Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport aka: DCA

While I was leaving the airport I overhead the TSA and a passenger arguing about whether someone’s salad dressing needed to be thrown away, or whether it could be put into another container.

A nice flight in with views of the capitol!

You have to exit and re-enter security zones to go between the two terminals – make sure to leave extra time.

The aerial view of the monuments in Washington D.C. might be worth it. However, naming it after Reagan is a bit much.

I spent entirely too much time going through here when I was in a long-distance relationship with a guy in Arlington. Admittedly, this was also back when US Airways was still doing student fares, and anyone under the age of 25 could pick up a pack of four round-trips for under $500. But for sheer convenience, you can’t beat National, particularly if you’re planning to get around by public transportation the entire time.

I decided to surprise said boyfriend one weekend. He was at a morning meeting, so I’d coordinated events with his roommates very carefully re meeting at a restaurant near their apartment. Walked off the plane, realized I was cutting it close with our meeting time, sprinted to catch the blue line train. Switched at Rosslyn, flew down the escalator as I realized there was a train right there about to leave heading my direction, dashed into the nearest subway car barely scooting through the doors on time – and there they were, seated, heading exactly where I was headed.

(He was so stunned he couldn’t speak for about five minutes. :) )

So yeah, I have more fond associations with this airport than most people do. It’s even worth the “No, we’re flying into DC, you cannot get up for the last half-hour” bit.

For me, National is the most convenient airport in the D.C. area, being just across the river from D.C. and right on the Metro line. For my money, it’s worth the extra cost to fly out of DCA. Flying out of IAD or BWI is such a hassle, in terms of time and expense just in getting to the airports.

Then again, I live pretty close to the airport, and I work near a Metro station, which makes DCA super-convenient for me.

I don’t know that an airport can really be worth visiting or not. This one is good in that is it close to my parents’ house, but airfare is usually quite expensive relative to Dulles or BWI.