We were recently tagged by @GotPassport to create a Passion Board!

So, without further ado, here is the explanation of Guy and Girl Travels’ Passion Board:

As you can see, love is the biggest theme in our passion board. We’ve been together as a couple for over 12 years and are deeply in love with each other. We have this attraction combined with this spiritual bond that brings us closer together every day. There isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t profess our love, kiss each other passionately, and hold each other close. Even after times of frustration we come together to celebrate our love. Included in this (cover your eyes if you’re related to us) is our sex life. Not to toot our own horn, but we have this passionate, wild, and amazing sex life. We are always up for new things and well, we are two very happy people if you catch our drift . . . Orgasms are everything!

The “Sex and the cities” line on the board is a small joke between us and probably between many couples. We always make love in the cities we visit just so we can say we’ve done it there! We also have very specific memories of our “travels” and reminisce about them often! Oh, if only our website weren’t rated PG-13. The stories we could tell!

Our second biggest theme in our passion board is travel. We are from a small town in New Jersey and carry those strong, small town values. We love seeing the world with our small town eyes and are in awe at what the world’s history has left behind. Our two favorite cities, Prague and New Orleans, are actually rather small in size as well.

Another passion of ours is the macabre, which is represented by Dracula’s Castle and the word “scary”. We absolutely love traveling to haunted locations and find ourselves obsessed with all things ghostly. We love Halloween, scary movies, ghost hunting shows, and love hearing tales of horror, which explains our obsession for ghost tours. During our travels we try to make a point of going on at least one ghost tour in each city!

When we travel we love eating food and experimenting with new flavors and wines, which explains the “live deliciously” line. Food is important when traveling because it opens up one’s senses to new tastes. There isn’t a day that goes by when we aren’t searching local grocery stores for blood oranges, Czech spa wafers, and peach jelly, which we’ve discovered during our travels.

Our love for art is represented by the Sistine Chapel. During our travels we always make a point to visit art galleries, art museums, and churches to see the great masterpieces. Guy is actually an artist himself, so seeing great masterpieces up close opens his art to new ideas and techniques!

The “Traveler in the Know” line shows our passion for sharing our tips, ideas, and experiences during our travels making Guy and Girl Travels one of our biggest passions!

The watch represents time. Life is so short and the experiences of life are so valuable and shouldn’t be wasted. Therefore, time is one of our biggest passions because we don’t want to miss a single opportunity that goes by. Both of us have learned this lesson through losing loved ones and somehow think of travel as a way they can experience it with us.

The quote by Leonardo Da Vinci states “Every now and then go away and have a little relaxation. To remain constantly at work will diminish your judgment.” We relate to this quote because this is our life. We both work full time jobs, in addition to working ourselves to the bone finishing our degrees. (We both went back to college in our late 20s.) So, working full time all of those years in addition to educating ourselves, we understand the importance of getting away to freshen our senses. 

The places on this board we have yet to visit, but are dying to include Venice, Bruges, Romania, and Taxco. We are planning a trip to Bruges in October of 2010 to celebrate Guy’s graduation. We’ll be visiting the Flanders Region, which is famous for its Baroque art. Hopefully, we’ll be able to experience all of our travels on our wish list!

To continue the Power of the Passion Board, we are tagging @thetravelbee, @travelinganna, @mymelange @mstravelingpant @megoizzy, and @Travelogged because these are some people who’s experiences have inspired us to keep on traveling.

Please check out @gotpassport‘s blog for #PassionBoard directions and may your passions keep on inspiring others!

*The pictures and cutouts used in our passion board are credited to “Redbook” magazine and the “1000 Places to Visit Before You Die” desk calendar.

The Pontchartrain Hotel is located at 2031 St. Charles Ave.

Find yourself awe-inspired as you gaze upon Ante Bellum mansions while your tour guide tells you tales of horror from those who have lived there. From ghost sightings, to ectoplasm formations, to things that go bump in the night; your tour guide will explain the history of the Garden District and each haunted Ante Bellum, while pointing out celebrity homes like Sandra Bullock and John Goodman. You’ll even see the house where The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was filmed among other locations like inside Lafayette Cemetery.

