We got on the tube on time only to hear an announcement sayign die to line works there would be a replacement bus service between 4 stations and then we would reboard a train which would take us to the airport. We had about 45 minutes speare when we got to the airport, but when we got to US airways desk it was a complete shambles. I tried to check in at a kiosk and it woudnt let me then we head a guy say come forward for the 7:25 flight so we did and he typed it all in and then said the flight had been restricted and we would have to get another one...so we followed him to another desk and he rebooked us onto a 6:40PM flight (12hrs later) but didnt charge us for it; which at the time i thought was a bit strange.

Unfortunately we couldnt even check in because we were far too early so had to hang around the front of the terminals for 12hours!! It was the longest 12 hours of my life! There was one restaurant and one shop!

At 3:30pm we checked in and went for some food and then went to our gate. There were 2 flights leaving at 6:40 ours (which was delayed for 45 minutes!) and another one which was supposed to leave at 4pm...so the 4pm flight took off and 15 minutes later a few groups of people had arrived saying they had been at a different gate and had just been told to come to this gate to board the plane (which had left!) Included in these people were TWO AIR STEWARDS who were supposed to be on the plane. the lady behind the desk was lovely and kept apologising but the guy was so rude and just said he'd called the gate change an hour ago and it was their fault they didnt hear it. So there was quite a lot of angry people in the gate and i started t thinkmaybe it wasnt totally our fault that morning and then Gem spoke to her Dad and he said he'd had similar experiences with US Airways. Anyway we boarded the flight which stopped at Philadelphia. When we arrived in Philly our flight to DC (which is only 25 minutes long which i think is ridiculous) was alos delayed because they had a plane but no crew!

So at 11:15pm we finally boarded. I was sat next to an older gentleman who was with his wife and had evidently lost his luggage or something so when we boarded the plane he was on his phone to US Airways Customer Care. When the air steward asked him to turn it off he started being rude and saying to the guy on the phone "the air steward is yelling at me now so i'll have to go!" and then the air steward asked if his phone was off and the guy said it wasnt and refused to turn it off, so then other people on the plane started yelling at him. I was sat next to the bloke so i was mortified, and actually just wanted to cry because at this point we had been up for 19hours. Anyway we then went back to the gate and security escorted the man off the plane leaving his poor wife crying and saying "just apologise to them!" He apologised half heartedly but they wouldnt accept it so then he said he was going to stand on the plane and waste everyones time, so in the end we were at the gate for about 20 minutes, and then he apologised got let back on and had a security escort until we got to Washington where he proceeded to get straight back on his phone the moment the seatbelt signs went off!

At 2am we were in our bunk beds and shattered, i couldnt fall staright to sleep but the bed was comfy and i had 2 pillows for the first timein 8 months so i was happy.

3rd August

Went down to breakfast the next day which was a great spread, cereal and toast, bagels, muffins, fruit salad! It was great! After breakfast we headed out into the baking heat and towards the Whitehouse! By the time we go there we were absolutely dripping it was such a hot day with no breeze at all. We went to the Whitehouse, washington Monument, World War 2 memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, and all the other memorials we could find. We then wandered into town and got a drink and some food and then headed back to the hostel.

4th August

We are leaving for Philadelphia today at 6pm so had to get up early and cram quite a lot of stuff in. We walked over the bridge to the Arlington Cemetry and saw the changing of the guards and the "Tomb of the UNknown Soldier" and then we went to look at JFK's grave. We then got a tube to Pentagon as we didnt have time to walk; we were only there 5 minutes as you arent allowe dto take pictures of the building and it was a bit boring to be honest, so we hopped back on a subway to Capitol Hill where we had a tour booked at 2pm. It was quite an interesting tour but i still dont really understand the process of congress...the building is lovely though and we got some good pictures. We then walked back to the hostel jumped in a cab to Union Square station.