First Impressions

June 6th, 2007 | jchaager | commentary, family

Nothing screws up your weekend plans like a last minute trip across the country. That was my sentiment when I was asked on Thursday if I could be in Virginia on Monday morning for a meeting. Being a loyal employee, I agreed and started making plans for the trip.

I flew into Dulles on Sunday night, picked up the rental car and headed for the hotel. Being tired from the long flight and not being able to read the directions in the dark and drive at the same time, I ended up missing the exit toward my hotel. This lead me on a 12 mile detour as I tried to figure out how to get turned around and heading in the other direction. In total, it was 90 minutes from the time I got off the plane until I made it to the hotel. And I hadn’t even had dinner yet.

Finding a fast food restaurant in northern Virgina at 11PM is not an easy feat. Especially if you’re trying to avoid all the toll roads criss-crossing the area. I managed to find a 24-hour McDonald’s and get some food and make it back to my hotel without too much difficulty (although it did involve one u-turn and figuring out that the exit I got off on was not the same one I got on at).

Finally, back at the hotel, it was time to call the kids and read them a goodnight story before trying to get some sleep before the morning. Not easy when your body is still on west coast time and thinks its only 9PM.

All in all, the trip was successful. We had a good meeting and didn’t have any difficulty getting back to the airport for the flight home. But since this was my first trip to the DC area in 10 years, and the first in which I had to actually drive and navigate, it was my first opportunity to see how screwed up the roads are. One thing I know for certain. I have no intention of moving to DC or northern Virginia. I’ll stick with the screwed up traffic in Seattle. Better the traffic you know than the traffic you don’t, right?