My younger son and his gf are moving to the DC area in May. She has been accepted with a full scholarship for her PhD at Georgetown and the son has been offered a job at a company in Alexandria. They are young and believe DC will offer them what they want from a growth perspective. She is in a very niche field (Middle East Linguistics) and he is a writer. She likes the bigger city and he is in love.

The first challenge will be to help them move from their place near Indianapolis and navigate to the DC area without going into Maryland and DC until I can disarm and secure the handgun he currently has in IN. Looks like I can avoid Maryland by dropping south into Virgina, adding an hour of driving. I plan to make somewhere in NoVA our base of ops to get him moved in.

Does anyone have a suggestion for a hotel, maybe a Mariott, Hilton, HI or Choice property somewhere between Arlington and Alexandria? We will be pulling a Uhaul, especially for the first couple of days.

He does not know where he will be living, although they took a quick trip and they really like the Wisconsin Ave / Glover Park area. They are prepared to cram into something tiny and live on a dime.

I've tried to get them interested instead in NoVa, but she does not drive (foreign student) and needs to be able to access Georgetown daily. He will have the fun of commuting to Alexandria.

I'd love any general ideas from our great folks in that area and I'll take suggestions of some potential places and if anyone has any visibility of DC apartments, etc...

Many thanks!

You have mail.

DC to Alexandria against traffic shouldn't be that bad. He could also just take a Metro rail or Metro buses.

I hope they realize that they will be paying $2,500 a month for a crappy one bedroom apartment in DC or $3-4k for something nicer. Dinner in the city costs about $20-$50 per person. Parking is often not included in rent and will be hundreds of dollars more every month.

Housing is insanely expensive in DC, a HS friend of mine and his wife paid something like $450,000 for a barely 1,000 sq foot house that would be like $150,000 in PA.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
DC to Alexandria against traffic shouldn't be that bad. He could also just take a Metro rail or Metro buses.

No such thing as against traffic between Alexandria and DC during rush hour. I know b/c I made the commute between King Street and Wisconsin Ave for years. Also, the Metro doesn't go into Georgetown so she'd be up the creek and have to drive to/fro each day. The son on the other hand can easily take the Metro if they lived off Wisconsin.

Not sure how far you want to stay from where they might be, but I highly recommend the Sheraton in Beltsville, MD - close to the Beltway (495). The rates are very reasonable for the quality of the (partly fed agency subsidized) hotel.

quote:

Originally posted by Dakor:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
DC to Alexandria against traffic shouldn't be that bad. He could also just take a Metro rail or Metro buses.

No such thing as against traffic between Alexandria and DC during rush hour. I know b/c I made the commute between King Street and Wisconsin Ave for years. Also, the Metro doesn't go into Georgetown so she'd be up the creek and have to drive to/fro each day. The son on the other hand can easily take the Metro if they lived off Wisconsin.

Not sure how far you want to stay from where they might be, but I highly recommend the Sheraton in Beltsville, MD - very close to the Beltway (495). The rates are very reasonable for the quality of the (partly fed agency subsidized) hotel.

I see metro buses on M St. all the time.

Georgetown University Transportation Shuttle (GUTS)

Cross traffic is a semi myth in Arlington/Alex, but it is slightly better going against the grain.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:

quote:

Originally posted by Dakor:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
DC to Alexandria against traffic shouldn't be that bad. He could also just take a Metro rail or Metro buses.

No such thing as against traffic between Alexandria and DC during rush hour. I know b/c I made the commute between King Street and Wisconsin Ave for years. Also, the Metro doesn't go into Georgetown so she'd be up the creek and have to drive to/fro each day. The son on the other hand can easily take the Metro if they lived off Wisconsin.

Not sure how far you want to stay from where they might be, but I highly recommend the Sheraton in Beltsville, MD - very close to the Beltway (495). The rates are very reasonable for the quality of the (partly fed agency subsidized) hotel.

I see metro buses on M St. all the time.

Cross traffic is a semi myth in Arlington/Alex, but it is slightly better going against the grain.

I meant Metro rail. Traffic is pretty bad and depends a large part on what part of (how far North on) Wisconsin Ave one is talking. It becomes with traffic north of 29... and Georgetown is in that direction.

quote:

He does not know where he will be living, although they took a quick trip and they really like the Wisconsin Ave / Glover Park area. They are prepared to cram into something tiny and live on a dime.

I work in and around the Wisconsin Ave corridor a lot and familiar with the Glover Park area. If they are prepared to live in something tiny and live on a dime, that's exactly what they will get in glover Park. Well, it depends on what they want. Plenty of studios, apts, and lofts off Wisconsin ave, but they will be paying out the ass for a small space. Street crime is actually not that bad. Plenty of police presence, and USSS because of the consulates & embassy's in that area. Even with that petty theft does happen, Head on a swivel, stay in condition yellow, they should be fine.
Driving into Alexandria can be as much a pain in the ass as driving into DC from Virginia. Metro might be the way to go but Metro has had a lot of service problems lately even though the trains going across the river into Alexandria are packed every day. Georgetown has shuttles going up and down Wisconsin ave to the campus, and again Metro buses are available as well. No Metro rail in Georgetown.

With all that said, I'd say Alexandria would be better for them. She has options as far a commuting into DC to Georgetown and keep in mind Alexandria can be expensive also.

A CCW for Alexandria, VA is advisable of course,and believe me, they will take the full 45 days before he is approved.

Hope the above helps. Anything else I can do, drop me a email.

I lived in Alexandria years ago. It has great mass transit to down town DC.

