After several months of deliberation about possible vacation venues, we finally decided on Washington DC. I visited with my 6th grade class about 32 years ago and was close by in Virginia and Maryland about 5 years ago, but my wife has never been, so it was a good choice. Even though we waited until it was almost too close to get good prices, we got a good deal for air fare and hotel at Expedia.com. About $1000 for air fare for 2 and 6 nights in a Best Western (Pentagon) fit our budget nicely. We probably could have gotten a better price if I hadn’t waited until 2 weeks before we wanted to go, but I still did good.
So, we boarded a little Northwest/Delta Airlines Canadair CPJ jet for our short flight to Memphis. I actually enjoy those flights because the flight crew is a little more relaxed and human, it seems, on those little planes. Our flight attendant by no means fit the image of a flight attendant in most of our minds. She was rather on the large size, but she was very personable with her south Texas accent which made the hour and 20 minute flight seem to go much faster. I also learned that NWA/Delta, unlike American Airlines, still give out free micro packets of peanuts. Of course, they do have snacks you can purchase like Pringles, M&Ms, and Trail Mix for only (with a smirk) $2.00 each.
The seats were a little cramped because we had our carry-ons under the seats in front of us robbing us of what little leg room we had to begin with, but since we declined the option to gate-check the backpack, it was our own fault. After arriving in Memphis, we found the gate for our connection and set out to scare up some lunch. We found a barbecue stand not far from our gate, so we decided to give it a try. One BBQ beef sandwich later, we were back at the gate.
Our next plane was an Airbus A319, larger than the CPJ, with more overhead storage so we didn’t have the backpack under our feet. As we climbed into the Memphis sky, it quickly became apparent that the storms over Oklahoma were causing some nice turbulence East of us. I suppose it is a good thing that I like roller coasters as the Airbus was doing a wonderful impersonation on one of Six Flags’ finest. Nobody flew out of their seats or anything like that, but my wife was glad she took dramamine. In fact, I was glad she did, too, because I didn’t want to wear her lunch in mid flight. The captain explained that they had, in fact, hit the same turbulence on their flight from DC earlier that day and it had lasted the entire flight. Ditto for the return trip.
After the pilot finally wrestled the plane on the ground at Reagan National and parked us at the gate, it wasn’t too long before it was our turn to exit the plane and see if the airlines managed to get our luggage to the same destination as us – they did.
The hotel shuttle was quick to pick us up and soon we were checked in for the week. We found the hotel restaurant, Monuments, and ate an over-priced, triple deck, club sandwich. Actually, it was the $3.00 8-ounce glass of Coke that irritated me, but as my wife pointed out, we were in a bar and if we had actually ordered something alcoholic, it probably would have been cheaper. Oh, well. Live and learn.
Now we rest and tomorrow we tackle DC.
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[...] know I had to supply my full name as well as my wife’s when I purchased our plane tickets to Washington, D.C. earlier this year. It was really funny because their system was not set up for middle names or [...]