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I have 3 nights in December booked at The Ven which is a Tribute Portfolio hotel for £100 pn on an RCI deal which just happened to match my travel dates and destination – has anyone stayed there?
Don’t forget Emyr and his deals for Intercontinentals and Kimpton.
He covers other high end hotels as well.
Of if you want to save money don’t forget that most UK railcards will get you cash off or better deposit and cancellation terms. There is a thread in the IHG board about that.
Two full days would be my absolute minimum suggested time in Washington DC. I’d recommend Old Ebbitts Grill for late night food. All seafood half price after 23.30 and the quality was fantastic.
Definitely worth it! Mostly all mentioned above but most of the iconic buildings and monuments are in and around the National Mall. In addition, Arlington Cemetery is very moving plus the tomb of the unknown soldier and the statue of the marines raising the flag are all iconic.
The metro is excellent – it is worth staying in the centre, or Georgetown. No current specific recommendations but we didn’t have any trouble finding excellent places to eat with some great breakfasts (Jimmy T’s?). I wasn’t aware of the aviation museum at Dulles so I think a re-visit might be on the cards.
This is a report of our recent trip to Washington DC and Florida; I’ve split it into 2 parts to cover the few days we had in Washington and the week in Florida.
In the last week of February 2025 as the world’s focus turned to Washington DC some of the global movers and shakers were heading there one after the other Macron, Starmer, Zelensky and Mr and Mrs MoK – be aware that only 75% of that list is factually correct.
We flew with Virgin Atlantic Upper Class on a redemption using a credit card companion voucher, it was booked pre-decimalisation (redemptions now cost 10x more than previously) very early in the booking window as seats from Orlando can be quite scarce.
We travelled to Heathrow the day before we were due to fly and stayed in the Hampton at High Wycombe so we could visit family who live there. We had a very pleasant dinner at The Oarsman in Marlow and the following day drove the 30minute journey to Heathrow Terminal 3 and got safely parked in the short-stay car park.
It’s a bit of a convoluted walk from the short-stay car park which is on one side of the terminal to the Virgin Atlantic check-in area which is on the other. We were originally scheduled to travel on a 787-9 and usually select the ‘A’ seats as they are not facing anyone else directly but on checking our booking a week before departure I discovered we had been switched to an A330neo so would be an opportunity to try a different seat. We’d been allocated 3A and 3D which as a couple wasn’t a problem but if you wanted to speak to each other you need to lean around the edge of the suite and talk across the aisle (this would be even more difficult if you were in the even numbered rows due to the offset) so I think next time I’ll look to get a middle pair of seats. During online check-in, the Retreat Suite was still available for the bargain £680 for the pair so decided to allow someone more deserving to have it.
Bag drop at Heathrow was fine and straight through security, not having to remove any items from bags was very convenient and on to the Clubhouse after a bit of light shopping by Mrs MoK. At around lunchtime on a Saturday the lounge was busy but not completely rammed (it’s certainly busier than it used to be since Virgin joined SkyTeam). As we had a mid-afternoon departure to Washington DC, we decided not to have the table service and just go for some of the small plate options and cocktails for lunch which worked well.
Boarding was efficient and the flight was pretty uneventful we’d had the meal pre-order email from Virgin a week before departure so selected our main courses although they managed to miss off Mrs MoK’s order for some reason. The food offering was solid but a bit uninspiring I felt but it’s nice to have options other than just afternoon tea now for the second meal.
I know there is a lot of discussion here about the old vs. new virgin seats but I don’t have a major problem with the older seats (which we had on our return from Orlando) but I found it far harder to get comfortable in the A330neo seat than in the older seats for a day flight. The IFE screen was certainly better though. I didn’t notice The Loft space get used very much if at all.
Arrival at Washington Dulles was painless as Global Entry did its job again and with priority baggage working, we were on our way pretty quickly. We knew it was going to be chilly in Washington, but it was -2C with a strong wind when we stepped outside so were glad we had packed our thermal hats and gloves. The Uber was prompt so not too bad all-in-all.
We’ve been to Washington DC before and visited a number of the sights in the city so decided to stay in Alexandria on this occasion. We stayed at the Morrison House Hotel in Alexandria Old Town (Marriott Autograph) booked direct for cash. The hotel is located on a side street off the main road through the town, King Street. The location was very quiet and the room we had was pretty spacious for a city hotel. It’s about a 20 minute walk to the Metro from the hotel but we ended up using Uber to get around. We just wanted a convenient location to sleep as we were going to be out most of the time so I can’t comment on the F&B at the hotel or its other facilities. We had breakfast each day at Tatte Bakery & Café on King Street which was pretty good. Given the temperatures we were thankful they served porridge as well as a good range of egg and other dishes and the pastries were pretty good too. In the evening we ate at The Wharf and also at The Warehouse which were both good.
Over our 3 days in the area we spent a day at The National Air & Space Museum which is located near Dulles Airport – admission is free and the highlights there include Space Shuttle Discovery; B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay; Air France Concorde and a Lockheed Martin SR-71 Blackbird. We went into the city for a day to visit the National Museum of American History (free entry) and also The National Archives Museum as I wanted to see the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution and Bill of Rights – again entry is free but you can book a timed entry for $1 per ticket for busy times. We also spent a day nosing around Alexandria Old Town looking at some of the many historical buildings.
After our time in Washington DC we headed south for a week in Florida. We flew from Reagan National to Orlando on an American Airlines Avios economy redemption. Having no status with either BA or AA I was expecting to pay for our checked bags but on trying to check in on the app it wouldn’t let me add bags then again using the machine at the airport I went all the way through the process but fell at the final step so ended up doing it the old fashioned way at a desk where we were greeted by a very cheery lady with the words “Hey, where are you kids heading?”, given we are in our late fifties we were flattered to still be addressed as kids – only in America! In the end we didn’t get charged for bags so I’m not sure if I just got lucky and won the AA lottery that morning. We’d reserved our seats for free when booking and they were still there on check-in.
Having Global Entry allows you to use the TSA-Pre lanes at security which speeds things up as they don’t ask you remove items from your bags. We used the Amex Centurion Lounge at DCA which was pretty good, I had my Platinum card which got us both in. Plenty of seating, busy but not rammed on a weekday mid-morning, good selection of hot and cold items on a buffet and a well-stocked bar.
The flight was on time and was around 2 hours the cabin crew served cold drinks and snacks only as there was quite a bit of turbulence enroute and they declined to serve anything hot for safety reasons. The flight was uneventful and we arrived in Orlando a bit early so had to wait a bit to get on to the gate. I was impressed with the AA app as it provided real-time tracking of our bags from being checked-in. loaded, unloaded and delivered.
The remainder of this trip report is in the thread titled “Trip suggestions – Miami & Orlando 2025”
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