What's the hotel of choice for the DC protest?

[Initech]

[Lautremont]

1. There's only one...

The Watergate

[Initech]

6. Whoa, too pricey for my wallet!

[northzax]

12. stay there now, it's going Condo next year...(nt)

[AussieDave]

2. Where is the protest to be held ??

I can recommend the Harrington - right in the middle of everything, around the corner from Ford's Theater & the FBI Building (so convenient).

[Hissyspit]

5. www.unitedforpeace.org

11:30 a.m. at Ellipse, I believe. 11 a.m. at Washington Monument. It is a little confused right now.

[AussieDave]

11. Well I hope everything goes OK

good luck for a large and successful protest !!!

[Hissyspit]

3. Washington Capitol Holiday Inn is A.N.S.W.E.R.'s, I believe.

I would imagine it is fully booked by now.

[PittLib]

4. It seems that some of us will be at...

Capitol Hill Suites. You can find the link here: http://www.brainshrub.com/dcdumeetup

I got a decent rate ($115 per night) for a small suite w/ queen bed. Plus it is seems to be close to/central to everything.

On edit: If you are driving, I understand that parking is $28 a night (could be worse) - but don't quote me on that!

[Initech]

7. Parking cant be any worse than it is in LA.

But if I do get to go to the protest, I do NOT plan on renting a car. That will definately save me a lot of money.

[PittLib]

9. Wow ... the whole way from LA?

Yeah, I wouldn't be renting a car either! It's funny - with airline prices down (or great deals, anyway), and gas prices up ... it'll probably cost us roughly the same though I'm only 240 miles away! (Okay okay, gas prices aren't THAT bad ... but they might be by then).

[Initech]

10. Coming from LA, I'll be flying to Reagan.

There's no chance in hell I'd be driving to DC from LA with gas prices the way they are!

[LynneSin]

16. That rate is correct

$28/night

The lady at the CapHill said parking is a pain in that area. ANd if you do attempt street parking make sure you clear everything out of your car worth stealing. I street parked at the Hotel Monaco which is a nice upscale hotel in a good neighborhood and within a couple of hours my car was broken into. I blame the stupidity on myself - I thought I would be safe tossing my purse in the trunk but someone must have seen me do that and went for it. BTW - this was done during broad daylight.

[livvy]

19. I'll be staying there also along with a few other DUers.

See you there!

[PittLib]

26. Looking forward to it!

As of now ... I'm coming alone, so it'll be great to have some familiar people around.

[LynneSin]

27. You may be coming alone but that won't last for long

:D

[northzax]

29. so you're getting everone hookers?

or what? :)

[PittLib]

30. hey now ...

I am the hook ... um. heh. I mean ...

[liberalnurse]

34. Maybe we who are staying there

could put DU ribbon markers on the door knobs. Signal one another. I did not notice if they have internet access there. I'm not bringing my laptop but my Samsung i-730 phone. It a laptop in your palm. I have internet on it too. My point is, we could PM each other from a list of DU members.

[liberalnurse]

33. I got my room there too.

They quoted me $28 a day for parking. Maybe you saw my post. I prefer the garage as freepers could damage my Explore if the see my bumper stickers. I find is a worthy investment.

[funflower]

8. I like the Embassy Suites near DuPont Circle.

It's clean and everything works well and it's close to a Metro stop. Price is affordable by downtown DC standards, and you can sleep 6 people in most of the suites. The rooms also have refrigerators and microwaves, so you can save some bucks by fixing your own food.

[Initech]

13. Is there a Metro stop at DCA?

Or would it be better to fly to IAD?

Because this vacation would seriously work for me if I could do this whole thing without having to rent a car.

[northzax]

14. metro at DCA

NO metro at IAD.

[LynneSin]

15. Metro stop only at DCA or BWI

But if you get a really great price for IAD (Dulles) there is something called the Super Shuttle that you can use to get from the airport to downtown DC

http://www.supershuttle.com/htm/cities/dca.htm

[Initech]

17. We have Super Shuttles here.

It's like $50 to get to LAX. Jet Blue had the cheapest going to IAD ($216) and Midwest Airlines had the cheapest going to DCA ($288).

I think now I'm leaning more toward DCA.

[LynneSin]

18. Check your pm - I sent you a message

I was assuming you were flying out of LAX - I had sent a link for http://www.kayak.com which searches all the travel & airline flights for the best rates. It's a really flexible system and you might find another flight that heads into BWI or DCA that is cheaper than $288.

Glad though to see you are coming

[funflower]

21. Are those airport abbreviations? There's a Metro stop at National.

You don't have to have a car in DC. The central area is not that big. With a good pair of shoes, you can to walk to all to of the major monuments and government buildings. The Metro is clean and nice, and, in a pinch, there are taxis everywhere.

Also, parking a car is mega-expensive and traffic is a nightmare. It costs more to find a hotel in central DC but it'll save you the car rental and parking expense, and you can avoid the hassle of driving in that miserable traffic.

We spent a week there last year without a car and didn't miss it a bit. We did rent a car to take a short trip south to Virginia, but we took the Metro out of town and picked up the car at National Airport so we didn't have to bother with it in the city.

[LynneSin]

22. Airport Codes.....

DCA: Washington National (rumor has it repukes call it something else)
BWI: Baltimore-Washington International
IAD: Dulles

You are absolutely correct! Renting a car is a total waste of money in DC and the DC metro is the best I've ever used (of course I've only ever done east coast subways). We're driving down and stuck with that extra $60 to park our car (but there will be 5 of us in the mini-van so it all works out)

[northzax]

24. lynne, are you coming in on the weekend?

or on Friday? you could probably save the $60 by parking on the street, you'll only have Friday to worry about for timed parking (2 hours mostly) the weekends are open season.

[LynneSin]

25. I'm coming for the weekend and no way will I street park

my car was broken into last time :cry:

I'm ok with the extra parking fee - it's the price to pay to stay at a nice downtown DC hotel

[Hissyspit]

32. Definitely. I'm not rich or anything, but it helps so much with the hassle

[Initech]

28. Yeah, the DC Metro is great. I live in LA. Our MTA goes nowhere.

[Hissyspit]

20. Printable Metro Maps HERE:

http://www.wmata.com/metrorail/systemmap.cfm

[LynneSin]

23. That and a map of downtown DC will be your best friends

When the protest end there will be about 300,000 people trying to get on that metro - so it helps to have a map to get your way out of the mess and find a different metro that isn't so overwhelmed.

Thanks for posting that!!

[Hissyspit]

31. Crystal City is a good idea.

Right on the Metro line, and you can zip to the Smithsonian station in no time.