Caution: As with any walking tour, be careful when walking on sidewalks and streets. In the Garden District, some of the sidewalks are uneven due to tree roots.

Be sure to bring your cameras along because you won’t want to miss capturing any orbs that may appear in your photographs along with any celeb sightings. Oh, and wear comfortable shoes because this 2 hour walking tour won’t have many places for you to rest your feet.

This tour departs daily at 3:30 pm and costs $20.00 per adult, $17.00 for Seniors/Students, $10 for Children under 12, and is free for children under 6. Tour-goers are asked to arrive 30 minutes early for check-in.

Once in New Orleans, you can find tour coupons on flyers and in free publications or you can print one ahead of time by clicking here.

To book your reservation, call (504) 861-2727 or go to www.hauntedhistorytours.com.

Guy and Girl Travels Tip: For the cheapest ride to the Pontchartrain Hotel from the French Quarter, take the historic St. Charles Streetcar. The cost is $1.25 per person and exact change is required. Just ring the bell once you’ve reached your destination, which will be on the right. It’s approximately a 5 – 8 minute ride from Carondelet and Canal Street.

Red Fish Grill Dining Area

Located in the French Quarter at 115 Bourbon Street – Ralph Brennan’s Red Fish Grill seduces palettes making them beg for more even when miles away from New Orleans. This multi award-winning casual New Orleans seafood restaurant is located in the first block of Bourbon Street, next to Canal St in a renovated 19th Century building.

Open daily for lunch and dinner, hungry folks will find themselves drooling over the menu items from BBQ Oysters (Guy’s favorite) to the Hickory Grilled Redfish (Girl’s favorite). A full bar menu is also available to help replenish those drooling mouths.

Lunch is served from 11:00 am – 3:00 pm and dinner is served from 4:00 pm – 10:00 pm.

For chocolate lovers and foodgasm chasers, savor the Double Chocolate Bread Pudding! By the third bite you’ll loose all the feelings in your toes and start to loose consciousness of your surroundings. Not only will you start giggling uncontrollably like a three year old girl, you’ll gather an audience by re-creating the famous When Harry Met Sally scene. This foodgasmic dessert takes 20 minutes to prepare, so be sure to order it with your entrée.

Chew on this: Their Oyster Bar is opened daily from 11:00 am – 10:00 pm.

Chef Gregg Collier makes this restaurant drool worthy with the finest and freshest seasonal ingredients including at least seven types of Gulf Fish offered every night. With the freshest ingredients around, you won’t find trans fat making its way into this restaurant’s menu.

To make your reservation, call (504) 598-1200 or visit their website at www.redfishgrill.com.

Guy and Girl Travels Tip: This place is moderately pricey, but 100% worth it! Our dinner bill came to around $100 for cocktails, appetizers, soups, entrees, and dessert for the two of us.

The Degas House is located approximately 11 blocks north of the French Quarter – a short five minute, $5 taxi ride from the French Quarter for two people.

Joan, Edgar Degas’ great grand niece, hosts a guided tour of the Degas House explaining the lengthy background of Edgar Degas and the Musson family while simultaneously explaining the history of the surrounding area during the late 1800s.

At the start of the tour, a 20 minute video entitled “Degas in New Orleans, a Creole Sojourn” is presented, where you’ll discover exactly who Edgar Degas was, what type of art work made him famous, and why this French born artist visited his family in New Orleans.

Art lovers, gossipers, and anyone who’s ever imagined what’s inside a grand New Orleans mansion will LOVE this tour. The family history that Joan explains will leave tour-goer’s mouths dropped to the floor as this family’s drama is similar to that of a soap opera! You will also get to see a few locations within the house where Edgar Degas created his famous paintings and for the lucky, you’ll get a peek inside some of this Bed & Breakfast’s bedrooms, which may inspire your next stay in New Orleans.

