What are some relatively safe spots to stay the night in New Orleans? Whether a place to sleep in the van or free camping spots near the city

roughdraft

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first off NOTHING in life is *guaranteed* let alone traveling let alone traveling 'alternatively'

i have slept in my car in the French Quarter in winter but... i am also very scary ::alien:: i would say try to hide in plain sight... just my opinion
 

train in vain

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Well, as with most tourist towns, just not my cup of tea if you will.
I mean if youre standin on bourbon st its touristy. Most of nola aint so touristy. But hey people talk shit about texas all fhe time and theyre wrong too haha.
 

Thor and Broomhilda

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Wal-Mart's are generally safe, anywhere parked under a street lamp. . . local grocery stores are good, pilot or truck stops. . . . . there's a whole pilot life out there! I like sleeping at pilots. A trucker gave me a 20 and a gallon of water when I was trying to sleep. Plus all the young hood rats love pilot if you catch my drift. . . . . good luck, and if you end up roughing it in the dirt and allys wear 2 pairs of pants and keap all cash and anything valuebale in the bottom pants, and keap a few bucks out to toss when your getting rolled. . . or for them to find. . . . little rock and new Orleans. . . . rough. . . . . .different breed of folk. Remember it was a penal colony for the French. . . felon and hooker colony. . . . .
 

Candice

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Wal-Mart's are generally safe, anywhere parked under a street lamp. . . local grocery stores are good, pilot or truck stops. . . . . there's a whole pilot life out there! I like sleeping at pilots. A trucker gave me a 20 and a gallon of water when I was trying to sleep. Plus all the young hood rats love pilot if you catch my drift. . . . . good luck, and if you end up roughing it in the dirt and allys wear 2 pairs of pants and keap all cash and anything valuebale in the bottom pants, and keap a few bucks out to toss when your getting rolled. . . or for them to find. . . . little rock and new Orleans. . . . rough. . . . . .different breed of folk. Remember it was a penal colony for the French. . . felon and hooker colony. . . . .[/QUOT New Orleans can b scary
 

wokofshame

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My beefs:
1. Located in giant swamp called Louisiana, infested with mosquitos, chiggers, ticks, black flys, alligators, backwards redneck cousinfucker slaveowner descendant sugarcane planters, and highly regressive "justice"system
2.Bourbon st is, as Matt once told me "a place everyone should see once, then never again". It's infested with bros and drunks from iowa and texas who came for whatever it is
3. The NOPD has a hard-on for travellers (in part rightfully so, the swilliest and scummiest make an annual pilgrimage and have tramped out the town for everyone else). There's even a "French Quarter Task Force" funded by a douche billionaire specifically dedicated to persecuting the homeless. When you go to jail in NOLA, you go to prison. Because a prison is the city jail., specifically the infamous OPP.
4. Maybe 60-70% of the city is an all-black, extremely high-crime ghetto. As a pink-skinned person from a different culture, you stand out in these places like a sore thumb and are a target for crime. No, really. I know people that have had their house invaded, been robbed and been shot in NOLA. One friend was shot (ricochet) by 8-9 yr-old kids. I've waited for trains next to obviously stolen cars that had been set on fire, with stolen wallets on the ground nearby, past a stop sign with bullet holes in it. These things might make for a great Vice article but they're not at all enjoyable in real life.
I'm glad I've been to New orleans and explored. I'm also glad I've gone to Stockton CA and explored. I don't ever need to return to either of these places.
Oh, and you can't even buy po-boys on your EBT card anymore, buying hot food got cracked down upon.
 
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My beefs:
1. Located in giant swamp called Louisiana, infested with mosquitos, chiggers, ticks, black flys, alligators, backwards redneck cousinfucker slaveowner descendant sugarcane planters, and highly regressive "justice"system
2.Bourbon st is, as Matt once told me "a place evryone should see once, then never again". It's infested with bros and drunks from iowa and texas who came for whatever it is
3. Maybe 60-70% of the city is an all-black, extremely high-crime ghetto. As a pink-skinned person from a different culture, you stand out in these places like a sore thumb and are a target for crime. No, really. I know people that have had their house invaded, been robbed and been shot in NOLA. One friend was shot (ricochet) by 8-9 yr-old kids. I've waited for trains next to obviously stolen cars that had been set on fire, with stolen wallets on the ground nearby, past a stop sign with bullet holes in it. These things might make for a great Vice article but they're not at all enjoyable in real life.
I'm glad I've been to New orleans and explored. I'm also glad I've gone to Stockton CA and explored. I don't ever need to return to either of these places.
Oh, and you can't even buy po-boys on your EBT card anymore, buying hot food got cracked down upon.


