We stayed at Brian’s place for four nights and had a lovely time. The apartment was pristine and superbly decorated, just as in the pictures. We really appreciated the high-speed Internet (Wi-Fi), good water pressure, and access to Netflix, all of which made us feel at home.
Here are some useful tips that we figured out during our stay:
Transport: There is a bus stop heading to downtown Washington DC about 100 meters from the apartment. You can take bus 52, 53 or 54 to get to The Mall and the Smithsonian museums. This takes between 30 and 40 minutes depending if you switch to the Metro or not. There is also a Capital City Bike Share rack about a block up the street from the apartment. This costs 8 dollars for a 24-hour pass or 17 dollars for a three-day pass. Bike racks are scattered throughout the city by most of the major monuments. Otherwise we used Uber on a daily basis to get back and forth from the city, costing anywhere from $10-$20 per ride depending on where we were going and the time of day. Uber definitely adds up but given the great deal of the apartment compared to staying at a DC hotel, we felt like we could afford it.
Shopping: The apartment has a full kitchen including a refrigerator and freezer. If you are going to do any grocery shopping of significance, I highly recommend that you go to Trader Joe’s, Target, or CVS Pharmacy all of which are a short bus ride away. We made the mistake of going to the corner store just up the street from the apartment and ended up paying exorbitant prices for little to no selection and no fresh produce.
All in all we had a wonderful day at Brian’s place and would happily stay there again on a future trip to Washington DC. Brian was a great host, responsive to questions and provided the flexibility we needed upon check-out. The only items I missed were a tea kettle (Brian said he would look into getting one of these) and some written instructions upon arrival with useful info like the wi-fi password, local recommends, map of the area to get oriented.