Money Saving Hacks for Visiting DC

Washington, DC can be an expensive city to visit. However, your trip to the nation’s capital doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. There are many ways to save money, and many free resources to utilize. Here are some of our favorite budget travel tricks:

• Invest in a SmarTrip Metro Card – Using a SmarTrip (the plastic metro card) rather than a paper card saves guests $1 per metro ride. The card costs $10 to purchase, though $5 of that is add to your SmarTrip balance and is thus used toward impending rides. Assuming you plan to use the metro more than 5 times, this is a huge money saver as paper cards charge guests an additional $1 for every ride. SmarTrip cards are less likely to be lost, and can make for a nice souvenir if not saved for a future trip to DC. 
• Explore the National Gallery of Art with a docent led tour – Though not a Smithsonian, the National Gallery of Art is a fantastic art museum that is completely free of charge. Because of the breadth of work that is featured, the National Gallery of Art can be a bit overwhelming for some. Fortunately however, the museum offers free, docent led tours of different types of art throughout the day. Reservations are not required; guests must simply arrive at the start of the tour!  
• Dine at the Department of Agriculture – Though the Smithsonian Institute is a fantastic free resource, the price of dining at any of the museums is out of budget for many visitors. The Department of Agriculture’s cafeteria is a nearby and much more affordable option for those looking to save a few bucks on lunch. The entrance to the cafeteria is on C St. SW, just off the corner of 12th Street. It is opened to the public Monday-Friday for lunch, and all that is required is that adults present a form of ID upon entering. 
  
• Take a “name your own price” walking tour of Arlington National Cemetery – No trip to DC is complete without a visit to Arlington National Cemetery. If the tram is out of your budget, consider taking a walking tour of the hallowed grounds. DC By Foot offers a number of “name your own price” walking tours around the city, and guests are only asked to tip what they thought the tour was worth. 
• Utilize Capital Bikeshare – With over 200 stands around the city, this is an affordable (and super convenient!) way to get around the city. Visitors can choose between 1 ($7) or 3 day ($15) membership. Just be careful to note that those memberships do not mean that you have access to one bike for that entire time. Guests are expected to drop their bike at a station within 30 minutes of removing it in order to avoid additional fees. However, every time a guest picks up a new bike, their time restarts. Because DC is so small and there are so many stations around the city, it is very easy to avoid the additional fees! 
• See a free film on the National Mall – If you are visiting DC during the summer months, consider going to Screen on the Green. Throughout the season, a number of films are shown on the National Mall for free. For a full list of the films and a calendar of when they will be featured, check out Screen on the Green’s website. 
  
• Take advantage of DC’s immense selection of free museums – DC is famed for its huge variety of free museums. All of the Smithsonian museums — including the National Zoo — are free of charge, and 10 of those are located directly on the National Mall. Though not museums, the National Archives and Library of Congress are also free to the public and well worth a visit. Other free museums include the National Gallery of Art, African American Civil War Museum, Anacostia Community Museum, DAR Museum, Ford’s Theater and Peterson Boarding House, and the Holocaust Museum.

ARE WE THERE YET? Travel Hacks on the Road

How do you solve for the "Are we there yet?" question on a road trip? Check out these road trip travel hacks from Teresa Strasser, the Best Western Family Travel Expert!

6 Easy Tips for Eco-Friendly Travel

We all have the power to make Earth-friendly decisions in our everyday lives, even when we are on the road! Small steps can make a big impact, so try following these simple steps the next time you travel:

WHILE PACKING
 
Bring Your Reusable Water Bottle: According to The Water Project, more than two million TONS of plastic water bottles are sitting in U.S. landfills. Not only can bottled water be wasteful, it can also be expensive! Save money and the planet when you travel by packing a petite reusable bottle from home, or investing in one like the Kleen Kanteen.
 
Use Refillable Toiletry Bottles: The original “Dopp kit” was developed in 1919 by famed leather goods designer Charles Doppelt. Though we still use similar cases to carry our toiletries today, we can cut down on waste by utilizing refillable toiletry bottles when you pack. For the true travel utilitarian, pick up a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Castille Soap. This powerful yet gentle (and organic!) multitasker replaces shampoo, face wash, body wash, shaving cream and even TOOTHPASTE while you travel!

AT THE HOTEL 

Book an Eco-Rated Hotel: Best Western was the first mid-scale hotel chain to partner with ENERGY STAR® to help provide resources and tools to reduce energy consumption to their more than 4,000 hotels worldwide. You can make informed decisions when selecting your hotel by checking to see if the hotel has been green certified by an eco-rating program. Best Western certified green hotels are designated with a special icon on bestwestern.com.

Dictate Your Housekeeping Habits: According the Environmental Protection Agency, hotels make up more than 15 percent of the total water use in the commercial sector. You can help reduce that number by choosing to have the hotel housekeeping staff simply remake the bed instead of changing the sheets each night. You don’t change your sheets each night at home, why do you need them changed each night while traveling? Remember to hang up damp towels to dry instead of replacing them each day, too.

AROUND TOWN
 
Pick Public or Self Transportation: Whether you’re traveling for business or leisure, exploring your destination is always the highlight of a trip. If you’re in a big city, get around like the locals and use public transportation. You will cut down on both emissions and costs. And when in doubt; walk it out! Exploring a new destination on foot is a great way to discover hidden gems and neighborhoods while keeping your carbon footprint to a minimum.

Be a Nature Conservator: Remember your trip with photos and leave the environment as you found it. You can be a nature conservator by leaving plants and natural objects in place when you visit the mountains, parks and beaches. For the truly outdoorsy, try a field-guide app like Leafsnap to learn about the natural world in your new surroundings.

With a little planning and some thought, you can make smart environmental decisions part of all your travels.

DC by foot..

Want to see DC from a different perspective? Why not walk it?

DC by Foot offers tours that will give you a fuller appreciation of this great capital city. Their signature Washington DC tour is the National Mall Tour, a roughly two hour tour that covers the most highlights, including the magnificent Lincoln Memorial, or how about continuing on around the Tidal Basin to cover all of Washington, DC’s famous memorials and monuments on their All-in-One Tour? Learn more about DC politics on the bi-partisan Capitol Hill Tour. Cross over the Potomac River to honor America’s military men and woman on the Arlington Cemetery Tour. Immerse yourself in Washington’s scandal-filled diplomatic core on the Dark Side of Dupont & Embassy Row Tour.And they don’t stop there. DC by Foot also offer a historic walk of a real Washington DC neighborhoods on their Historic Georgetown Tour, or the food tours of: Eastern Market Dessert and U Street Food Tour. - See more at: http://goo.gl/b4Ebil