The next stop on my journey was Washington, which I couldn’t wait for as I had heard so many good things and it certainly didn’t disappoint. After a whole night of travelling from Vancouver with a layover in Toronto I was very happy to touch down in Washington and head to my hostel. I stayed at DC Lofty  which is a hostel about a 15 minute walk from downtown so it wasn’t too bad. I was too early for my room so I left my suitcase there and headed out to get some breakfast and have a wander around. The hostel was very basic and is in a house so the setting is interesting. The room was clean and the bed was comfy so what more could you ask for. I will say that there are no lifts but skinny staircases which were a struggle with my large suitcase but other than that all good.

If you are heading to Washington I will say bring your walking shoes or comfortable shoes because you will be doing a lot of walking. One day I clocked over 30,000 steps on my fitbit!! There were places where you could rent bikes too which would be fun also and a great way to get around. Everything is close together so you can pretty much walk to everything from the White House right the way down to the Capitol. You’ll be walking through the beautiful Mall surrounded on either side with all the museums of the Smithsonian. You can spend your whole day museum hopping which considering they are all free is amazing. Every other city should take a note out of their book and go the same way. I headed to the National History Museum, the National Gallery of Art and the National Air and Space Museum. I have to say the Air and Space was definitely  my favourite and I think I spent about 2 hours just wandering around taking it all in.

Then of course there is also The White House and all of the other monuments to see. I have to say that I thought the White House would be bigger maybe just from always seeing it on TV but yeah it’s smaller than I thought. The Lincoln Monument and the WWII memorial are at one end of The Mall with the Capitol building at the other, in the middle of the two is the Washington Monument. It is so nice seeing all of then from any section of the Mall and up close they all have their interesting features.  They are also even more amazing if that is possible at night when they are all lit up so be sure to head back out when its dark to see them in all their glory.

When it comes to eating in Washington you can find something for everyone and for every budget. I headed to a pub that I had gone to when I was in Boston called the Elephant & Castle where I got simple pub grub for an affordable price. My friend who had been to Washington before gave me a recommendation of a Mexican restaurant that he said I just had to go to, so I went. It’s called Oyamel Cocina Mexicana and it is a recommendation that I second if you like Mexican. The items on the menu are very interesting combinations and you can get guacamole made to order fresh. I had chicken enchiladas with salsa verde which were amazing. It has the feeling of a truly authentic Mexican restaurant and the food is amazing. It is a little more pricey but definitely worth it.

If you are thinking about heading to Washington I say go. It is a beautiful city and I know there is so much more to see than I got to in my short time there. Now I am heading to the Big Apple NYC for the last leg of my trip before I head home.

Emma

xx