Man, this really makes me second-guess my trip, haha. Fuck.
 

Candice

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You
My beefs:
1. Located in giant swamp called Louisiana, infested with mosquitos, chiggers, ticks, black flys, alligators, backwards redneck cousinfucker slaveowner descendant sugarcane planters, and highly regressive "justice"system
2.Bourbon st is, as Matt once told me "a place evryone should see once, then never again". It's infested with bros and drunks from iowa and texas who came for whatever it is
3. Maybe 60-70% of the city is an all-black, extremely high-crime ghetto. As a pink-skinned person from a different culture, you stand out in these places like a sore thumb and are a target for crime. No, really. I know people that have had their house invaded, been robbed and been shot in NOLA. One friend was shot (ricochet) by 8-9 yr-old kids. I've waited for trains next to obviously stolen cars that had been set on fire, with stolen wallets on the ground nearby, past a stop sign with bullet holes in it. These things might make for a great Vice article but they're not at all enjoyable in real life.
I'm glad I've been to New orleans and explored. I'm also glad I've gone to Stockton CA and explored. I don't ever need to return to either of these places.
Oh, and you can't even buy po-boys on your EBT card anymore, buying hot food got cracked down upon.
are right the blues is cool and food is good but I had an incident where I was in the woods with a physio I met online and we ended up in a wild life refuge walking through the woods in levonya Louisiana gators were everywhere wild hogs and coyotes it sucked and not to mention I was beaten in the face and back of the head with a gun sucked
 

Ezra Fyre

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Mistake #1, New Orleans & safe in same sentence.

The advice on parking in the quarter is lovely, minus the loading zones and parking meters...

3 yrs ago, the last mayor declared "illegal parking in the French Quarter is the biggest threat to public safety" & did a major crackdown on parking in/around the quarter...

Breaking into and or stealing cars is practically a "right of passage" among the criminal elements here.

Locals will tell you "by the wall man" ... This is both good and bad advice... #1, the city knows migrants park there and may or may not sweep, boot, ticket or tow (Halloween = Huge) #2, so do the local hoodlums... Gots some friends living in a bus by the wall right now - about a week ago someone went reaching in the windows with them playing music & obviously home at the time ... (Scared off by their dogs) ... So, yeah, safe is relative and subjective everywhere here....

Best advice- Make friends with a local!! & Park by their place...
Next best tip - find one of the many "used to be a house" vacant lots & pull on there....
Otherwise, Walmart.

But none of these options are "safe" in this town.
 

Object

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Well just so yah know...
Last year..
My bus (40' school bus)
Got stolen
From Dickson, Tennessee
They (dirty kids)
Stole my bus
Took it to voodoo fest!.
New Orleans!
Chalmette!
They weren't caught on board and 8 had to pay $1200
To get my shit back!
I got names but won't post here!
As for who was in on this, irrelevant at this point...
Fuck em
They know what they did I just hope they changed their act...
As far as me...
I learned a lot and now know that most people absolutely SUCK. .
I'm much more careful with who I truly believe and trust now.........
 

Ezra Fyre

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Well just so yah know...
Last year..
My bus (40' school bus)
Got stolen
From Dickson, Tennessee
They (dirty kids)
Stole my bus
Took it to voodoo fest!.
New Orleans!
Chalmette!
They weren't caught on board and 8 had to pay $1200
To get my shit back!
I got names but won't post here!
As for who was in on this, irrelevant at this point...
Fuck em
They know what they did I just hope they changed their act...
As far as me...
I learned a lot and now know that most people absolutely SUCK. .
I'm much more careful with who I truly believe and trust now.........

Damn! Dude! Wow! .... Well, it wasn't me that took your bus - but WOW! ... Sorry that happened... It's hard to hide a bus! I'm just - damn.

Cool you got it back! Hopefully not too trashed. & Yeah, just cause it's a dirty kid doesn't make it not a thief!

Sorry that happened to ya.
 

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