Hi Deb!
I just wanted to drop you a line to let you know that our troop’s trip to
Washington DC went great!!

Because our hotel included breakfast, an evening reception on weeknights (which turned out to be a full dinner with soup & salad), and a kitchen in each room we were able to keep our food costs very low. We walked to a  nearby Safeway to buy lunch items so we could pack a lunch and snack each day.

With the museums and tours being free/ inexpensive we were able to do and see everything on the girls’ list. In the end, including our airfare, we were able to do this trip for somewhere between $600-650/person!!

 We stayed at an amazing hotel (Homewood Suites
Navy Yard) just ½ block from the Metro and were able to use public transit
to get everywhere we wanted to go – even to Mount Vernon and the airport.

The Homewood Suites was a score! It’s a brand new hotel in their ballpark district, which like ours, is developing into a really cool place to be. There are new restaurants and shops opening daily and the security at the hotel was amazing. We had to use our room key to get just about anywhere in the hotel. We came in at about $40/person/night. I booked in January to get a really low rate. When you figure we ate an average of two meals a day at the hotel and had a kitchenette in each room for other meal prep, that is pretty darn good! The best part was the rooftop deck which had views of the Capitol building and Mall in one direction and a view right into the ballpark in another. There were BBQ grills so you could cook a meal on the deck, too.

The girls were so independent in navigating the airport, mapping out their plans for the day, and traveling on the Metro. I was also very impressed with their budgeting. When we went to Safeway, we divided into teams and they each shopped for a part of the list, making decisions on which bread, meat, pasta, and salad ingredients to buy. We also had a limit for the two meals we ate out and they came in under budget each time. (There’s a Shake Shack attached to the hotel, so of course we had to eat there as a special splurge!)

One other thing that impressed me was how much walking we did each day even though we used the Metro to get everywhere we needed to go! One of our girls had a pedometer and we logged 8-10 miles every day! The National Mall is deceptively long and the museums are deceptively huge! J I have to add that the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial was outstanding and I’m so glad we added it to our trip.

I also have to recommend the hop on/hop off bus night tour from City Sights. We bought the tour via Groupon as a special treat and it turned out to be well worth the value. It was a 3 hour + tour and fully narrated, which you don’t get during the day.  We sat atop the bus and they gave us ear buds so we could hear the guide. The bus made three stops where we could get off and walk around with our guide. The monuments are beautiful when lit up at night and it was so fun to hear all of the little facts that the guide added to the tour. At the end of the night, they dropped people off at their hotel or metro station of their choice. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

Of course you can share with other leaders. I’m happy to talk with them if they would like specific info, too! It seemed overwhelming at first because DC is so far, but it ended up being a really easy trip in the end. The girls didn’t want to come home!

 

 

I just thought you’d love to hear about another successful troop trip!

It’s a summer of travel for us!

I hope all is well with you!
Angie