Degas House Historic Home, Courtyard & Inn offers guests Bed & Breakfast accommodations, guided tours, and plenty of space for meetings, weddings, and events.

Tours are given by appointment only and all proceeds benefit the non-profit Edgar Degas Foundation, which educates and preserves the history of Edgar Degas. Suggested donations are $10 for Adults, $8 for Senior Citizens, and $5 for Children/Students. For tour reservations, please call 504.821.5009.

Guy and Girl Travels Tip: There are replicas of Edgar Degas’ paintings throughout this tour; however, you can visit New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) to see a few of his pieces.

So, what makes Hotel Monteleone worth your dime? Here are 5 Guy and Girl Reasons:

Location Location Location

Hotel Moneleone is situated within the heart of the French Quarter. On Royal St. alone you’ll find endless art galleries, fine dining, and some of the best souvenir shopping you’ll ever encounter! Plus, it’s steps away from the parties on Bourbon St., the hustle and bustle of Canal St., the energy of Jackson Square, the views along the Mississippi River, and within walking distance of the St. Charles Streetcar, which takes you up to the Garden District among other locations.

Tip: Take a short stroll over to Pirate’s Alley – one of the most haunted streets in the French Quarter! Order an absinthe at Pirates Alley Café and evoke the green fairy!

Foodie Fabulous

Yum! Yum! Hotel Monteleone has two outstanding restaurants and a famous spinning bar! That’s right, Le Café offers breakfast and lunch while the Hunt Room Grill, a fine dining establishment, is open for dinner. Located just beyond the front doors of Hotel Monteleone is the Carousel Bar & Lounge, one of the French Quarter’s most well-known bars! Spin round and round as your bartender serves you the best of the best in cocktails and watch as even the shyest of people start socializing!

Tip: Try the Southern Comfort-tini at the Carousel Bar & Lounge – it’s our new found fave!

Amenities Oh My

Hotel Monteleone has many amenities that will keep guests happy and even their pets too! From a rooftop heated pool to a surprisingly large state of the art gym that you’d expect to find in a New York City high rise apartment building; Hotel Monteleone has you covered. Not to mention the full-service day spa, access to a free computer and printer, an ATM machine, and a concierge who can arrange tours, pick-ups, restaurant reservations, etc. Plus, the doormen even greet you at every hello and goodbye making you feel like rock star royalty!

Tip: Guests can take a free audio tour to learn about the hotel’s history and haunts!

Employees Who Care

During our Halloween weekend at Hotel Monteleone, we were surprised by how much the hotel’s staff cared about our safety. First, we asked the concierge how to get to the Edgar Degas House and she told us to take a taxi as there were some questionable areas. Second, the doorman also suggested a taxi when we asked about taking a streetcar to The Mortuary, a Halloween haunted attraction. Third, a bellman recommended that we take a cemetery tour to see Marie Laveau’s tomb as opposed to walking on our own, as again that area wasn’t very safe. We were very grateful for each of their suggestions – safety comes first!

Tip: If there is a line at the concierge’s desk, ask other hotel employees for local tips and recommendations! 

Belle of the Ball

Hotel Monteleone has many romantic ballrooms and meeting rooms that are perfect to celebrate your wedding day, party, social function, or conference. We snuck a peak inside the Riverview Room on the 16th floor and found it to be a perfect spot for a small party or cocktail hour. The views of this room were mind blowing as we watched the city’s skyline light up. The paddlewheelers sailing down the Mississippi River were just the icing on the cake!

Now, depending on your personal style and group size, Hotel Monteleone offers many rooms to make your occasion extra special. We know this because we went into many during Tales of the Cocktail 2009. These rooms were so wonderful that let’s just say our future children’s weddings have been planned out!

Tip: For all you little blue-box Tiffany lovers, Hotel Monteleone has a few ballrooms that fit this theme beautifully!

Guy and Girl Travels Tip: Hotel Monteleone is in the perfect location to spend time in the French Quarter and then stop back into your hotel room for a potty break! This way you avoid trying to find a bathroom especially when you’ve had too much to drink!

