Financial/Logistical Advice?

Parents Forum
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<p>I highly doubt that you can get an affordable hotel room in Georgetown, which has sky high prices.</p>

<p>My advice is to use Priceline. The quality can vary (my experience is that one gets much higher quality hotels on weekends, when there aren't business travelers filling up rooms), but the prices usually can't be beat. Anyway, you'll be out touring, so won't have much time to spend in your hotel room anyway.</p>

<p>The closer you use Priceline to the date of your trip, the better the deals. Also try calling the cheaptickets site because some of the best deals are not advertised on their site.</p>

42

<p>A few random thoughts.</p>

<p>I've lived in DC and northern VA for many years; graduated from Geo. Washington Univ. </p>

<p>I don't recommend staying near Dupont Circle. I feel it is too transitional. There is more crime there than in other areas. M Street hotels seem too cold. Key Bridge hotels lack charm and location.</p>

<p>A hotel I particularly like, though it is older, is The River Inn, located on 25th Street, NW...in the Foggy Bottom area off Pennsylvania Ave NW, adjacent to Georgetown. It is a very charming establishment with a decidedly European flavor much favored by diplomats. Twenty-fifth street is a charming brick walkway to Watergate and the Kennedy Center, 2 blocks from the Metro stop at 23rd and Washington Circle. The Inn offers efficiency and one-bedroom suites, both with full kitchens, Queen or King bed + sofabed, and satellite TV too. I like it because you don't feel compelled to take every meal out. You can enjoy a leisurely breakfast in. And, if you travel in the spring, the stroll through Foggy Bottom is just beautiful. Because it is a smaller hotel, it has a very intimate feel. A real pleasure. While on-street parking in the area can be a challenge, for a very nominal fee (I believe $10/day), the Inn has valet parking. The Foggy Bottom area off of 25th St is very safe, tucked away, and residential. It's a very special place.</p>

<p>And, for all you get, the price of an efficiency suite with kitchen is about $129/night...the price of an average DC area room.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.theriverinn.com/res_main.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.theriverinn.com/res_main.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Orange Blossom is right in that Foggy Bottom is lovely and convenient, but prices also are sky high. In checking the River Inn for a random March, 2006 date, the lowest price that I got for a double was about $200 a night, not including taxes. If your family is pinched for cash, IMO, staying in such a hotel isn't worth it.</p>

<p>Over the summer, I paid about $85 a night through Priceline and got a 2 bed room for several week nights in Silver Spring, Md., a suburb adjacent to D.C. I can't remember the hotel, but it was about a 15-min. walk from the subway, about 1/2 hour by car to Georgetown. It was far from glamorous, perhaps a one star, but fit our budget and was reasonably safe.</p>

<p>Over the 4th of July weekend, for about $65 a night through Priceline, I got a three star or so hotel near Key Bridge in Northern Virginia (about a 10 min. drive to Georgetown). The hotel also provided shuttle service to the subway, which can save lots of $ on parking hassles and high parking costs. D.C. is a very hard place to find parking, particularly affordable parking! The hotel lacked the sophisticated charm of a River Inn, but was still attractive and comfortable. </p>

<p>As I mentioned before, on weekends and holidays, hotel prices can go down in D.C. because of extra rooms due to the lack of business travelers.</p>

<p>On other trips to D.C., I've saved $ by flying into BWI and then getting a hotel near the Baltimore-Washington Parkway that runs D.C. and Baltimore. There are some hotels like, I think, a Hampton Inn that are walking distance from the subway or commuter train. One also can drive into D.C. The hotel prices are much cheaper than they are in D.C. even if one has to pay subway/train or parking fees.</p>

<p>One also can save money by staying in Gaithersburg, Md. or parts of Northern Virginia that aren't as close as Arlington or Alexandria. Rent a car and drive in.</p>

<p>I lived in D.C. for 10 years, travel there at least once a year and spent a summer there a couple of years ago. I tend to know the cost efficient ways of traveling there. :)</p>

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<p>Somehow, I believe that Northstarmom may have checked too small a sampling of dates. A random check of several dates in March still revealed $129/nite rates for suites.</p>

