ktspiv4

My family & I are making our first trip to DC in April 2011. We are thrilled to see the sites & have already applied for tickets to see the White House & the Capitol.
A few questions.

1. I am hearing from our representatives office that tix to the White House & Capitol that our chances for getting tix are slim due to new rules by the secret service. Had anyone else experienced issues with this?

2. We were hoping to do a home exchange as we have been very succesful with this lodging option in other areas, however DC has been difficult due to the month we are going. We prefer to stay in a home near public transportation. Any ideas?

3. What is considered a good cost range for round-trip flight from LAX to DC?

4. not to miss sites, bars or places to eat?

Thanks!

kayd

White House tickets are the ones that are very difficult to get, as few tours are given. All you can do is request through your Rep as early as you know your travel dates, and keep fingers crossed.

Tickets for the Capitol are abundant, tours leave about every 15 minutes six days/week. http://tours.visitthecapitol.gov

nytraveler

Yes - but it sounds like the OP may be gong during the Cherry Blossom Festival - which is probably the busiest week of the year - and White House tickets (and places to stay) may be an issue.

yestravel

My understanding about the WH is that tixs r hard to come by. Contact your Senators and Reps and hope for the best.

April can be Spring vacation for schools so I'd keep trying for a house xchange. Perhaps book a refundable hotel in the meantime, so u don't get shut out. Cherry Blossom Festival is march 26 - April 10. March and April are crowded even outside of CB festival due to school trips and school vacations.

How old r your kids and what do they like?

I fly to LAX a lot and try to get fares in the low $200. Sometimes u can get lower fares into BWI as opposed to IAD. Virgin America has some good specials so be sure to check them. Also JetBlue if u can fly from John Wayne Airport. If u r coming during the Easter period fares may be higher. Last year at Thanksgiving I paid close to $400 per tix.

More info about what u like, price range etc would be helpful to answer #4.

MikeT

Avoid BWI if at all possible unless you are getting a significant savings on price.

bardo1

1. Call you Rep's local office AND their DC office. ALSO contact BOTH senators - both their local office and DC offices. Could still be tough for Chery Blossom season, but contacting 6 offices as opposed to one gives you a better shot.

2. Homeaway has some very nice house rentals on Capitol Hill - manu just a few blocks from Easter Market Metro or Capitol South Metro. They also list some in the Du[pont neighborhood, but they are very pricey. Not so sure about home exchanges. Any home exchanges are VERY unlikely to be within walking distance to Metro - most are in the 'burbs.

3. $200 (unlikely during peak season) up to $400 at the top end.

4. Depends on where you and how long you are staying....

ktspiv4

thank you all. I will try to book a refundable hotel or rental just incase.
MikeT: what is BWI?

sf7307

BWI is the main Baltimore airport.

yestravel

BWI is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and is about 45 minutes from DC by car. This depends upon traffic and where u r going in DC. U can take either an Amtrak or Marc (on weekdays only) train from BWI to Union Station in DC and metro or taxi it from there to wherever u r staying. There is also a bus that will take u to Greenbelt MD where u can hop on the metro. Not sure what the big objection is to BWI--I prefer National which is the closest to DC followed by IAD, but BWI is an okay airport and often has much cheaper flights. For example flts to LA can be more than $100 cheaper than flts from IAD.
I also have to disagree on the home exchanges being in the burbs. U can find them in the city. Have 2 friends who have homes on the Hill who do exchanges all the time and they agreed that they r not alone in the city doing it.

Scootoir

We booked LAX to National on Virgin America for just over $300 each, about 8 weeks before our trip next month. Had I waited a few weeks it would have been $109 or $119 each way. It's nonstop which is really important to me as I hate take-offs!

We were not able to get White House tickets so good luck to you. You can request as early as 6 months ahead so start the preocess soon.

I'll be happy to answer your #4 next month.

S.

sf7307

You can fly to National non-stop? Lucky you.

sf7307

Actually, I just checked that -- Virgin America only flies to Dulles, not National.

DebitNM

We were able to get White House Tour tickets this summer with only 2 requests to our State Senators. We did it on fairly short notice too. You do have to provide a lot of info to them and once that was done it was a waiting game to see if we got the tickets. You don't find out until just a week or 2 before requested date. We actually got tickets from both Senators!

Both of our senators had online request form to use. Google your reps names and they will most likely have a place to request tickets. You also can do Capital tickets through them.

[You need tickets for Washington Monument too, but those are through NPS]

yestravel

I wish there were non stops from/into National airport from the West Coast...but no such luck. Its a continual battle in Congress about what can and can't fly into National.

Scootoir

Yestravel, you are correct. I think it was wishful thinking on my part.

Scootoir

Beg pardon, that's sf7307 who was correct about where Virgin America lands.

sf7307

Not a problem - and I know what you mean about wishful thinking. There are only two places I choose to fly on non-stop flights - DC because I love flying into National and hate how far Dulles is from downtown, and NY (sometimes, depending on where I'm going, I'll fly into LGA instead of JFK or EWR).

MikeT

Just for clarification. There are at least two non-stops a day to/from the West Coast, on Alaska Air to LA and Seattle, from Washington National

sf7307

Oh well, I live in San Francisco!

ktspiv4

again thank you for all the help. We are still seeking a place to stay. Fingers crossed.