Our first experience with Hotel Monteleone was in 2004 during our first trip to the Big Easy. We stayed on Royal Street at a terrible hotel that wasn’t very impressionable as we can’t remember its name. Today it appears to be an empty building. The things we remember most about that terrible experience was the nauseating, cherry-scent that lingered in every room, elevator, and hallway of this hotel. Our fondest memory at this hotel was our view of Royal Street. We would gaze at the luxurious Hotel Monteleone and think, one day . . . one day we would love to stay at this grand hotel.

Our next experience was in December of 2008, when Girl’s mom took us down to New Orleans for a long weekend to celebrate Girl’s college graduation. On our last day, Guy and Girl took a quick taxi ride down to the Mississippi River to photograph the sun rising over Jackson Square. We decided to venture into the French Quarter to greet the morning sun and stumbled upon Royal Street where Hotel Monteleone stood.  Immediately we remembered this grand hotel and captured a few pictures of its Holiday decor all while thinking, one day . . . one day.

Then in July of 2009, it happened! It actually happened. We were invited to Tales of The Cocktail, a famous cocktail convention where some of its seminars would be taking place at the one and only Hotel Monteleone! We were so excited to actually see our beloved hotel’s interiors! We tried to book a room, but unfortunately there weren’t any rooms available within our price range. We were bummed, but not dismayed because we knew we’d be able to walk the interiors and at least pretend we were guests!

During Tales of The Cocktail, we were so intrigued by Hotel Monteleone. We loved the Old Orleans decor and went early every day to enjoy breakfast at Le Café. Here, Girl ordered Eggs Benedicts religiously, repeatedly losing her olive virginity while Guy discovered his new found love for Biscuits and Gravy. (To date, Girl still hasn’t eaten an olive other than at Hotel Monteleone.) During breakfast and breaks, we tweeted with @HotelMonteleone and @Carouselbar and were so excited because they were actually tweeting us back, playing along with our silly antics. After seminars, we quickly found ourselves spinning in the famous Carousel Bar, toasting to the good life and to Hotel Monteleone.

It didn’t take much for us to fall in love with this hotel. We imagined what it would be like to have our wedding here as we sat in the beautiful ballrooms of Tales of the Cocktail. We could picture our first dance together, the echoing laughter, the intoxicating chit chatting amongst guests, etc. This was one of the most beautiful, historical hotels we have ever been to. And to top it all off – it was seriously haunted! (You can feel the energy the second you entered.) As we were leaving Tales of The Cocktail, we knew the next time we came to New Orleans we just had stay at this hotel. (Plus, we’d already planned out our future children’s weddings here!)

Then it happened. The tweet of all tweets, the Holy Grail, the mothership of all motherships . . . the invitation! We were invited down to Hotel Monteleone’s Halloween Murder Mystery Weekend! We nearly lost our voices from screaming so loud. Hotel Monteleone and spending Halloween in New Orleans had been on our minds since 2004 and it was actually happening! Our one day . . . one day was finally here and we were psyched!

Hotel Monteleone

Hotel Monteleone has been featured on the Travel Channel’s Weird Travels – Spirits of the South and twice on NBC’s Today Show for Haunted New Orleans and Most Famous Haunted Hotels.

Arriving on Friday, October 30th, guest will enjoy a welcome reception where (gulp) the murder takes place! Guests can then proceed to the famous spinning Carousel Piano Bar and Lounge for live jazz entertainment!

If you stay on the 14th floor, don’t be alarmed if you hear a little boy playing in the hallway! It’s probably just Maurice – a little ghost!

On Saturday, guests are greeted Halloween morning with breakfast where a clue is provided to help narrow down the suspect. Lunch proceeds a few hours later in the Iberville Room where guests receive another clue. When dinner time rolls around, guests will be delighted with wine and flavors in the romantic and ultra-chic Hunt Grill Room where Halloween costumes are encouraged! Your third clue is provided here, making your suspicions ready to out the murderer the next morning during brunch.

