Mardi Gras! Never been- going this year. need info- places to see, things not to miss, your experiences. thank

Mardi Gras is not always the great time you might think it will be. New Orleans is a dangerous place and at Mardi Gras the crime is worse.

Riverboat tours are easily arranged and run constantly. Swamplands are called bayous and you'll see them coming in from the airport. Mississippi is about two hours out of New Orleans.

Hit Bay St. Louis in MS for a better, safer, and less crowded Mardi Gras parade than New Orleans will have. Most of Mississippi's parades are a lot more pleasurable than New Orleans, unless there's something pleasurable in not catching anything, getting shoved on, having drunk people come on to you, etc. etc. The only one I advise against going if you want a pleasurable, non-drunk Mardi Gras is Pass Christian's.

Best food, you usually can't go wrong with seafood restaurants. Don't go to nationwide chains. Stick with privately owned places and southern chains like Copeland's.

whoa!! dont let serial mom dampen your vacation, it is dangerous(when i was there 5 murders overnight within about 10 blocks of where iwas staying) but stay with friends and on the beaten path and you're fine....i wanted to see the swamplands too but with how terrible traffic was getting into french quarter we just parked the car and left it for the 4 days we were there, but given the amount of time you're there you may be able to swing it....every parade was amazing and they run up canal street but once there you should be a brochure of times when each parade goes; any local place in that area will have great food-try gumbo, jambalya, and po' boys--- i had more fun staying out of bars and just walking on bourbon street--vendors sell cans of beer for a dollar right on the street so the only time you have to go into a bar is for the bathroom---also, no girl is gonna flash you for beads inside a bar, that happens on the street...the french quarter has plenty of markets to explore during the day when you're not drinking-you can buy some really cool souvenirs that are genuinely local(not mass produced by pier 1 like in some tourist traps)