off too great. Arrived at the bus station and tried to get some cash out from the ATM as I had about $5 remaining. For the second time on this trip I got the response from the machine of 'Insufficient funds'. Crap! The transfer from my bank account hadn't gone through yet and my credit card was maxed out. Would have to ring pa and get a short-term loan in the form of a western union transfer, god bless 'em. Still didn't solve the immediate problem of having no cash, luckily though the famed generosity of the New Orleanians shone through as the guy on reception at the New India House hostel let me pay just $2 and then the rest when the transfer came through.

The first person I met as I wandered through the dorm was Jack Marko.com, and what a legend he turned out to be. The reason I name him that is being a bohemian-travelling-Californian-musician-Jeff-Bridges-look-a-like that's how he always introduced himself to people to market his music. He offered an olive branch of friendship in the form of a 'Thermo-flu' drink to help with sniffly colds, as I had picked one up from the girls at UF. After a nap we headed off to get some supplies. Whilst drinking beers back at the hostel in the back yard we met Dave, Sarah and Danielle from Oz and Liam a live-in resident of the hostel from the States. The boys decided that we should go for some beers in the French Quarter, it being the main drinking part of the city.

We wandered the streets for some time trying to find an appropriate non-touristy bar but with no joy and at our wits end dying of alcoholic thirst we finally settled on a dingy corner bar called The John. Despite being seemingly a dump it turned out to have a hidden gem, a table tennis table! Well obviously being blokes we had to have a go and managed to fashion a tournament out of it. Embarrassingly I was the worst but it was the first time I had played drunken ping-pong and fun was had by all. Sarah and Danielle had joined us, as well as another Aussie from the hostel Gareth, by the time we moved across the road to The Spotted Cat bar which, like all in New Orleans, had a cracking live jazz band playing.

It was getting to the early hours and we all wanted to carry on and so the famous DBA bar across the road seemed the best option. Again it had a band playing and Sarah was asked to dance by a less than fortunate looking bald middle-aged guy and she obliged! Well we all found it highly amusing but to be fair they were pretty good with turns, twirls etc, the whole repertoire. Then came the Hollywood moment…somebody came back from the toilet and said that Kate Hudson was sat around the other side of the bar. Understandably I said they were talking b******s and so went to look for myself, and sure enough she was there! It all made sense as we saw a film being filmed earlier in the day around the French Quarter. So me and Dave, both well lubricated by booze, had no problem going up to her, having a chat and asking for a photo, which she took. Most famous person I have ever met! Predictably and more hilariously though her personal bouncer moved us along after we had the photo haha. We moved straight to the bar and then the night got even better.

As I'm getting a drink a gorgeous blonde women comes up and asks if I want to dance?! Well slightly stunned I said yes and off we went. After 10 mins or so she then said do I want to get a drink, sit down and have a chat? Again of course. Turns out she was a friend of Kate's (I can refer to her just by her first name now lol) who was starring in the film and was also a model in Maxim. We chatted for a good while and as we do people are walking behind her giving me the thumbs up with a shocked looks on their faces (trust me, they weren't the only ones that were shocked). She said she had to go ready for filming the next day and after she went to the door I realised I forgot to ask for her number, things had gone well. So I walked to catch her up, and could see two of her, being seriously bladdered by this stage in the evening I blamed it on this, but tuned out she had an identical twin. And I didn't know which one was which! But I did get her number and Facebook (how modern). The final act of the evening was far more comedic however, and as I'm sure is common to many of you reading this, related to the drunken munchies! So the only thing open by the this time was Macca's and only the drive-thru part, not to be undeterred I walked round the drive-thru lane to the window and calmly asked for some burgers, only to be told (in no uncertain terms) to go away, which I thought was highly unfair. What a first day in New Orleans, and it would only get better.

Thursday began around midday and me, Jack, Gareth and Liam decided that we were just going to have a day of drinking in the French Quarter as the weather was rubbish but we had to get some breakfast/lunch first. I unwisely decided to get chicken-fried steak (which was on the breakfast menu, again, only in the States…and still not really sure what it is…my best guess is steak fried in chicken) and have a Wild Turkey whisky to drink, not a great way to start the day. By the time we had finished the rain was so heavy it was bouncing waist high off the pavement! So we spent the rest of the afternoon diving in and out of bars down Bourbon St. The highlight of which being going to the oldest bar in America 'Jean Lafittes Blacksmith Shop' where Liam asked the cute barmaid, "Do you have any scissors?", to which she replied, "She lives in New York." We were all sat at the bar and looked at each other perplexed before I piped up, "Firstly, he didn't ask 'do you have any sisters?' and secondly why are you telling us where she lives anyway!?"

Once again we ended up in The John playing table tennis where Gareth's friend Chris from Washington joined us straight from the airport having flown in for the weekend. I also messaged the model from the previous night who did reply surprisingly but we never met up, oh well, que sera sera. Back at the hostel there was a board updated every day showing the recommended music gigs for the day and highly recommended was Kermit Ruffins who was playing in his own jazz club Vaughn's and I had decided I wanted to go. I managed to rope Gareth, Chris and a few others, including Matthew who had come in from South Carolina, to join me (somewhat against their will, there goes the persuasive lawyer in me) and so we went back to the hostel and got changed before heading to the club. At some point in the day, not sure when, I had started to use the somewhat derisory and outdated term 'Poontang!' to comedically describe the local women, and in the taxi to Vaughn's I was causing much amusement by using it very vocally. More of that shortly.

We arrived at the club and it was considerably smaller but in turn more packed than we thought. He was over an hour late coming on due to the drummer going AWOL, which made my fellow guests agitated and I had to maintain that it was going to be worth it, and indeed it was. I was stood less than an inch from the drum kit and the sound was amazing. Kermit Ruffin's was the best trumpeter (and coolest looking dude) I have ever heard live, but his protégé Walter Washington who came on for one song was even better. Definitely check his music out. Post-gig we got in a taxi to head back to the French Quarter and turned out to be the same driver who had took us there and he asked, "Did you get any poontang boys?" Brilliant, it was catching on! We had some more drinks in a cheesy karaoke bar and another touristy bar called Bourbon St Blues before heading home.