Major Airports: Sometimes you will find a cheaper flight depending upon which airport you select, so shop around and know...
Reagan National Airport places you closest to downtown DC. You see the Washington Monument and Pentagon as you descend. It is connected to everything by the Metro's blue line. You can transfer from blue line to Orange line and that drops you a 15-minute walk from Marg's house. Alternatively, Marg can pick you up by car-- takes only about 25 min from her house and way less time from where she works.
Dulles Airport is out East in Northern Virginia. It is not yet connected by Metro to DC or Marg's house, but driving there from Marg's is a straight line... 35 min. Also, there is a public transportation option if you must get from Dulles to DC or Marg's house. That option is described here.
Both of the above give easy access to Marg's house and we use them both. For us to drive to either is a cinch.
BWI or Baltimore Washington International Airport is really much farther away serving Baltimore better than DC, frankly, made more difficult by the long rush hours DC area has.
Transportation related to airport arrivals is explained here.
Amtrak trains for up and down East Coast here.
Greyhound up and down East Coast here.
Map of Union Station (buses and trains to DC go here-- it's like our "Grand Central Station" terminal) - map
Getting into and around DC is easy with these options:
Metro (our subway system.) Described in detail starting about 10 lines below. Metro Map.
Cheap and easy bus called the Circulator takes tourists around DC-- costs a dollar a trip. See the colored lines on this Circulator map. See the list of cultural attractions that each route services to plan your day! This is recommended for getting to Georgetown and the Kennedy Center. If you use your SmartCard (see Metro below) it takes a dollar off for each trip. Or buy a one-day pass for $3. See the Circulator site for details.
If you drive in (avoiding the long rush hours of traffic), you can find parking garages all over (cost might be $15 per day), and park in public parking at Hains Point near the tidal basin or along the street of metered parking just south of the Mall. (2 hours costs $4.00).
A bus line can give you a ride west on Rte 7 (aka Broad Street or Leesburg Pike) to Tyson's Mall. It's a huge shopping destination with a cinema (see show times) about 3 or 4 miles from our house. You can get that bus in front of the Giant on Leesburg Pike (see map below for the BIG GRAY SQUARE where Haycock intersects with Leesburg Pike). Just take the 28A or 28X bus.
George Mason University - get maps.
Using the Metro is super safe and really easy. See this map. We are located on the Orange Line at West Falls Church at the Western End (third station from the end.) Be careful because there is an East Falls Church before you arrive at ours.
You can buy individual tickets for each journey. But if you'll be using the metro for more than a few trips, we recommend that you consider buying a...
SmartCard: This is what you use to travel the metro instead of buying a separate ticket for every trip. Purchase SmartCards from the ticketmaster at our station. You can add money at a station machine or with human station masters if you watch how others do it. Machine method requires machines that are blue instead of brown (The brown machines issue a ticket for just one ride or a roundtrip.) Not all stations have these machines for adding money to your Smartcard, but our metro station does, so just load up your card at our station.
We thought the steps for adding money to our smartcard were a little confusing, so we wrote this description of the process for you:
Start the process by holding the card up to be read by the reader; it will show how much $$ is presently on your card and begin the process.
insert coins or bills
hold the card back up to the reader and NOW it will add the value to the card. Head toward the train.
hold the card above the turnstyle symbol so the system will read where you get on. You'll see the amount your card holds. Ride the train or trains to your destination.
As you are exiting after you get off your last train, you hold the card above the turnstyle symbol. It deducts money from your card for the trip you just took as you exit. If you watch carefully, you'll also see how much money's left on your card. Don't lose your card; there's a fee to replace it.
Directions:
We are located at the third to last station of the Orange Line (at the Western End.) Metro Map. Tips:
The metro doesn't really use directions north, south, east or west. Rather, follow the diagram and know the names of the terminal stations of each line you take because that will determine which side of the platform you want to get on to get onto the train going in the correct direction.
When you are going INTO DC, you want to get on the orange line that is heading in the direction of New Carollton. When you are coming out from DC to our house, you want to be on the orange line headed toward VIENNA. We'll be the third-to-last station: West Falls Church. Our station is one stop after East Falls Church.
Wherever you see the big circles on the map, that's where you can change from one line to another colored line. You'll find the trains on the other colored lines most likely on a different level upstairs or downstairs.
There are signs hanging over waiting areas that might give you an idea of which train is coming next and how many minutes till it arrives.
As a train approaches, look for the colored light on front of the train (orange for orange line, blue for blue line) and the name of the terminal at the END going in that direction. People are very helpful and most train cars have a map inside for you to trace your progress. I like to carry a map in my pocket.
Our house is an easy walk to the metro. It takes about 20 minutes.
Once you are on the Metro, it's only about 40 min. to most places you want to go in DC.
Turn left out our front door. Take the first left onto Dale.
Go Right onto Gordon.
Go left on Shreve.
At the intersection of the McDonalds, continue straight to cross over Leesburg Pike (aka Rte. 7.) Continue straight; the street is now called Haycock/County Rd. 703.
Go a quarter mile on Haycock. You'll see the signs to go left at Falls Church Drive into the Metro station area.
Here's the map:
Coming Home from the Metro: as you exit the metro station's covered area and find yourself by all the newspaper stands, you are facing south/southeast.
1. Catch a five minute taxi there if you want, or walk about 15 minutes and not more than about 0.6 mile despite what the map above suggests.
2. If walking, you will find the map above useful where the area around the metro station is dominated by parking lots (pictured with big gray areas and long white lines where cars line up.) My directions below vary slightly from what Google would allow me to configure in that I am giving you shortcuts through parking lots and allowing you to jay-walk directly across Rte 7 on foot which is not possible in a car. Basically, you just want to get to DALE DRIVE as fast as you can.
3. Coming out of the covered walkway from the metro turn styles, hug the newspaper stands on your right and head towards a tall parking garage. Keep the parking garage to your right and pass through a large parking by traveling diagonally through the rows of cars toward a set of steps kitty corner. At the top of those steps is an intersection where the road of the Metro station intersects Falls Church drive.
4. At that intersection, cross over Falls Church drive (you'll be using a zig-zagging walkway up a slight hill) into another smaller parking lot area but keep UVA/Va Tech Education building (It's called Northern Virginia Center on the map) on your left shoulder as you go straight 100 yards towards a street.
5. Go "right" toward the high school and a statue of a Mustang. Turn left in front of the statue and proceed to the Route 7/ Leesburg Pike. Cross over it carefully and turn right when you get to the sidewalk to head West.
. Walk 100 yards or so on Route 7.
6. Take the first left at Dale Drive. It winds up a hill crossing Gordon Road... until it ends in a T at the bottom of the hill.
7. Turn right at Pinecastle Rd
Destination will be on the right-- #7330.