This is just a quick post reviewing a flight back to Orlando back in March that was absolutely gorgeous.
I arrived at Washington National (DCA) about an hour and forty-five minutes before departure. Seeing as we were coming off Spring Break, it was PACKED. Thankfully the traffic didn’t build until we entered the departures wing, so I hopped out of the car a little early and walked to the terminal.
There were a few cherry blossoms in bloom outside!
I had to weave around stagnant groups of loitering people. Why they chose to block the pathway is beyond me.
I walked into a random door, the signing was awful, which just so happened to be the right terminal.
I had never flown out of Terminal A at Regan before, so I was excited to see what it was like.
Boy was I disappointed…
There were no lines at the Southwest check-in, so I tagged my bag and dropped it with one of the agents. He asked if Orlando was my final destination. Disappointedly, I said yes, and he told me to leave my bag on the scale.
“Just like this,” I asked.
“Yep!”
I would have preferred to watch him set it on the ramp, as there were a ton of waiting bags, but it’s whatever. Let’s see if my bag makes it I guess. (Side note from future Jonathan: IT DID!!)
I turned and was disappointed by the boring concourse leading to security. I’m not asking for the world, but compared to the airport’s other concourses I was at least expecting a little more!
Security took a standard amount of time. I usually never have to wait at National, so the fact there was a line at all was shocking.
They only had one officer checking IDs for both of the two lanes, but there were only eight gates in the terminal so I assumed it was usually pretty slow.
I made it to the other side in about 30 minutes and was greeted by some Tatte cafe knock off thing. It looked expensive so I made the assumption there’d be more in the terminal to choose from.
Walking toward the gates, I realized I was wrong. This terminal was literally the worst ever, second to only LaGuardia’s Terminal A.
There was a little convenience store on either side of the path BLASTING Conan Gray as tons of people just stood there. It was my personal hell.
The bathroom had a cluster of people because of its poor placement, so I spent like three minutes in a line to nowhere.
Already annoyed, I went to find a place to sit while making the conscious decision to starve until I was home.
Guess what… there were NO SEATS. God this airport…
I went back to ripoff Tatte and decided between a cold brew or Sauvignon Blanc. I chose the cold brew which, for only $4, was pretty good. I worked on a powerpoint for school while I waited for boarding.
On my way to the gate I grabbed a bag of granola from the store for like $6.
I was flying Southwest, something I had never done before, and made a rookie mistake. I had set an alarm for 24 hours before departure, but completely blew it off when it sounded.
Thankfully, I remembered about an hour later and went to check in, but got stuck with boarding group B50.
Southwest boards A 1-60, B 1-60 and then C 1-60, so I was almost in the dead center of boarding. There’s no assigned seats, so you kinda just take what you can get when you’re on board. If you’re in the know and are one of the first to board, it’s honestly a really great policy!
My anxiety mixed with coffee was on high alert waiting to get on, as all I wanted was a window seat facing the city.
I scanned my boarding pass and joined the slow parade down the jetbridge and onto the plane.
I didn’t get a seat facing the city, but I did get a window! I was a little disappointed, but that quickly shifted to excitement as I realized I’d get to watch my beloved Virginia disappear below.
The safety demonstration was hilarious, with one liners like “if our flight becomes a cruise” when talking about lifejackets.
When I tell you we pushed back from the gate right on time… We ZOOMED to the runway, but were stopped for a few flights landing.
I was watching the radar kinda concerned ATC was cutting it a little close, especially with all the recent near-misses.
Thankfully, we took off very quickly and were in the air before the trailing flight from Detroit was even close to landing.
As disappointing as my time in the airport was, I can’t even pretend that the departure from DCA wasn’t worth it. Here were some highlights:
Immedately after take off we flew over Crystal City and the Pentagon.
Arlington National Cemetary
A manifestation for the building I worked in over the summer
Arlington neighborhoods of Rosslyn, Clarendon and Ballston
Expansive suburbs of Northern Virginia
The Potomac River, including Great Falls
The barely visible skyline of Baltimore
We continued over Fed Ex Field, home of the Washington Commanders. I used to run track meets at the indoor field next door, the huge white building.
The flight kept heading southwest toward the Chesapeake Bay…
…and the Northern Neck of Virginia.
We even flew over Norfolk,
Virginia Beach,
and I could see The Outer Banks in the distance.
Half an hour after take off, we passed into North Carolina, signified by Lake Drummond in the Great Dismal Swamp.
Here’s what the swamp looks like from the ground:
About an hour into the flight, the attendants came by for drink orders. It was interesting, after taking they orders they brought the drinks back one by one.
There was a ton of traffic I could see flying by as we continued South.
When we started the approach into Orlando, I could clearly see SR-528 cutting across the state and to the ocean.
The lights in the distance represent Cocoa, Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach.
We landed right around 9:15 p.m. and taxied surprisingly quickly to our gate.
As always, the MCO departure board was INSANE! This was just for Southwest, Avelo and Alaska Airlines. Granted, half of the Southwest ones were continuations.
Overall, Southwest presented a great experience and it was definitely one I would want to try again! Thanks for joining me on this quick trip back down to sunny Orlando!
Turquoise Skies 