September 25, 2025

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. We’ve made it to Part 7 of my 7-part blog series on my recent trip to and from Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. It was my first trip back to the area in exactly a decade (to the date).

So my family’s Southwest flight back to Dallas Texas (#DAL) was cancelled due to weather. And my American Airlines (#AA) flight back to Tampa Florida (#TPA) was also cancelled. My family was on their way to northwestern Ohio in the very same Avis rental SUV that we drove in all around Northern Virginia. I took the Avis shuttle to the airport to determine my next move.

I soon received a text notification from #AA stating that I was rebooked on the very same flight 24 hours later (on Monday night). So my next move was to book a night at the very same Hampton near Reagan National Airport (U.S. 1 in Crystal City) that I pointed out to my family as we drove by it on our way to Avis. The hotel shuttle picked me up from the airport, and I checked in for the night.

Hotel Room View Of U.S. 1 In Crystal City Virginia

Fun Fact: I paid for 2 Hampton rooms for the same night (including the one outside #TPA that was non-refundable within 5 nights prior). I’ve never done that before. At least I got the Hilton Honors points for both rooms. I think next time I have a flight scheduled to arrive late in Tampa I won’t book that hotel room in advance in the event that the flight back is cancelled. I’ll just hope that a hotel room is available, or if not – then I’ll just drive 2½ hours home.

After I checked-in to my cozy hotel room I decided to get smart with the #AA app. I really did not want to hang around the hotel until checkout time the next day (12 Noon) and then hang out at the airport for 7 to 8 hours after that waiting to board my early-evening flight back to Tampa that has a long history of departing late (or not at all). I soon rebooked a flight back to Tampa for earlier in the day (mid-afternoon), and then a little while later I discovered even earlier flights available – so I rebooked yet again for a late-morning flight. As it turns out – at least with #AA – if your flight is cancelled – then you can rebook as many times as you wish using their app as long as seats are available on the flight of your choice. There is no charge to do so. (I don’t know if other airlines have the same policy, but I’m glad that #AA does since I fly them almost exclusively.)

My packed flight back to #TPA departed and arrived early. I called the hotel (where my car was parked at) to have them send their shuttle my way to pick me up, and there was a bit of confusion on the telephone. After a bit of waiting for the receptionist and hotel manager to get their act together – they finally requested an Uber to be sent to pick me up, as their shuttle was either out of commission, on another assignment, or the driver was out to lunch. The Uber arrived in a white Kia SUV, and the driver was courteous and friendly. He couldn’t figure out why his GPS kept saying that he should go to the hotel when he was requested to go to the airport at a specific location to pick up a customer (me). I explained what happened – that the hotel contacted Uber on my behalf. We talked about Ubers and Kias all the way to the hotel.

I got in my car (a Kia), and I drove home on that Monday afternoon. My 122-hour adventure was complete !

What a wonderful trip this was with my family – brother, sister-in-law, and two nieces. Me and my brother enjoyed our trip down memory lane in Langley, McLean, Tysons, Falls Church, Vienna, and into Annandale. It was fun to take the Metro into D.C., take a 2-hour tour, and then visit a Smithsonian museum. And then there’s all of the good food that we enjoyed together. And finally – the main reason for this trip – to place our Mom’s urn next to our Dad’s urn inside the niche at the columbarium at Arlington National Cemetery.

As I hinted in a previous installment of this blog series – me and my brother have already discussed a future trip back to the Washington D.C. area (both Maryland and Virginia) to do a “deep-dive” into our roots there from the late-’60s (me) to the mid-’90s (my brother). Maybe we’ll get back there as early as later next year in conjunction with a Washington Capitals or Washington Commanders game. Maybe we’ll just talk about it for years to come. (We still haven’t returned to Las Vegas, and we’ve been talking about that off-and-on since our last visit over 20 years ago !)

Later this morning I’ll be at #TPA on my way to my next destination, and so next #TravelThursday – I’ll begin a brand-new multi-part blog series to and from and all about that next destination out west. Let’s keep traveling together.