Travel for the Over 30s

Planning on going to see Barack Obama’s inauguration in Washington? Well unless you’ve booked you may well be sleeping on the streets. Reports are that the hotels of Washington are fully-booked from the 18 - 23 January. In fact not quite true, but you are going to be paying top dollar to be staying anywhere near the most interesting inauguration Washington has seen for a long time.

Well I did quick check with my favourite online booking sites and guess what:

Expedia: the only availability was the 3 1/2 star Crowne Plaza Hamilton - conveniently located only 5-blocks from the White House, but hardly a steal at $1250 PER NIGHT!

Hostels.com : had availability in several hostels for some of the dates but there were two hostels which do have availability Quarles Street $380/night for a private room but shared facilites and Ames Street II $479/night again a privae room but shared facilities - 3-night minimum stay on both of these.

Pretty unacceptable prices for both of those. In fact I found some better deals on the local Craigslist which included a 2-bed apartment for $500/night (5 night minimum) Or a 5-bed, 3.5 bath which sleeps 7 for $1000/night.

Other options would probably include bringing the RV or tent, or finding some long-lost relatives to camp at. Sleeping rough is not going to be cold but the security is going to be pretty brutal for this Inauguration I should think.

Photo Credit

Point Montara LightHouse is an unusual light house hostel just south of San Francisco. The lighthouse offers absolutely spectacular views, of course, at around $20 night. Interiors include the original wooden stairs and the whole structure is preserved because its actually owned by California State Parks and run by the American Youth Hostel association.

The light house was originally on the other side of the country at Cape Code, a link which was only recently rediscovered, the Cape Coders thought their lighthouse was removed destroyed back in the 1920’s but recently an enthusiast found that in fact it was sold to Point Montara! The Port Montara light house dates back to the 1880’s.

Just 25 miles south of San Francisco a night at Port Montara could turn to more as there are plenty of hiking, biking and surfing options in the area, with whales sightings in season to. Accommodation is in both dorms and private rooms. All facilities are shared and include a full kitchen: a private room will cost less than $70, a dorm bed $22 -that’s not a bad price for California - and especially as the view is free!

Photo Credit and more photos here