Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
This is: Round The World 2015
To Federal City
The day began with something of a lie-in - and why not, after our big night out at the end of an action-packed Saturday?! Breakfast was provided by a local coffee shop. The food was tastier than at Starbucks, but the venue itself was a little chaotic and far too noisy for my liking. Realising that there was only time for a quick stroll, we walked along to Sixth Avenue, then down to 42nd Street and took a shortcut through Grand Central Station on the way back. Unbelievably, it was already time to pack our cases and check out of the Marriott.
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| Morning walk in Midtown. As the impact of the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris became clear, there were signs of solidarity with France. |
We left around ten minutes after noon and caught the subway's E-train, followed by the Air Train, to Kennedy Airport. Thanks to both of us being selected for expedited Security, it was a particularly straightforward passage airside and we were soon settling into the Admiral Club Flagship Lounge. I recognised frequent-flyer friend Mark (from the UK) among my fellow-guests and had time for a brief chat. While in the lounge, we also had time for some lunch and ample opportunity to enjoy the familiar apron views, in addition to managing to spot actor Christian Slater!
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LEFT: Kennedy Airport's Terminal 8 |
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| RIGHT: Classic apron views from the Admiral Club |
We eventually made our way to Gate 39 only to find that our flight was subject to delay.
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An announcement after boarding gave us the full story: as the original inbound aircraft had experienced a serious delay leaving Puerto Rico, a replacement had been found to operate our service; however this aircraft had been fuelled for a trip to Seattle, making it too heavy to land at Washington, so that the excess fuel had to be off-loaded prior to departure. When we finally left the gate, a further delay was then caused when Airport Operations decided to switch the runways around, while still allowing aircraft already on approach to land as expected. After all that rigmarole, we left JFK behind at 4:45pm and were very much ready for an in-flight G&T!
It was a beautifully clear evening when we reached the airspace of the District of Columbia. We flew past the city and made a U-turn before making our final approach into Reagan National airport. I picked out the Washington Monument, the Ellipse, the White House, the Capitol and the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials. I was especially pleased with myself for managing to make an aerial identification of the Willard Hotel, where we would be heading as soon as possible after landing.
We
took the metro's Blue Line the long way round to Metro Center, a
couple of blocks from the hotel. It was so nice to be back at the
Willard, which looked as fabulous as ever. It was evident that
maintenance standards were very high and our room was absolutely
spotless. Although the days of my 'Royal Ambassador' status in the
IHG loyalty programme were long gone, and with them the spectacular
upgrades that my status used to bring, this was still a spacious and
comfortable room by any reasonable standards.
After attempting to get settled in - a process
that we were forced to leave as a work in progress, as Bruce was
having IT connectivity issues that threatened to affect his ability
to work effectively the following day - we had cocktails and some
nicely presented snacks in the Round Robin bar downstairs. How very
civilised, and what a way to arrive in the nation's capital!
