I was employed by Mileage Plus, a company within United Airlines, for part of 2005. This job was great opportunity for a travel lover like myself to learn about the airline industry. It also had travel benefits to die for: Free stand-by travel.
One of our first trips was planned, and we decided to go to Paris. We booked a hotel and planned on five days. Once we finally arrived at Washington Dulles (Washington DC airport) we realized that free stand-by travel was not all that it was cracked up to be. Flights were generally pretty well booked, and if there were seats available, you had to wait in line behind all the other hopeful stand-by passengers. Back to Dulles: It was midnight and the plane we wanted to take to Paris was probably somewhere over Greenland. We frantically racked our brain of options: Fly somewhere else for vacation, fly to London and take a train to Paris, stay in Washington DC....We got listed as standby for a flight to London, and waited and waited as the flight was delayed and finally canceled. At this point we made a decision - We would not waste any more of our precious vacation time stranded in an airport. We found a car rental counter, rented a car and found a charming Ikea parking lot to sleep the remaining few hours of the night.
We were happy and excited to explore a new place. However, there were still a few minor gliches: 1) We had no idea where our luggage was. In my mind it was the last lonely suitcase going around and around on a deserted baggage carosel in the Paris airport. (World Gallivanter 101: make good use of your carry-on luggage: a few wise choices will get you a long way) 2)We had no plan and had done no research on touring the Washington DC area. But alas, we were young and getting more experienced in traveling, and soon had an itinerary drafted in our minds of what we wanted to do. This is what we did:
Day 1 Walked the sites aound the National Mall: The Capitol, Smithsonian museums, Washington and Lincoln memorials, ww2 memorials, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, and the White House. We then decided to get out of town, so we drove to Gettysburg, PA.
Day 2 Toured Gettysburg battlefield, museum, and cemetery. Went shopping for a few outfits at a local outlet. Drove to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, and saw the sights there. Continued driving south and west to Virginia Beach.
Day 3 Relaxed on the beach, then drove south along Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Nice beaches, lots of birds and Seashells. Returned to Virginia Beach.
Day 4 Drove back to Washington DC. Began the task of finding stand-by seats to fly back home.
Reflections
Likes: Looking back, we were able to do a lot in a short time. Loved all the history tied to this area, all the monuments and parks were very nice.
Dislikes: Lots of Traffic around DC and Virginia Beach.
Regrets: Missed seeing Arlington National Cemetery and Jefferson Memorial.
Ease of travel on 1-10 scale (1=easy, 10=hard): 2
Would we go back? y/n Yes -We want to see more of the coast along Virginia and North Carolina. We would also explore the Appalachians - Drive the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Would be a good trip for: History Buffs, Families
Websites:
Washington DC Tourism http://www.washington.org/
Cape Hatteras National Seashore http://www.nps.gov/caha
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