So in the last post I wrote about my intention to get up early on my first morning in DC.
This didn’t happen. In fact, I was so tired I cannot even remember turning my alarm off. (!) In a nutshell my first night here was… cold. I could not get the heater working in the room and the blankets are like sleeping with a tablecloth over me they are so thin. I fell asleep at 3am before waking up at 4am absolutely freezing. I ended up wearing my trackie daks and polar fleece to bed to try and get warm and I must have got really warm… because I didn’t wake up until 11.30.
I went back to reception when I eventually got out of bed to explain that I had requested a room with a fridge and microwave. Mainly because I am here for two weeks it meant I could get some meals from Whole Foods, keep water in the fridge and milk etc. I was told no worries, to check into room 206. I walked in to 206. It was the same as my old room. So I hiked back to reception where I was then told there will be a room available this afternoon. So I went back, packed up all my stuff, left it all at reception and went on a DC adventure with Damian to Whole Foods for some veggies as I was needed just some real food that had not been sitting in a plane galley for 10 hours and also I could not face another pretzel snack pack. The other great thing about this was I was able to stay awake. The College Park Metro station is a pleasant 10 minute walk from the hotel and walking past some lovely homes. I will take some photos the next time to share. 🙂 We had a quick walk around Union Station then went looking for a camera store which when we got there was already closed then headed back to College Park.
We got back to the Quality Inn at about 5 where some aloof girl told me there were no rooms available and to go back to my original. I gave up there and then. Forget it. One thing – I love staying in hostels. If I am going to stay in hotels, I prefer good good hotels. The only thing I like about the very budget Holiday Inn Express is they have a constant standard across a majority of them. This hotel here is fine (I actually got the heater working) but I might as well be at a hostel where they do it properly rather than a hotel that skimps.. if that makes sense? The catch here is there is really no other choices around the area and it is yeah it is ok and definitely not as bad as the Trip Advisor reviews make out the place to be but there is really no excuse for blankets that are like hessian bags with holes cut out of them.
We had a group dinner that night at RJ Bentleys which it seems, is a bit of a College Park institution. I anticipated a very early night but just could not sleep at all. At 2.30am I dozed off (in a very toasty room thanks to the heater) just dreading the 6.30am alarm for our 8am Sunday morning start.