Day 5 - Wednesday 30th October 2019
Index is
here.
We had a lie in this morning - Martin’s alarm went off at 8:45 am, but I really didn’t want to wake up. I eventually surfaced about 20 minutes later and we then had to hurry to get to breakfast before it finished at 9:30 am.
Yoghurt and granola for Martin, was followed by a ham, cheese and mushroom omelette, while I stuck to my cereal and toast. It’s very rare I eat a cooked breakfast - it makes me feel so lethargic, and I was already feeling tired enough. 😂
We were back in the room by 9:45 am and it was time to pack.
We spent the next hour rearranging all of our belonging, then had showers and got ready for our last few hours in the city. I found some fruit that I’d forgotten about in the fridge, so picked at that while we packed.
We checked out of the hotel at about 12:45 pm, left our luggage with the bellman, and walked down towards the Washington Monument.
We took a different route today, with a fair bit of zig-zagging, but Martin seemed to know where he was going. We ended up near a park to one side of the World War II memorial and had a lovely walk, coming across a tribute to the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence on the way.
We continued on to the Washington Monument, where we’d got timed tickets for 2pm. Now, I’d cheated a bit here - tickets had only just gone back on sale after it had been closed for renovations. Individual tickets for each day were selling out online within a couple of minutes of being on sale, but I’d spotted some available for Large Groups for our last day. I gave it a go and the website allowed me to purchase with a group size of two, for the grand sum of $1 each. I was nervous though, as I expected to be picked up on it when we tried to gain entry - the tickets had ‘large group’ printed on them in quite big letters. However, with only potentially wasting a couple of dollars, we felt it was worth the risk.
As it turned out, we were absolutely fine. The barcodes on my tickets were scanned at the entrance and we were soon through security and waiting for the elevator to the top.
They limit the numbers allowed up and I can see why. It’s quite snug at the top but the views were great. I imagine they’d be even better on a sunny day.
We spent about 30 minutes at the top, enjoying the views, before making our descent down and taking a few more last minute photos. It seems that you can never have too many photos of the White House, the Capitol Building and Washington Monument. 😂
We decided to get an Uber back to the hotel, grab our bags and head off to the airport. Unfortunately we hit some road closures on the way to the hotel, which meant a 12 minute car journey took 30 minutes and we were still about 3 blocks away and stuck in stationary traffic. We decided to get out and walk.
It was at this time, that the issue I’d had with my left foot for the last couple of days, really kicked in. The cramp-like feeling on the top of my foot, unexpectedly turned into an immediate intense pain about 10 steps from the taxi, which made that 3 blocks back to the hotel seem like 30. Am so glad it happened at the end of the holiday and not earlier.
We reached the hotel and picked up our luggage, then booked another Uber. It said it was 2 minutes away, but that soon turned into 10 minutes because of the road closure. We walked (or hobbled) to the end of the road to meet it at a cross point.
The journey to the airport took about 40 minutes and cost $43. There wasn’t a queue at check in, so within a few minutes of arrival, we’d dropped off our bags and were heading through the airport to catch the train to the gate.
We waited about 10 minutes to clear security, but I was pulled aside because my necklace had set off the scanner. This resulted in me being frisked and my hands swabbed before I got the ok to continue. I then tried to put my boots back on, which was interesting to say the least, as my foot had now swollen and any pressure was very painful! We slowly made our way to find our gate - my hobbling was quite bad now, so I couldn’t go any faster. We soon came across a terminal map and spotted a Firkin and Fox pub, so headed there for something to eat.
I just ordered a Diet Coke while Martin ordered an Old Bust Head Pale Ale. He then ordered a salad and I went for a fish wrap. It was huge and I barely managed half. We easily could have shared a meal here. The bill came to $42.
We walked to our Gate, picking up a bottle of water on the way, and then settled down to wait for our flight. We were only waiting about 20 minutes before we were called to board.
Once in our seat, we were served the welcome glass of Prosecco. It wasn’t long before everyone had boarded the plane and the doors had shut about 15 minutes before take off was scheduled. We were soon pushing back and we only had a short taxi to the runway, taking off at 7:30 pm.
The cabin crew started the drinks service at about 8pm and dinner was served shortly afterwards. I declined dinner as I was already feeling sleepy. There was quite a bit of turbulence to begin with, so think that may have rocked me to sleep. 😂 Martin ordered the beef stroganoff and tells me it was very nice. I’d given him instructions to take a photo, but can’t say I was overly impressed with his photographic skills.
I slept on and off until the lights went back on, just as we were being served breakfast about an hour and a quarter from landing. I chose the bacon roll - the other option was an egg and cheese bagel.
The last hour dragged a bit. I probably should have tried for a bit more sleep.
It’s been a long time since we flew back from America and landed so early in the morning - I wasn’t convinced I’d be staying awake all day.
We finally landed at 6:20 am UK time.
Why does it always seem a long walk to passport control? We eventually got there to find there seemed long queues, but in reality we only waited a few minutes for the electronic machines/gates.
We went downstairs to collect our bags, which again were quick to arrive, and by 7am we were on the bus back to the car park.
I was completely rubbish in supporting Martin on the car journey home, as I slept for most of it. We walked back through the front door of home at 9:30 am.
That wasn’t the end of my day though. My foot got worse, with swelling and some slight bruising, so by 5 o’clock I was sat in A&E awaiting an x-ray. Luckily, there was no fracture, but I did get a diagnosis of tendonitis.
I think my flat sandals in the middle of our holiday had done the damage, along with miles of walking, so my tip would be to wear supportive shoes when touring Washington!