Matt and Lisa's Adventures

19 May 2023

I spent the first half of the day at work before heading home to finish packing and then off to the airport. After arriving in Auckland we had a few hours in the Koru lounge before the flight to Houston.

We had a very short transfer in Houston before the next flight which was made tougher by a slow customs line and then a slow security line. At customs we accidentally ended up in a line that was closing – the customs officer yelled at us and then came out of his little booth to tell us off even further – he seemed a bit too angry for such a minor mistake. Lisa wanted to get retribution upon him for his rudeness but I kept us focused on getting into the country without being arrested.  We ended up sprinting to the gate but thankfully we made it. The United flight to DC was fine – US domestic flights are never flash and this one did nothing to change my opinion. 

After arriving at Reagan airport we caught a very expensive Uber to our hotel. After checking in it was after 11pm and so we had a very low level dinner of snacks from the 7Eleven before going to sleep.

20 May 2023

We both had a good sleep in as we adjusted to the time difference. Lisa claimed that she automatically adjusted as soon as she boarded the first plane but her long lie in disproved that claim. We were finally out the door about 10am. In our planning we had chosen our hotel based on its proximity to the metro station, but we discovered (thankfully before walking there) that the station was closed this weekend for works. We had to walk 2km to the next station. Along the way we stopped for breakfast at a McDonald’s. I had a muffin and hot chocolate, Lisa had a diet coke and English muffin. They have the calories on the menu everywhere and it is scary how unhealthy a lot of things are! Lisa was upset as she wanted a proper coffee but it wasn’t on the menu on the kiosk when we ordered. She eventually choose Coke to then turn around and see all the McCafé menu options on a sign! The McDonald’s was pretty disappointing. 

We caught the train into town and first stop was the White House. We took some good photos including some with the building on a lean but us straight – not sure how that happened.

We then walked to the Washington monument which is huge. The bricks on the monument change colour about a third of the way up, someone probably got fired for that screw up. Next stop was the World War Two memorial which has a massive fountain with the states around the outside, quotes and lists of all the major battles. From there we wandered along the reflecting pool to the Lincoln memorial. This was a highlight from my last trip and was just as impressive this time. The building is awesome, the statue intimidating and the Gettysburg Address carved into the wall inspiring. 

We were trying to get onto DC time so we got lunch at a local cafe – hot dogs to make us feel American. We then went to the Vietnam memorial which is a long wall with all of the names of the war dead. Very simple but incredibly effective. Throughout the day there was an honour flight of veterans and their family around the monuments, many had served in Vietnam and so it was a draw card and obviously emotional for the veterans. After that we went to the Korean memorial and then the MLK memorial which had some very inspiring quotes.

It was at this point we realised that because the weather was so nice that we were getting burnt – we should have thought about that earlier! To get out of the sun we choose to museum it up. We headed to the Spy Museum but it was fully booked for the rest of the day. We booked in for the following day and then walked back to the American History Smithsonian. We had an hour and a half there before closing and I didn’t manage to finish even the first floor. Great museum with lots of interesting things to read. Some of it was a bit over the top like seeing the actual flag the star bangled banner anthem was written about. But others about people coming to the US and the founding of the country were fascinating.

Outside the museum I received a call from my boss telling me she had tested positive for COVID and wouldn’t be able to travel to join us. This was bad news for Justine and required us making a few adjustments to our plans since it was now a one person work trip.

It was time for a beer but it took us a lot of walking to find a (somewhat) suitable bar. It was called the Post Bar and it looked like a dump. Dark, dingy and generally crap. I was surprised that Lisa was willing to enter let alone drink there. We had a beer and in the time we were there I saw two groups come in and leave without ordering which was more than the number of groups who came in and did order! Lisa had seen a Cheesecake Factory and was excited to go there for dinner. We shared some appetisers (sliders and flatbread pizza) so that we would have room for dessert but the food was filling and so we only shared a raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake. It was delicious and came with a whole lot of cream. 

When we left there were cop cars at with end of the street with their lights on which was a bit freaky after having watched the Boston marathon bombing show the week before. But we couldn’t work out what the issue was and so just walked off. We caught the train and the bus back to Silver Springs before walking back to their hotel. It was a long but very fun day. 

