"A Tale of Two Cities" DC/Florida September 2016 - Travel Day

[soraia]

"A Tale of Two Cities" DC/Florida 2016
Travel Day - 3rd September 2016

You can read my pre-trippie here!

So, here we are! Time to look back on the trip and share all the memories of our latest American adventure! I can't quite believe it's all done and over with. I had been looking forward to this holiday all year; I practically wished the summer away and now it's all over...

(can anyone sense a strong case of the post holiday blues? )

Anyway, the best way to get over it is by reliving all the memories so let me cast my mind back to the day before Travel Day. It was a normal Friday at work (I was counting down the minutes to 17:30...) and after work I had all the last minute beautifying that us women need to do! I had my Brazilian blow-dry the week before so it was time to sort out the nails. I have been loving the aztec look lately so went in that direction. I LOVED how they turned out!

I had a restless night's sleep, I kept tossing and turning going through everything in my head and making sure I hadn't forgotten anything. I'm a worrier by nature so travel day always makes me anxious. I did manage to get a few hour's sleep though but was up at 06:00 – this time it wasn't because I was worrying, it was because I was EXCITED. TODAY WAS THE DAY!

I was flying from Heathrow to Washington DC at 12:35 and had booked a minicab to pick me up at 08:45. After waking up and getting showered and dressed I did all the last minute bag checks and consumed many cups of tea. I got messages from Bernie & Tig who had landed in Amsterdam and were waiting for their connecting flight to Washington DC. I was so looking forward to seeing them both later! My notes also tell me I watched the X Files that morning – not sure why I thought that would be the most appropriate thing to watch at 06:00 on Travel Day but hey ho – the truth is out there!

The minicab arrived to pick me up on time and I was pulling up to Heathrow T3 at 09:35 – bang on 3 hours before my flight. I love it when a plan comes together! I had already done online check-in yesterday so just needed to do bag drop. Unfortunately, as usual, I chose the wrong queue and ended up waiting ages as there was a family in front of me who had an issue with their reservation and the desk agent had to leave for a good 10 minutes to sort it out. This is a thing with me though – I always choose the wrong queue! It really is a special talent of mine. I got chatting to the lady behind me in the queue who had got last minute tickets for the US Open tennis and was off to New York! Eventually I got my bag dropped and made my way to security just before 10:00.

Unfortunately, I chose the wrong queue at security too! There were only 2 people in front of me but they both took AGES. I was finally through and in the terminal. First order of business was breakfast – I was starving by now! I headed for Oriel Brasserie and one of my bug bears happened. The restaurant was fairly quiet but the hostess wanted to seat me in the middle seat of a completely rammed row of people. I politely declined and she begrudgingly sat me somewhere else.

I had researched the menu beforehand and originally thought I would go for the eggs benedict but for some reason at that moment I was really craving a full English breakfast (which is strange as it's not something I normally go for) but it was the right call as the food was delicious!

I really enjoyed the atmosphere and food in here and I thought it was reasonably priced. Afterwards I headed to WH Smiths to get some reading material (and wine gums of course!) and after that it was time to go to the gate! YAY! When I got to the gate I saw Virgin had a selection of papers and magazines we could take for free and the magazine I had just bought in WH Smiths was one of them – D'OH! Oh well...

There didn't seem to be THAT many people at the gate but I figured these things can sometimes be misleading so I didn't get my hopes up. I was keeping my fingers crossed that the seat next to me might be free – I had booked it 3 days ago (Flying Club red member) and kept checking that it wasn't booked after that.

It was soon time to board! I got to my seat 62H at the back of the plane and waited...and waited and waited...until I realised they had closed the airplane doors and no one was sat next to me! BONUS! In fact, the whole back of the airplane was practically empty!

The seatbelt sign lit up and the captain announced that our flight to Washington DC would take 7 hours and 40 minutes. I checked my phone for the last time and saw a message from Bernie saying their flight wasn't delayed so it was looking good for us meeting in the baggage area at the airport in Washington DC! As we started to push back out of the gate I noticed it had started raining and I was looking forward to getting to sunnier climes in the USA!

Unfortunately there was a really loud family a few rows ahead of me that were being annoying. There had been a cabin crew announcement for the Cabbage family to make themselves known to the crew and they were laughing really loudly about that and making loud comments like “what a stupid name” which I thought was rude (especially if that family could hear them!) and then one of the sons was shouting about tickets to his “guns show” and taking loads of selfies in a really obnoxious way flexing his muscles. I hope I don't come across as snobby, it was just unpleasant because it was loud enough to disrupt people on either side and behind them so I was glad they quietened down when we got going!

The flight actually went by quite quickly. I had never flown Virgin long haul before but it was a good flight and I would look to fly with them again in future. Sadly, when the cabin crew came around with drinks, they had no idea about the Virgin cocktail so I had a diet coke instead with the yummy pretzels. They also gave us the menus.

I chose the pasta which unfortunately wasn't great and I left most of it. I did love the boursin and crackers and the dessert (Gu white chocolate and raspberry pot) was delicious!

