No Disney?! A winter getaway to Washington DC and Delaware! Pre-travel and Travel Day

Lizzim · 27 Dec 17, 08:03 PM

8th Dec

Last day at work until the New Year! We finish work at around 1600 and drive home. I do online check in on my phone on the way back – typically my mobile signal wasn’t great at that point but I manage to get us 2 seats together at the back on our own.

We arrive home and order takeaway and set the washing machine going. After dinner we start tidying the house and then once the washing is finished we do the ironing. Finally we do the packing! We change the bedding and then put clean towels in the bathrooms before bed.

9th Dec

This morning we are awake at 0730, we get showered etc and then it is time to take Zac to the kennels at about 0900. Once we get back (it’s about a 10 min drive) we park the car in the garage and do our final cleaning before Rob’s parents came to collect us at 1030.

I don’t really like traveling to the airport on the day of the flight and so even though our flight isn’t until 1700 we are leaving with lots of time to spare!

We actually had a smooth traffic free drive to Heathrow where we arrive at 1230! We didn’t stop at the services although with hindsight we could have! When we arrive at the self bag drop we are told we might be too early!

We try anyway and the bags are accepted by the machine with no issues – but what happened to the extra security that we were all told was being introduced for flights to the USA? It took us just a few minutes to get through security and now we had lots of time to kill!

As we hadn’t had any breakfast we decided to start with lunch in Pilots, Rob had a burger and I had a club sandwich.

After we did some wandering around the shops and picked up some drinks and snacks for on the plane. Then we sat and waited!

We boarded on time and left shortly after 1700.

Flight was smooth and didn’t drag too much, it was quite different from our summer trip as we didn’t have any children bothering us!

The main meal was pasta (other option was a curry I think) which wasn’t bad, although you don’t get cheese and biscuits anymore. The light snack though was odd - packet of crisps and some dairy milk ‘little bars’ and Jaffa cake bars! What happened to a sandwich?!

Immigration took what felt like forever, my fingerprints didn’t work so had to get into another queue

When we finally got through the bags were already there, we walked out and straight into a cab and on our way to the hotel.

It was a fairly straightforward journey once we made sure we were heading to the correct hotel (The Madison Hilton, previously a Loews property.) Cab was $80 with tip and we arrived just after 2230, check in was quick and easy and we were exhausted so went straight to bed.

(7952 steps, 3.36 miles)

Mortimer Mouse · 27 Mar 18, 08:38 AM

Nice straight forward travel day. Lunch at Pilots looks tasty.

Lizzim · 27 Mar 18, 06:55 PM

Originally Posted by Mortimer Mouse

Nice straight forward travel day. Lunch at Pilots looks tasty.

It was, lunch was possibly a little expensive but that’s airports...

27 Dec 17, 08:03 PM	#1
	27 Dec 17, 08:03 PM Lizzim Imagineer
Lizzim Imagineer Join Date: Apr 10 Lizzim's Reviews DIBB Villa Reviews: 1	No Disney?! A winter getaway to Washington DC and Delaware! Pre-travel and Travel Day 8th Dec Last day at work until the New Year! We finish work at around 1600 and drive home. I do online check in on my phone on the way back – typically my mobile signal wasn’t great at that point but I manage to get us 2 seats together at the back on our own. We arrive home and order takeaway and set the washing machine going. After dinner we start tidying the house and then once the washing is finished we do the ironing. Finally we do the packing! We change the bedding and then put clean towels in the bathrooms before bed. 9th Dec This morning we are awake at 0730, we get showered etc and then it is time to take Zac to the kennels at about 0900. Once we get back (it’s about a 10 min drive) we park the car in the garage and do our final cleaning before Rob’s parents came to collect us at 1030. I don’t really like traveling to the airport on the day of the flight and so even though our flight isn’t until 1700 we are leaving with lots of time to spare! We actually had a smooth traffic free drive to Heathrow where we arrive at 1230! We didn’t stop at the services although with hindsight we could have! When we arrive at the self bag drop we are told we might be too early! We try anyway and the bags are accepted by the machine with no issues – but what happened to the extra security that we were all told was being introduced for flights to the USA? It took us just a few minutes to get through security and now we had lots of time to kill! As we hadn’t had any breakfast we decided to start with lunch in Pilots, Rob had a burger and I had a club sandwich. After we did some wandering around the shops and picked up some drinks and snacks for on the plane. Then we sat and waited! We boarded on time and left shortly after 1700. Flight was smooth and didn’t drag too much, it was quite different from our summer trip as we didn’t have any children bothering us! The main meal was pasta (other option was a curry I think) which wasn’t bad, although you don’t get cheese and biscuits anymore. The light snack though was odd - packet of crisps and some dairy milk ‘little bars’ and Jaffa cake bars! What happened to a sandwich?! Immigration took what felt like forever, my fingerprints didn’t work so had to get into another queue When we finally got through the bags were already there, we walked out and straight into a cab and on our way to the hotel. It was a fairly straightforward journey once we made sure we were heading to the correct hotel (The Madison Hilton, previously a Loews property.) Cab was $80 with tip and we arrived just after 2230, check in was quick and easy and we were exhausted so went straight to bed. (7952 steps, 3.36 miles) __________________ All my trip reports in one place! Edited at 08:07 PM.