<p>My initial suggestion of The River Inn was based on the notion that significant dining-out money might be saved by having a kitchen available for some dining in. Some relaxation might also be enjoyed by not feeling compelled to take meals out all the time. And, a genuine feel for the environs could be achieved by actually spending time wandering the area rather than simply driving it. Plus, if this family were trekking across country, it might serve as a quasi-vacation of sorts.</p>

<p>I spent many years traveling with DS who is a competitive swimmer. Getting the best accommodations in the best locations for the best rates was our highest priority.</p>

<p>Different people, of course, will have different approaches to travel. I like to save a buck as much as the next person (and I'm certainly not wealthy), but having traveled as much as I have, I know the toll that travel can take on a family (and this will be a very important trip). My post was intended to offer options...as are all posts on this board. The cost of dining our in the DC area is expensive, so having a kitchen would be a major cost-saving factor, and a delightful convenience and an opportunity for the family to have some genuinely pleasant quiet time at the end of a busy day.</p>

<p>I value a blend of cost conscious travel and sanity. Driving from remote hotels, or staying at really inferior hotels, or enduring any really major inconveneince just to save money doesn't ever seem worth it to me because it just feels like a false economy...surely there must be other ways to save...cheaper airfares can offset a room rate, etc. If it were me, I would work like a dog to get a cheap airfare so that I could get a little better room...and I would get a kitchen over eating out (just because in DC it's so darned expensive and it takes up too much time).</p>

<p>It's whatever floats your boat...and what floats my boat is: real simple.</p>

45

<p>A quick followup.</p>

<p>Limit the length of driving in the area. It's bad all the time, but particularly during the ever-growing rush hour.</p>

<p>And if you have the chance, please try to see what's called the Chagall wall. It's a large mosaic created as a gift for Evelyn Nef and her late husband many years ago by the famed artist Marc Chagall. It was prepared in France, shipped to the US, where he installed it outdoors in their garden. She is quite elderly now, and upon her demise, it will be donated to the National Gallery. To view it, you must peer over her garden wall (it's surrounded by ivy), but many do. Home is at: 2726 N St NW, Wash, DC 20007 (the corner of 27th and N ST NW) in Georgetown. It's a real treat. Very beautiful. Not many people know of its existence.</p>

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<p>I highly recommend doing an admitted students event if you can. Schools really roll out the red carpet, and it's a great chance to meet the students you'll be sharing classes with if you attend. Since they'll probably have quite a few organized events, you'll see and learn more in a short time vs. coming in for a random visit.</p>

47

<p>Another place to consider is the Hotel Harrington, which is at 11th and E, near GW and a few easy blocks from the subway. Cost of a two-bed room that sleeps 4 start at $115 plus tax. Parking is $10 a day. It's about 5 blocks away from the White House, too.</p>

<p>You can take a cab or bus to Georgetown U. If you like to walk, you also can walk. It would be about a pleasant 35 min. walk. </p>

<p>I've stayed at the hotel, and found it comfortable and convenient. If you're interested, book far in advance because I've found that it fills up.</p>

<p>Another suggestion: Ask Georgetown U about hotels and affordable eateries. Let them know that you're on a budget. They probably can suggest some good deals -- places that even may have special rates for people visiting Georgetown. There also may be some bed and breakfast places that are affordable and have nice hosts who can give you lots of good info about the city.</p>

<p>My cheap eats tip: The food court in the basement of Union Station (the gorgeous train station that is a couple of blocks from the Capitol and also is on the subway line) has an enormous selection of delicious, affordable food from a wide range of ethnicities. I particularly like the grilled tuna caesar salads at the Georgetown Seafood place there. That's usually where I eat after visiting the Smithsonian and other tourist sites on the Mall.</p>

48

<p>This site is helpful for cheap east-coast travel. Went from DC to NYC/back this month. Check site or call Princeton for Philly or NYC connections. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.ivymedia.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.ivymedia.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>btw our friends from the NW used a motel on Washington Street in old town Alexandria for their DC area college visits. Was less expensive than Rosslyn, Crystal City (airport area) etc.</p>