Seats are limited, so make your Halloween Murder Mystery Weekend reservation today!

Guy and Girl Travels Tip: Guests at Hotel Monteleone can enjoy an audio tour of the hotel’s history and hauntings!

Guy and Girl will be attending this murderous occasion, so check out our tweets that weekend! We’d love to tweet up and hear your New Orleans recommendations! ]]> http://guyandgirltravels.com/?feed=rss2&p=777 0 http://guyandgirltravels.com/?page_id=407 http://guyandgirltravels.com/?page_id=407#comments Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:31:39 +0000 Guy and Girl Travels http://guyandgirltravels.com/newsite/?page_id=407 Travel Articles:

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Eat a Delicious Beignet after Strolling the Old Streets of New Orleans’ Famed French Quarter on the Circumference

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Exit 63: Couples Guide to LBI on CheapOAir.com

Unexpected Surprises: New Years Eve in Barcelona, Spain on Isabelle’s Travel Guide

On The Airwaves! 

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October 31, 2009 – The Straight Pour on AM690 WIST, New Orleans

He Said

If you are a bartender, a bar owner, a cocktail drinker, or none of the above, Tales of the Cocktail is where you should be.  For those in the business TOTC is an invaluable resource, one that you should never go with out.  It was overflowing with in-depth instruction, the latest news, products, and trends, everything needed to further your cocktail knowledge. Ok, with that out of the way let me tell you why you REALLY should go.  It’s New Orleans, the birthplace of the cocktail, and only New Orleans can bring you a good time like this!  From the moment TOTC kicks off it’s packed with nonstop events, from demonstrations and seminars (samples included) to tasting rooms (a good place to go while waiting for the next seminar!), parties, and even a traditional NOLA funeral where a cocktail is laid to rest!

Now being a newbie not only to this festival but for cocktails in general, I’ve found TOTC not only an insanely good time, but a huge eye opener. Before this, my idea of a cocktail was the neon green oversized slushy looking thing from those chain restaurants that will remain nameless. Man was I mistaken!  I’ve been formally introduced to such drinks as the Old Fashioned, the Pisco Sour, the Ramos Gin Fizz, the Corpse Reviver 2 amongst many more. Thanks to the Tales of the Cocktail for expanding my palette and my knowledge. I’m looking forward to next year. I should be fully recovered by the time it rolls around!

 

She Said

Tales of the Cocktail was filled with fun, cocktail delights, and an education that every 21-something should have.  During each seminar, we were given drink, after drink, after drink! We must have samples around 4 – 5 drinks per seminar not counting the free drinks in the tasting rooms, which were held in between seminars. (My favorite tasting room was the Gin and Tonic one!) All of the cocktails were samples of the past, present, and of future trends, so it was interesting to taste how cocktails changed over time. 

Speaking of trends, TOTC was such a trendy experience because it was filled with all these guys and girls who were all wearing their bar outfits and their gangster hats, that were just so bad boy/bad girl like.  I totally felt left out in my button down dress shirts!  (Mental note for trendy rock outfits for next year!)

As a gossip girl, I was so excited to hear that Danny Devito was going to make a radio appearance at Chef and the Fat Man show at the Carousel Bar!  We got there really early and watched the whole show!  I was so excited too because celebrity Chef Besh actually showed up!  He has a restaurant called Besh Steak over in Harrah’s! (We ate there our last visit and it was delicious!) Danny, Rhea, and Chef Besh all have great personalities and it was mesmerizing watching them in real life!

Overall, TOTC was a great experience!  It had something for everyone’s level of cocktail expertise and it was nothing like a typical conference! (People were very chatty and outgoing as you can imagine!)  The seminars were over around 4ish and there were some activities through TOTC to do at night.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have tickets, but that didn’t stop us from hitting Bourbon St, Harrah’s, and the Garden District! 

Guy and Girl Travels Tip: Get your tickets early!
We missed out on a lot of TOTC events because we got our tickets too late!