New Orleans Ground Logistics

For my recent vacation to New Orleans, I had a strategy to minimize my ground transportation costs. Unfortunately as life teaches us, the best laid plans do not always produce your intended results. One of my favorite strategies in domestic travel is using Groupon and Living Social deals to help minimize costs. They are especially helpful with ground logistics.

At home, I found a Living Social deal that provided a week’s worth of parking for $40. Considering my usual go-to place charges $8/day, I figured this was an easy way to save $16. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, $16 saved is $16 earned.

 

Next, ground transportation in New Orleans. I have an Uber account. A few weeks ago, there was a generous bonus offer for account referrals. I referred my wife for a new account. Once she signed up, she received the new account bonus for a nice $20 Uber credit for first ride. I did some quick research and found that New Orleans allows Uber. Here was my first mistake. New Orleans only allows Uber Black, their premium service, for airport pickups. I was looking to use that credit for a ride from the airport to the hotel, and hoping to pay $5-10 total. Another mistake, I have only used Uber a couple of times previously. I did not understand why I was able to see an estimated fare for a ride, then not, then again, and being shown that a ride was not available. For you Uber regulars, you will recognize what happened to me. There was more demand than supply and all the available rides were being reserved. Plan B – take the airport taxi, so much for my ground transportation savings. 

 

Once I was at the hotel, I had two more ground transports left in New Orleans. A ride from the hotel to the cruise port, and my final ride from the cruise port to the airport. My missed Uber opportunity at the airport was my chance to redeem myself for our ride to the cruise terminal. With our $20 credit, we had a $21 ride to the cruise terminal, and $1 was charged to our credit card on file. Nice ride! 

Our final ride was courtesy of a Living Social deal, $49 and I was back at the airport.

Overall, not my best use of Groupon, Living Social, and Uber deals, but certainly helped to make this vacation more affordable.