My movie strategy ended up paying off – I decided to watch The Hateful Eight (which I didn't realise was 3 and a half hours long!) so I put it on shortly after take off, watched it whilst eating lunch and for a while after that. When it was over it was pretty much half way through the flight!

I then put on 10 Cloverfield Lane and it was soon time for these beauties!

Soon after that they came around with afternoon tea (and you know it isn't long to go when that happens!) and it was very tasty again – mozzarella and pesto wrap with crisps and millionaire shortbread square.

I ate it whilst watching “How to be single” and before I knew it the captain announced we would be making our descent to Washington DC! It was actually quite a bumpy landing and I felt a bit motion sick which had never happened to me on a flight. Never mind – we had landed and it was time to head to immigration. Once we got off the plane I kept trying to find arrivals screens to let me know whether Bernie & Tig's flight had landed but no luck. When we got to border control there were a lot of people there and guess what? I chose the wrong queue. AGAIN! There was a lady in front of me who was taking ages, there seemed to be a problem and I was waiting for a good 10 minutes. I started to get anxious about meeting up with Bernie & Tig and just at that moment I could feel my phone vibrating and I saw Bernie was trying to call me. I was standing right next to one of the people who usher you around and she saw me and started shouting at me to turn my phone off, no phones allowed etc. Oops! Luckily it was then my turn and it went pretty quick so I was soon in the baggage area and found Bernie & Tig waiting for me. My bag had already been taken off the belt so I grabbed it and we headed for the second checks. My goodness this queue was HUGE! (I really wasn't having much luck with queues today...) but I was just so happy to be there and catch up with Bernie & Tig. Finally, we were in a taxi and on our way to the hotel!

We were staying at the Sofitel Lafayette Square.

I was impressed. The staff was really friendly and the hotel itself was lovely. My room was 731 on the 7th floor and as soon as I got in I was sure I had been upgraded. The room was HUGE!

I did feel bad though as if anyone should have been upgraded it was Bernie & Tig as there are 2 of them and only 1 of me! The room was really lovely though

We had agreed to take 30 mins to unpack and then meet back in the lobby at 18:00

We were all feeling really tired but wanted to go out for a bit of a walk to get our bearings. We were also all starting to feel peckish so our first order of business was food. I had read that there was a Five Guys a few blocks away so we headed there and it was amazing – JUST what I needed after my 10 week diet It tasted great.

After we ate I had a definite moment – I was there and the holiday had just started – I knew I had a whole lot of fun ahead of me. This picture captures how we were all feeling perfectly!

We continued our general wander around the area and I quickly popped into CVS for supplies/snacks for the room. We all started to flag a bit after that so headed back to the hotel and decided to call it a day. We agreed to meet at 08:40 in the lobby the next day. I managed to stay awake until 21:00 which is reasonable!

It was a great travel day and I was so excited to finally be there!

Day 2 is here.

[EJSakaAnna]

Great travel day, I love your nails . I can imagine how good that 5 Guys was after holiday dieting, what a reward haha!

Looking forward to reading along x

[dismamx2]

Great report, looking forward to reading the rest. I know you said you queued for ages but can you remember how long the queues for immigration and customs actually were? We are flying from Heathrow about the same time of day as you did.

And also can I ask how much the taxi cost? I think our hotel is close to yours.

[soraia]

Originally Posted by dismamx2

Great report, looking forward to reading the rest. I know you said you queued for ages but can you remember how long the queues for immigration and customs actually were? We are flying from Heathrow about the same time of day as you did.

And also can I ask how much the taxi cost? I think our hotel is close to yours.

See more...

I think I queued for about 45 minutes if that helps?

We just got a taxi from the rank outside the terminal and it cost $75 (inc tip) where are you staying?

[dismamx2]

Originally Posted by soraia

I think I queued for about 45 minutes if that helps?

We just got a taxi from the rank outside the terminal and it cost $75 (inc tip) where are you staying?

See more...

Great thanks, that's not much longer than average pre-clearance time in Dublin.

$75 all in sounds good for the taxi as we will be arriving at a similar time on a Saturday. I read about bad traffic causing taxi fares to be $100+ so was considering Super Shuttle.

We will be staying at Capital Hilton (not until next June ), it is close to Lafayette Square. I decided we will use Uber in Orlando next time and I think we will use it in DC also after reading about your good experience.

Thanks

[soraia]

Originally Posted by dismamx2

Great thanks, that's not much longer than average pre-clearance time in Dublin.

$75 all in sounds good for the taxi as we will be arriving at a similar time on a Saturday. I read about bad traffic causing taxi fares to be $100+ so was considering Super Shuttle.

We will be staying at Capital Hilton (not until next June ), it is close to Lafayette Square. I decided we will use Uber in Orlando next time and I think we will use it in DC also after reading about your good experience.

Thanks

See more...

Ah yes the Capital Hilton is close to where we stayed! We definitely found Uber very easy to use and I would absolutely recommend! That being said taxis were readily available everywhere as well!

Hope you have a great time in DC