In the first part of my travel diary I already promised I’d continue with the second part about the hotel, how we got to Washington from NYC and other informational stuff as soon as possible. Somehow, my thesis got a little in between, but now I finally have time for the blog again and here it is: the second part of the Washington travel diary!
Hotel: Hyatt Place Washington DC | White House
As always, I just chose a hotel that was within my budget and with a location somewhere close to whatever was on the plan for the few days we had in Washington, and we ended up in the Hyatt Place, which is close to the White House. The location was great, and the National Mall and the most important sights were within walking distance, plus we got breakfast in the hotel, too. It wasn’t the best breakfast I ever had, but it was okay, even if we had to wait a bit to get a table both mornings.
The room was great, and the hotel has a rooftop with a bar, which was supposed to open later in June. As we were in Washington in the beginning of June, we couldn’t enjoy cocktails or something to eat up there, but at least we went up to enjoy the view – to be honest, compared with the views in NYC, it’s a little disappointing, like the other rooftops we visited, too.
From NYC to Washington – by Bus
When I was in NYC in 2014, I booked tickets with EasternBus to get from NYC to Washington. And this is what I did this time, too – even if I said the last time, I’d choose something different if I ever go again. But: the tickets are cheap, and I am not really willing to pay twice as much to sit in a bus for exactly the same time with another company or even more to be there a little faster if I go by train. Especially with a limited budget, the bus was the best option – and it takes you from China Town to China Town within 4.5 hours. Could be worse!
Dinner & Lunch in Washington
As the last time, I didn’t really prepare the trip and didn’t search any fancy restaurants or something, where we could stop for lunch or dinner. But we did what we always do when we don’t know what to choose: watching out for places where many people are sitting and eating as well as looking at the prices. And like always, it worked pretty well and we ended up at some great restaurants! This time, I just enjoyed the long weekend and didn’t really take any pictures of the restaurants or of what I ate, but: fancy looking places seem to be expensive, and a lot smaller places that actually don’t look fancy but have many guests were kinda really good.
Capital Bike Share & Uber
Whenever you are on a city trip, you need to figure out how to get from one place to another after you arrived. I walked around a lot the last time I was there, but somehow, the second day I was kinda over it this time. As the last time, my boyfriend voted for the Capital Bike Share – Signing up for 24 hours costs $8 per person, and you can use the bikes for free, always for 30 minutes at a time. So we did that, and actually biked all the way to Georgetown. My boyfriend really wanted to see the subway (because it has carpet), too, but I kinda didn’t see the point of using it with the good weather and the Capital Bike Sharing spots everywhere. And when the weather started to get worse in the evening, we just got an Uber. I love to use that here in NYC, too, to get easily from one place to another.
Soooo, this was the organizational part of the travel diary, I hope it helps in case you are planning your trip to Washington any time soon! Have you ever been there and maybe some ideas to add to my summary? Feel free to leave a comment!
