The first weekend of this month gave me a lot of first-time experiences.
I was surprised when, in the middle of January, my girlfriend offered me an all-expenses-paid trip to New Orleans that would take place Feb. 2.
I’m not the kind of guy who travels often. This is due to my work schedule and my finances (I haven’t had the privilege of earning vacation hours here at the Journal-Tribune yet). Heck, up until then, I had never flown on a plane to travel.
The only times I travel out of state are when I’m seeing extended family in New York, but that’s only by driving in a car. In fact, by the time I was eight years old, I had traveled from Alaska, to New York, to Texas and finally to Ohio, all without boarding a plane.
And there she was at Delaware’s small, private airport, five minutes away from my apartment, waiting for me on her dad’s private Beechcraft Hawker jet.
My flight was weird, but it was the first time I got to see what clouds looked like from above. It was a mystical moment where I got to see the landscapes of Ohio and other states from a bird’s eye view, even though I had walked and driven a car across that land for years.
The flight experience left me a bit spoiled because of how pleasurable it was compared to a commercial flight (which I would experience later in the trip).
By 3 p.m. we were already in New Orleans. It was a three-hour flight and I couldn’t fathom traveling that fast to somewhere so far away.
The air was heavier there than it was in Ohio and the temperature was a pleasant 60 degrees. You may recall on that day, it was around 20 degrees in central Ohio and snowfall was coming in that afternoon.
After passing by the iconic above-ground cemeteries and many houses with solar panels attached to their roofs, we went to Chef Ron’s Gumbo Stop in Metairie. Before that evening, the only jambalaya I had ever consumed was from a box of Zatarain’s and cheap kielbasa in my childhood. I hadn’t tried authentic gumbo yet, and I was also curious about the taste of local alligator.
During my trip, I learned some new things about myself, such as how much I appreciate authentic local cuisine. My girlfriend, who travels often, was even able to tell me what makes a good souvenir to bring back home and what can be found anywhere else.
“Avoid getting things like those mass-produced-looking shot glasses, purses with the city’s name written on it and items that look like you can buy them on Amazon,” she told me as we were shuffling through souvenir shops. “You should really go for more genuine things the city is known for, like hot sauces or gumbo spices.”
In what little time we had to explore the city, which was only for the weekend, we decided to capitalize on getting food and learning more about the city’s history with hurricanes. It was a shame the rain and 55-degree weather limited our options.
One of the big takeaways from my impromptu trip to a region of America I had never been before was the food. We ate so much jambalaya, gumbo, crab cakes and alligator-on-a-stick (it’s a bit rubbery, but very savory).
I was also able to experience what “southern hospitality” really is, as the many Cajun-accent people in the city were a unique amount of nice to us. (Maybe it’s because we’re tourists with money.)
This trip really made me think about how sheltered I am to other places of the world by not experiencing them upfront. I can read up on what other parts of the country or world are like on the internet, but it’s a pretty impressive moment to physically be there to experience it.
It made me feel a little embarrassed how that weekend was the first time I had seen a palm tree in real life, or how I had never been in a plane before.
As I was on my way home on a commercial flight Sunday night (her father booked me a flight back because the family wanted to stay one more day), I had time to appreciate the opportunity my girlfriend’s family gave me to take a temporary break from the Midwest and explore other places.
It made me appreciate traveling, especially if I could do it for free with them. When before I was uninterested in going to other places, I’m now itching for my next chance to board a plane and go somewhere with them.
-Jacob Runnels is a reporter for the Journal-Tribune.