May 062014
 

Got to the airport in plenty of time, since the US Airways app refused to let me check in online. Was rather shocked when the agent was able to print out all four boarding passes up front. Went through the northern most checkpoint, since that’s where TSA precheck is located, as well as being the pier that my flight was supposed to leave from. The US Airways club is pretty grim, however, so I took the shuttle bus over to the middle terminal to use the American lounge. On the shuttle, we had to stop, because an HonorFlight was coming in, filled with World War II Veterans coming to DC for the day to see the memorial:

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Made it to the American lounge, home of the best airport bloody mary anywhere.  To quote the bartender:  “I make them from scratch and I’m gonna get you there before your flight does!”  He wasn’t lying – they were delicious!

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Then it was time to take the shuttle back to the terminal and board the first flight on time:

US Airways flight 3264 (Operated by Republic Airlines)
Washington, DC National (DCA) to Charlotte, NC (CLT)
Depart 11:00, Arrive 12:32, Flight Time 1:32
Embraer ERJ-175, Registration N128HQ, Manufactured 2008, Seat 3A

Pre-flight beverages were offered and I had a water to offset the bloody mary, and soon we were off to the north, with a gorgeous view on takeoff:

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Sep 132011
 

After checking in, we grabbed a quick coffee in the Sheraton lounge before meeting the driver we had arranged to take us on a day-long trip around the highlights of Bogotá.  He showed up on time, wearing a suit, and the car was clean despite not having functional seatbelts.  His English was excellent, however, which added to how much we got out of the tour.  The first stop was the nearly one hour drive north of Bogotá to see the town of Zipaquira and the salt cathedral that was built there.

Zipaquira is a functioning salt mine, and the miners had built this cathedral underground as a place to pray for their safety and such.  There were some quite obtuse “stations of the cross” at the beginning, and the actual cathedral further in.  We had paid for the mine entrance plus the “Miners Route” tour.  One word of advice – skip the miners route.  All it is is fumbling around in the dark and pretending you’re a miner – pretty lame and a waste of 30 minutes.  The cathedral was awesome to see, however.

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