It really feels like as we grow older, time accelerates. Both my work and my immediate family require immense attention, often leaving me little time to spend with others that I love, like my parents. When an opportunity arose for a quick trip to Washington, DC, I decided to take my Father along, which turned out to be a joyful time together…though not without airline drama.
Father-Son Trip To Washington, DC On United + Delta
Let me take this moment to offer a few words on my Father, since I will be off tomorrow on Father’s Day. As the years pass, I growing increasingly thankful for my Dad. All my life he has modeled character traits of love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. He truly is the most patient man that I know and he is a man of enviable simplicity, neglecting his own wants in order to lavish blessing on others. He is content in every situation and always looking to serve rather than to be served. How thankful I am to have had a loving father who invested in my life; always approachable and always willing to help.
I was traveling to Washington, DC for the Freddie Awards and for a reader meet-up and thought that this would be the prefect trip for him to join me on: not too long, but to one of his favorite places in the country. My Dad is not really into international travel or travel at all: he had not been on an airplane since 2019 and the travel he and my Mother did embark on were all within California.
But we both love Washington, DC and had the wonderful opportunity to stay with very dear friends for a couple nights in the Virginia suburbs, who are also such lovely people I wish I could spend more time with. What a fabulous time.
We planned to be away four nights, with the trip bookended with stays at Hyatt properties, however we ran into an unusual delay on the way back. While we flew United Airlines to Washington Dulles, I chose Delta Air Lines for the return so that we could fly nonstop from Washington National to Los Angeles on a Delta 757-200, an aircraft I have never flown on Delta before.
These aging 757s are becoming maintenance nightmares and it turned out the right engine would not start…eventually leading to an 18-hour mechanical delay and extra night away. I’ll detail all that as the trip report unfolds, but needless to say I found it ironic that in choosing Delta–known perhaps most of all for its operational reliability–we got stranded in DCA overnight.
Here’s what you can expect for this trip report:
- United Airlines 757-300 First Class Review Los Angeles – Houston
- United Airlines 737 MAX 8 First Class Review Houston – Washington
- Hyatt Regency Washington Dulles
- Park Hyatt Washington DC
- Dinner At Blue Duck Tavern – Washington, DC
- I’m Not A Fan Of The “New” Washington National Airport
- My 18-Hour Mechanical Delay On Delta Air Lines
- Hyatt Regency Crystal City At Reagan National Airport
- Delta Air Lines 757-200 Business Class (Delta One) Washington – Los Angeles
Thanks for reading and to all the fathers who read this blog, Happy Father’s Day!
This will be a nice read!
Happy father’s day Mr Klint
I like this blog because, despite the trolls in the comment section, you show your humanity in posts like this one. Happy Father’s Day.
Nice words to read
I am shocked. Matthew never been on a Delta 757-200?!
Delta and ex-Northwest 757’s generally have different exit door placements. One has 8 doors. The other has 4 overwing exits and 6 larger exits.
Hah!
You have the same brilliant smile!
I definitely wished I had done more with my father (passed away about 18 months ago). Unfortunately he spent much of his early retirement years taking care of my mother. I did get him to visit me out west and we had a nice time. Should have done more of that. Glad I moved back east when he had health issues but sad he passed away sooner than I anticipated, at least without any memory/mental issues.
And time goes way too fast, it feels like I was just in college or just starting my working career and now I’m retired. Getting old sucks. The worst part that I didn’t think about when younger isn’t physical issues but instead seeing other family and friends pass away. The longer you live the more of that you have to deal with.
Enjoy your trip.
Everyone reading this should take note…… spend as much time as possible with and talking to your parents when you become an adult….. you will learn far more from them about your heritage, yourself, them and many others and you will cherish the time when they are no longer with you. Thanks for the reminder Matthew.
Awesome trip with your dad. You were definitely unlucky with Delta. I did over 60 flights with them in the past 12 months and only had a 3 hour delay on the way back from AMS since the incoming flight was late due to a change in aircraft. Maybe being based in a Delta hub helps.
Should have flown AS DCA-LAX
Delta PM departure worked much better than Alaska AM departure.
Even with the 18 hour delay?
Super. And another reason to kick myself for missing your DC meetup. Great to have your Dad glad you appreciate him.
What great memories. About 15 years ago, I took my Dad to DC to visit the WW2 monument, just a boys trip. We was in the navy in the Pacific from 43 to 45 before finishing his engineering degree and help with the reconstruction of Europe by building steel mills (and a few here too). My Dad and I weren’t very close but this trip started us to build a try friendship. The night tour of the monuments, time at the air and space museum, a Nationals game. He often brought it up. I lost him in December of 2021 at the age of 97 after a brief illness, but I did fly with him on his last flight/trip (he was often 100,000 miler and then some in the 50’s through the 70’s) and took him to his last in person baseball game (love the Cardinals, the Bucs and the Phillies). I am glad you too have this great memory and time, I often look back and so glad I took the leap to get to know my Dad later in life and him to know me.
Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads.
That’s a great photo of you and your Dad, I am the one that took the photo. . Despite our overnight delay, it was my pleasure to have you both on my flight back to LAX. I look forward to reading your flight review. I was the Flight Leader on this flight. I hope you both received the Skymiles points I sent to your accounts because of the delay/inconvenience. I hope you give us another opportunity to better serve you.
You were amazing, Michael. Thank you for your kind service onboard, which will be highlighted in the flight review.