DC on a Friday Afternoon

Confusing Array of Signs

It seemed a simple task. Drive from home to Reagan National Airport, retrieve three people, and drive home.

At the proper time of the day it is a longish drive, but not too disturbing. But starting the trip at 3:40 PM when Waze indicated a 1 hour 5 minute drive turned into a marathon-like event.

DC Traffic

It was, after all, Friday afternoon and even though I was going against traffic, there still was a lot of traffic. The flight I was meeting was scheduled to land at about 4:50PM and so I built in a few minutes slop and allowed for time to retrieve bags. 

The trip took closer to 1 hour and 25 minutes as the traffic continued to build during my travel. 

But I arrived, even using the confusing National Airport parking shuttle service, at the terminal as the weary travelers retrieved their bags. 

And then the return trip through 5 PM Friday rush traffic. It was a planned 1 hour an 40 minute trip, according to Waze, through the middle of DC traffic. Thankfully, as we finally broke out of DC the traffic the time began to reduce as the evening traffic jams cleared. 

Note to self--in the future use BWI, it is closer!

But it all worked out.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD