Dear Council, As you start planning for your trip to DC in May, I thought I would send over some recommendations. Here is a map summarizing the information below: https://goo.gl/bqEA4k You have writing access to add hotels / AirBnBs you find if you so wish. Here is a google doc with the same text as below: https://goo.gl/nDzGq9 Both are in our TEI Council shared folder on Google Drive. *Airports*See if you are able to arrive to and leave from National Airport (DCA). You may find good flights via NYC or other East Coast cities, but no direct international flights except Canada. This airport is very close to downtown and very easy to reach by public transport or by a very affordable ride with a rideshare app. The main international airports are Dulles airport (IAD) and Baltimore-Washington (BWI). IAD has shared shuttle services (e.g. https://www.supershuttle.com/) as the metro to the airport is still under construction. BWI has shared shuttles and a train to Union Station. It also has a bus to the nearest DC metro station (Greenbelt), cash only https://www.bwiairport.com/to-from-bwi/transportation/transit/wmata. *Accommodation* DC hotels can be expensive. I would recommend to keep an eye out for deals. AirBnB is a more affordable alternative, where I see options under USD$100 per night. I recommend booking soon. Given that we'll spend most of our time at the Folger, I would recommend staying in these areas. *Walking distance*: Eastern Market, Capitol HIll, H Street Corridor, Union Station *Easy metro or bus access* (see below): Penn Quarter, Chinatown, Mt Vernon Sq/Convention center, NoMa, Southwest Waterfront, Navy Yard *Travel within the city* The DC area transport authority is called WMATA. The metro is frequent but will be packed downtown at peak times (if the government is open, lol). Buses are frequent, reliable and go everywhere. Find routes and a trip planner here: https://www.wmata.com/ . Google Maps is fairly reliable too as it uses their API. I strongly recommend purchasing a SmartTrip card at the dedicated machines in metro stations. They cost $10 with $8 credit. A bus ride will be around $2, while metro rides start at $2 and will cost more based on distance traveled. NB If your card credit goes negative after a metro ride, you will have to top up the card in order to exit the station. *Food* There will be plenty of lunch options around Folger at a 5-10 minute walk. For dinner, if we want to stick together, we'll likely hang around Eastern market (10min walk), H street (25min walk), or Chinatown (30min walk) depending on where people's hotels are, etc. I would love to have you all over at my place in the Columbia Heights neighborhood for dinner one evening. It's easily accessible via metro or bus. I'm not sure what would be the best evening for that, though. Suggestions welcome! Hope this helps and I look forward to having you in DC! Let me know if you have questions. Raff