21 May 2023

Next up was the spy museum that we had purchased tickets for the previous day. This turned out to be amazing and we stayed there for about three hours. It had lots to read and watch along with interactive exhibits that covered the history, techniques and politics around spying. Along the trip we completed tasks on computers which kept things interesting too. I did awesomely and was highly rated for my technology skills. 

After the museum it was late afternoon and so we caught the train back to our new apartment. Our enthusiasm was short lived after we went into the room and discovered that it hadn’t been cleaned. As it was an apartment complex rather than a hotel this proved complex to get resolved. There was a lot of chasing people and both Lisa and I got quite frustrated. In the end cleaners did turn up and we left them to it, heading out for dinner. We went to a nice sandwich style place that Lisa had eyed up earlier in the day. Lisa had a breakfast ciabatta and I had chicken schnitzel. It was delicious. By the time we got back to the apartment the cleaning was finished. The place is very nice and quite large considering that Justine isn’t joining us anymore. 

On the whole it wasn’t a great day. The late start threw us and both of us were feeling a bit worse for wear from the sun the previous day. 

22 May 2023

After the previous terrible night this one was even worse. For the life of me I couldn’t fall asleep – the apartment was close to the train tracks and trains were incredibly loud all night long. I could only find one earplug and so I didn’t fall asleep until about 3am, incredibly frustrating!!!

As a result it was a late start and Lisa woke me as she was heading out for her first shopping adventure. I also discovered on getting up that our oven in the apartment was running and presumably had been for quite a while, which was a bit creepy. I did some work and the headed off to my lunch meeting. We went to one of the best Indian restaurants in DC and while I asked for a mild curry it was still spicy enough to get my sweat glands going. Thankfully my dining companion was Irish and he suffered from the same affliction so I didn’t feel quite so bad.I wasn’t told a dress code for the meeting and so I arrived in a full suit (with tie) while Brian was in a polo and jeans. Better to be overdressed than underdressed but I was quite overdressed!

After the meeting I headed home and did more work. Lisa and I met up back in town after all her shopping – she had managed to find a Uniqlo and surprise surprise had made some purchases there. She claimed this was a “surprise Uniqlo” but I don’t think anyone would buy that story! We then headed off to explore the neighbourhood of Georgetown. We caught a bus there which was a first for Lisa but she did well and eventually was quite enthusiastic about it. I’m going to get her a metro card upon our return to Christchurch! Georgetown had a beautiful city centre with lots of interesting shops and things to see. We went to Georgetown cupcakes which is apparently quite famous. The cupcake we shared was very pretty and tasted delicious too. 

We wandered down to the river and I did a cool labyrinth walk on the waterfront. Lisa wasn’t very supportive but lots of people copied what I was doing so I felt confident in my decision. We walked up the stairs from the exorcist movie – very steep!

We wandered around the Georgetown university which was very nice, it even had some buildings from the 1970s that wouldn’t have been out of place at Canterbury University – lots of boring concrete and a soviet style design.

We had a beer at home then went to a German place for dinner sharing schnitzel and sausages along with a large beer. It was very nice. American food so far has been very disappointing so ironic that the best meal we have had so far has been German!

23 May 2023

Thankfully, a much better night’s sleep. Having two ear plugs worked a treat! Spent the morning doing work and then had a Teams call after lunch which was a technical disaster as Teams disconnected seven times in twenty minutes. We eventually gave up and agreed to reschedule for after the trip. 

I headed into town to meet up with Lisa and together we went to Arlington national cemetery which I was very excited about. There were a lot of school groups touring and as we were starting our walk and there was one group whose guide was doing a great job explaining the graves. We stopped and listened, then quietly attached ourselves to the group following them around for the rest of our visit. The teachers didn’t seem to care and we had a chat to a couple. The guide seemed bemused (but if you have forty in your group already what’s a couple of extras?) and I don’t think the students even noticed. We saw the grave of JFK with Jackie and their infant twins which was very sad. The eternal flame was a very nice touch and they had been given a nice position in the cemetery. President Taft is also buried at Arlington but that wasn’t part of the tour – I don’t think he would get even 1% of the foot traffic that JFK gets. 

