Here’s a travel-diary-style write-up of the Christmas trip to Washington from three months ago in 2024.

Part One: LAX-DCA

For Christmas, I had originally booked UA 2282, a nonstop 757-300 flight from LAX to IAD. Later, I found out DL had lowered fares, with almost the same mileage cost, and with a DL credit card I could also check in one bag for free. The only downside was one stop in ATL, so I decided to switch to the DL ticket right away. That made the flight value much better.

When people talk about maximizing the value of train tickets and flight tickets, they mean the idea that for the same cost, longer travel time usually gives better value. This is a principle many rail fans and frequent flyers follow.

On the evening of 2024.12.21, I arrived at LAX Terminal 3 for security checks. I expected some traffic because everyone was already traveling for the pre-Christmas weekend, so that was within expectations. What surprised me was the huge crowd: it took more than twice the normal time, and with a winding queue, just to get through security.

Since CSR PPS no longer offers a free one-hour GAMEWAY gaming experience anymore, I didn’t go there. By the time I was heading to the gate, it had already pulled the gate curtain down and closed.

This is the flight we took—Delta 839.

Boarding was about to begin. Here we go!

The whole trip was overnight, so I didn’t choose a window seat (nothing much to see anyway).

But when choosing an aisle seat, I accidentally ended up with a toilet-attendant seat. I’ll leave the details to everyone else.

We reached ATL smoothly. Since we were running late all along, our layover became relatively tight, so the priority was to catch the APM and move terminals to the next gate.

When we got to the gate, we could finally breathe easy and sat down to wait.

For the second segment, I chose a window seat because daylight would come soon, and there would be some scenery.

Still smooth all the way, and we arrived at DCA. This was actually my first time at this airport.

Time to go get our bags.

After Rabbit landed and collected her bags, we all took the metro into the city.

A standard metro station shot.

The train arrived, and we got on.

First stop was Grand Hyatt for check-in and a short break.

Stopped by Hyatt Club for a visit, with thanks to a generous veteran member from this forum.

After a rest, we went to the Postal Museum.

The signage in Washington’s Chinatown is very literal in translation—the station name here is only the tip of the iceberg.

After coming out of Union Station, this Union Station looks a lot more impressive than the one in Los Angeles.

The Postal Museum is just to the west.

The first USPS mail coach.

As a rail enthusiast, this is definitely the right place to be.

Lix recognized this equipment right away—it looks like the route-sign machine on trains back in China.

Can anyone guess what it’s used for and how to operate it?

After browsing for a while, we went to the gift shop. There are lots of plush toys here.

It was getting late, so we went to check out the Washington Monument at dusk.

A plane taking off from Dulles Airport.

On the way back to the hotel, we passed Trump Hotel.

Back at the hotel, Day One was over.

Summary

So ended my first day in DC, in a bit of a daze. In the next two days, I’ll be visiting the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, among others. Stay tuned.