When The Rolling Stones No Filter US Tour 2019 took me to Washington D.C. three weeks ago, for the show in Landover MD, I loved the DC area so much that I just wanted to go back. The travel logistis from Jacksonville FL into Philadelphia PA ended up with a flight into Dulles Airport, west of Washington D.C., in the state of Virginia, so then I could do a two days stopover and enjoy the area a bit more!
For all the cities of this tour, I have separate hotel bookings for two nights, from the day before the show until the day after the show. That way I can stay within walking distance to the venues, booked before most of the hotels knew about the events. Once show dates are known, hotels increase their room rates. Also, I do have the flexibility for the remaining days of every city stay. The remaining nights are booked separately, at the same hotel, or other more interesting locations, if the hotel is at a boring area near the stadium, but far away from the city. For this tour I have 31 separate hotel bookings, and I do work one or more hours every day on fine tuning and choosing the best locations and prices, as the tour is moving on.
I had two separate bookings at the same hotel near the Philadelphia stadium, as a 2+2 days stay, but the prices for the first two days were just too high, same with most other Philadelphia hotels on those dates, so that was a good reason for making a two days stopover in the Washington D.C. area. A second reason was I wanted to see more of Alexandria, a great city in the state of Virginia, with many old historic buildings, right across the Potomac river from Washington D.C.
I spent a lot of time trying to find a great still cheap hotel near Alexandria VA. A combination of travel portals, pictures, experience and location took me to the Holiday Inn at Rosslyn / Key Bridge. The room rate before tax was $90 per night including breakfast, not bad for a three star hotel, while my Philadelphia booking was three times that rate. It was an easy decition to go to the Holiday Inn Rosslyn.
Once settled in at the Holiday Inn at Rosslyn / Key Bridge, I could see this was an old hotel with a history. Like many other Holiday Inn hotels, they are a bit “tired”, but still ok. By research I found out this hotel used to be named “Rosslyn Westpark Hotel” 30-40 years ago. On the top level 17th floor they have the rooftop restaurant “The Vantage Point”, with excellent view all over the area. Also, a classic style ballroom sort of feeling there.
Alexandria Old Town is just beautiful, and there are many places where you can dine or have a drink by the Potomac river. Just walking the old city is a joy, watching the old houses, reading the stories and the history, it is like a museum except it is alive and running with real people living there!
But… the tour must go on, after two days in Rosslyn and Alexandria, next up is the show in Philadelphia!