The cemetery is massive and very orderly. They are still doing burials, when I looked on the web site there were eight scheduled for Monday. They will run out of grave space in about ten years, not sure what the plan is then. It was interesting as most areas had uniform headstones, then a few areas seemed to be whatever goes, but occasionally there would be a section that was uniform but with a small number of larger gravestones which just didn’t fit the pattern. It feels like that should have been reigned in – one rule for everyone!

Often graves would include the spouse of the veteran. On one occasion we saw a man buried with two wives, which felt like a dangerous situation! Often there were young children buried with their parents too, which was sad and a reminder of how much child mortality has improved over time. 

In the cemetery they had the former house of Robert E Lee which was seized by the government during the civil war. The house sat at the top of the hill and gave a great view over downtown DC. The house had been restored to its state during the 1850s as had the slave quarters at the back. We had a look through but didn’t have enough time before our guide was taking us to the last stop.

Final stop was the grave of the unknown soldier which contains the remains of unknown servicemen from WW1, WW2 and Korea. There was a serviceman from Vietnam buried there but DNA enabled the military to identify him and he was returned to his family. We saw the changing of the guard which was very impressive. The guards are impeccably dressed and they walked and acted in an almost robot fashion.  It was pretty moving to see the level of respect and professionalism they have for their role. 

We then left our group and walked back to the metro station and boarded our train for home. While on the station platform a young woman was there too and talking very loudly on her phone. She then joined the train and continued to talk incredibly loudly. It sounded like her ex had done something and she was just yelling at him. Highlights included “you’re lying, I can hear her in the background” and “you’re such a liar, you’d try to tell me the sky was pink!” She didn’t seem to care about people hearing her. She sat near us on the train and another lady sat next to her and I could see the new lady message a friend about the ranting and raving. Good entertainment but definitely didn’t want to get in her way!

After a quick beer at home we headed to the ballpark for the Washington Nationals vs San Diego Padres game. We bought cheap seats in the bleachers but they still had a great view.  To have the true American experience we bought hot dogs (edible but nothing exciting), nachos (which were terrible) and bud light (which was barely drinkable). And all of this cost a fortune. There was a great atmosphere both outside the stadium and inside. It was a fun night out, but the action on the field didn’t do much for me. We saw four home runs and there was a bit of excitement at one stage when the Nationals looked to be making a comeback but the game is boring and sluggish to watch. We left at the end of the seventh innings and headed for home. 

24 May 2023

Most of the day was spent working. Prep for the FAA meeting in the morning then off to meet them at 11. The meetings went really well and it was very productive but I didn’t finish up with them until 3pm and then had to write up notes at the apartment until 4:30. I caught the metro into town and spent half an hour at the American history museum. This enabled me to do one more section but there was still so much more I could have done there, such a disappointment to miss out on good museum time!

I met up with Lisa outside as she had been museuming and shopping all day. We had earlier agreed that Lisa wouldn’t go to the national portrait gallery as it was open later so we could do that together. But Lisa hadn’t stuck to the plan and had already visited there as “it was attached to the art gallery” and so after her (short) time at the gallery she couldn’t resist seeing the portraits. She told me it was really good and I would have liked it but also that it didn’t make sense to return. 

We wandered back towards town and found a nice bar for a beer. We had then planned to go to the Old Ebbit Grill by the White House but it was going to be a 45 minute wait for a table so we went looking elsewhere. We found a nice place called Succatash which served southern food. We shared some ribs (with dirty rice and coleslaw) and chicken & waffles which were delicious. We then shared nana’s banana bread pudding which was also fantastic. This meal combined with a delicious Cesar salad I had for lunch has started to improve my faith in American food. 

We had a quick stop at Macys on the way home to pick up some shoes for my CEO. Important to keep myself in the executives’ good books!

Washington DC thoughts:

• DC is a very nice city, with few large buildings and lots of green space. The memorials/monuments area by the capital is particularly nice
• Obviously, very dominated by the federal government. But still managed to make it feel like a liveable city and not completely soulless. Canberra could learn something from this
• Smithsonians are amazing and especially as they are free. With the monuments, this provides lots of free entertainment
• There were a huge number of school/youth groups who had obviously come to DC for class trips. It was easy to spot them as they generally were all wearing the same shirts. I can see the advantage of this for the teachers as an easy way of keeping everyone together