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Old 3 Aug 14, 09:05 PM  
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itsrachelhere
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A short trip to Philly and Washington DC

This is going to be a bit of an unusual trip. I am off to Philadelphia with work for a conference, and will be heading out there solo. It’s only a three day conference though, so I am spending some extra time seeing the sites, as its kind of morally wrong to fly that far for only three days..! Obviously I have got a of an itinerary going on, and some stuff planned I am really looking forward to, so I thought it worth sharing my experiences in a brief trip report (obviously I will leave the bits out about the conference though, unless there’s anyone particularly keen!).

So without further delay, here are my plans as they currently stand:

9th August
Travel to Manchester Airport, where I will be staying in the Hilton (advanced payment rate of £66). I am not sure what time I will be arriving yet, and whether I will have dinner at the airport or a picnic on the way there. Any suggestions of good places to eat departures side, please let me know!



10th August
I am flying direct with US Airways to Philly, leaving at 11am – only economy sadly.



It would be nice to be sitting with the business folk! As I am a bit nervous about my first solo flight, I decided to book myself into the Terminal 3 Escape Lounge, so there should be plenty of distractions! I booked this along with fast track security (which no doubt I won’t need!) and it came to £22.50.

The movie list for the flight looks rubbish, but I understand that US Airways have a massive list of additional non-featured on-demand movies, so hopefully there should be enough to keep me entertained! I will have my iPad, Kindle and a puzzle book with me anyway (how did we survive before all this technology?!)

The flight is due in for 1.50pm, where I will then face one of my pet hates – US border control! Honestly I hate it, they really freak me out.

I plan to catch the train from the station to Market East and then either transfer to the Market-Frankford Line, or walking the few blocks to my hotel, the Penns View Hotel! It looks really cute, I am looking forward to staying here. There was a recommended hotel for the conference, but that’s just looked like a generic downtown hotel – I would far sooner stay in somewhere like this. It has decent reviews on trip advisor too.



Plans for the rest of today are to check out the neighbouring area, get food and get to bed for a decent time!

11th August – 13th August
Between roughly 8am and 6pm will be taken up by the conference, so not that much time to explore. Although saying that, the provisional timetable says we will finish at 4.30pm on the 12th, so if that’s the case I plan to make a very quick visit to the Franklin Institute, which should be open until 7pm. On 13th I plan to visit Philadelphia Museum of Art which is open until 8.45pm.

14th August
An early start today as I have booked the 8.45am Amtrak to Washington D.C. so I imagine I will be looking to leave the hotel around 7.30 to make sure I get there in plenty of time (the website says you should be there I think 30 mins before the train departure.



I am due to arrive at Washington D.C. at 10.40am, and from there will catch a taxi to my accommodation for the next two nights. A bit of a different one here, I have booked into a very small bed and breakfast. It has fab reviews (apparently the owner has two cats which I am very happy about) and is in a fantastic location, right by the library of congress.

Once I have dropped my bag off, today promises to be quite a busy day! I have pre-booked a two day ticket for the hop-on-hop-off bus (a total of $85, and that also included a moonlight monument tour). I went with Old Town Trolley Tours in the end, as they appeared to have by far the better reviews. I plan on jumping on the bus at Union Station (this is about a ten minute walk from where I am staying) and do an almost fall circuit of the tour to help me get orientated with the city a bit, and work out the distances between places. I will then get off at the White House and go look at the visitor centre and obviously get all the usual pictures of the White House itself! This might be a bit of a rush, but I can always come back! At 4pm I have a timed slot to go into the National Archives, where obviously amongst other things I am looking forward to seeing the Declaration of Independence! It closes at 5.30, so hopefully it should be a bit quieter towards the end of my visit.



This evening I have booked the monument night tour, which I will be picking up at Union Street station. I really wanted to see Washington at night, and this seemed the safest way to do it on my own. They drop off at the end at various hotels/the station, so I will get a taxi back to the B&B from one of those stops.

15th August
This morning I plan to check out the Library of Congress. They have a booklet for a self-guided tour (I think an iPhone app too?) so I shall look to do that. At 11am I have a place reserved on a tour of the Capitol, which I am looking forward to (I think you have to pay something like $1 to reserve your spot, or that may have been national archives? It was either free or a minimal charge anyhow). My guidebook recommends having lunch in the restaurant there, so I shall look to do that before jumping on the hop-on hop-off bus and checking out some of the monuments and memorials as I go round. That evening there is scheduled to be a free jazz event in the sculpture garden at the art gallery, which sounds a lovely way to spend the evening. There’s a place to get food, so I will have my dinner whilst listening!

16th August
Last day in Washington. Today I will visit the East side of the mall and the various museums and buildings in that location. There’s a LOT to visit, so I am sure I won’t scratch the surface. Thankfully as they are free and so close together, if one doesn’t seem to be my taste, I can pop out and go to a different one, without feeling like I have wasted time or money. I hope to have lunch at the Hard Rock Café and add to my HRC t-shirt collection! I am booked on the 6.20pm train back to Philly, and plan to grab some food for the journey, so I guess I will need to be back there for around 5.30pm. I am booked into the same hotel again (unless it turns out to be disastrous, in which case I will have switched to elsewhere!)



17th August
Today is devoted to checking out Philly, prior to catching my flight. Most of my time I think will be spent around the Independence visitor centre, independence hall, and everything there is to see in that area. I don’t plan on getting up too early this day as I don’t want to be struggling on a night flight (where I know I will never sleep!). I also intend to pop into Walgreens to pick up some much needed American supplies to bring home. One benefit of only going for a week is that I will have been travelling light, and should be able to bring a fair bit back!



The flight departs at 8.50pm, so I will be looking to head to the airport at 4ish (I don’t like being late! ). We are due to arrive in Manchester for 8:50am, but hopefully we will be early!
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Old 3 Aug 14, 11:41 PM  
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Oh enjoy. as I am nosey what is the conference about
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Old 4 Aug 14, 09:46 AM  
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itsrachelhere
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Originally Posted by orlando 2013 View Post
Oh enjoy. as I am nosey what is the conference about
It's on special educational needs!
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Old 13 Aug 14, 11:00 AM  
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Gillz121
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Look at you! You jet setter! Hope you're having a great time
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Old 13 Aug 14, 11:12 AM  
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itsrachelhere
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Originally Posted by Gillz121 View Post
Look at you! You jet setter! Hope you're having a great time
Haha, thanks! Yeah having a great time thanks. Presentation done and dusted now so I can relax and enjoy
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