GU is directly across the Potomac from North Arlington. Very accessible and easy to get to. No need to move into DC which is more expensive anyways. And any of the gun issues while living there won't be a problem. I lived in that exact area for 4 years while I rented a moderately priced apt. The area is safe and fun but I just didn't want to buy there so I moved quite a ways out from DC. Feel free to email if you have any questions.

Also, GU is closer to Arlington than Glover Park as far as the non driving issue goes...

quote:

Originally posted by DCFD4:
GU is directly across the Potomac from North Arlington. Very accessible and easy to get to. No need to move into DC which is more expensive anyways. And any of the gun issues while living there won't be a problem. I lived in that exact area for 4 years while I rented a moderately priced apt. The area is safe and fun but I just didn't want to buy there so I moved quite a ways out from DC. Feel free to email if you have any questions.

Also, GU is closer to Arlington than Glover Park as far as the non driving issue goes...

I second this idea; there are a number of communities that have sprung up near Metro in Arlington and not that far from GU. Courthouse and Clarendon, and always Rosslyn. They can be pricey, but everything they could want or hope for is not that far away, and there are buses from some of these communities crossing the Potomac frequently. Glover Park can be a bit of a walk to GU unless one goes cross country, which I don't think you can.

FWIW, there's no need to avoid traveling through Maryland. Follow FOPA rules and you'll have zero trouble. That is NOT true for D.C., but the DC beltway (I-495) is entirely in VA and MD (except for a stretch less than a quarter mile long in the SE corner, but I don't worry about that bit, either.

Save yourself the extra drive time!

-Rob

Guys thanks so much. I'm reading and responding to your emails.

Rosslyn is right across the bridge from georgetown and as someone mentioned there is a shuttle. The shuttle is free for students if I remember correctly. Rosslyn is also right off of the blue and orange lines for the metro. That's certainly where I'd live in their situation if it was me.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig Sauer Kraut:
Rosslyn is right across the bridge from georgetown and as someone mentioned there is a shuttle. The shuttle is free for students if I remember correctly. Rosslyn is also right off of the blue and orange lines for the metro. That's certainly where I'd live in their situation if it was me.

Thanks for the reminder; yes, there is a shuttle from the Rosslyn Metro to GU and it's free to GU students, faculty, visitors, etc. That station used to be fairly seedy (and it may still be)so the GF should keep her head on swivel, or at least use the buddy system.

Just spent a week in DC and based out of Rosslyn. I used the Rosslyn Metro station extensively and other than an elderly beggar or two, no issues seen what so ever. However....I used up a about a days worth of time on that escalator ride up and down to the platform...geez that thing is long...

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
DC to Alexandria against traffic shouldn't be that bad. He could also just take a Metro rail or Metro buses.

I hope they realize that they will be paying $2,500 a month for a crappy one bedroom apartment in DC or $3-4k for something nicer. Dinner in the city costs about $20-$50 per person. Parking is often not included in rent and will be hundreds of dollars more every month.

This!!!

And metro-rail pretty well covers all of DC and runs a good ways into Virginia.

My advice/choice would be to take a place in N. VA and take metro into town when necessary.

And, why does she not drive? Never learned how, or simply does not have a driver's license.

Should not be hard, at all, for her to get a VA state license if she has a license from offshore.

As I recall, all she has to do is pass the VA state test to get her license. Assuming she can already drive. But then they will need a car.

Question: How often, and for how long, will she be required to actually be at the university? Every day?

When I was going to college, working 60+ hours a week, I always managed to get all my classes on MWF, and all before noon. Just a thought

email inbound

quote:

Originally posted by rat2306:

quote:

Originally posted by Sig Sauer Kraut:
Rosslyn is right across the bridge from georgetown and as someone mentioned there is a shuttle. The shuttle is free for students if I remember correctly. Rosslyn is also right off of the blue and orange lines for the metro. That's certainly where I'd live in their situation if it was me.

Thanks for the reminder; yes, there is a shuttle from the Rosslyn Metro to GU and it's free to GU students, faculty, visitors, etc. That station used to be fairly seedy (and it may still be)so the GF should keep her head on swivel, or at least use the buddy system.

Thanks for the insight guys, I have passed this along.

quote:

Originally posted by Elk Hunter:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
DC to Alexandria against traffic shouldn't be that bad. He could also just take a Metro rail or Metro buses.

I hope they realize that they will be paying $2,500 a month for a crappy one bedroom apartment in DC or $3-4k for something nicer. Dinner in the city costs about $20-$50 per person. Parking is often not included in rent and will be hundreds of dollars more every month.

This!!!

And metro-rail pretty well covers all of DC and runs a good ways into Virginia.

My advice/choice would be to take a place in N. VA and take metro into town when necessary.

And, why does she not drive? Never learned how, or simply does not have a driver's license.

Should not be hard, at all, for her to get a VA state license if she has a license from offshore.

As I recall, all she has to do is pass the VA state test to get her license. Assuming she can already drive. But then they will need a car.

Question: How often, and for how long, will she be required to actually be at the university? Every day?

When I was going to college, working 60+ hours a week, I always managed to get all my classes on MWF, and all before noon. Just a thought

Yes, I think NoVa would be a great idea and have passed that along. Easier for Dad to visit. The GF did drive in her native country bt has been in grad school for the last three years here in the US and has never owned a car. So, I think it is a matter of not having applied for a DL.

I don't think she has any idea of schedules yet, as she just finalized her funding offer over the past coup,e of weeks. Thanks for the ideas.