Roadtrip: New York City to Philidelphia & Washington DC

Hi angels <3

I hope you enjoyed the Royal Wedding yesterday (If you didn’t watch it, what are you even doing. LOL). I got up at 5am with Edward’s mom, put on the kettle for English Breakfast tea, and got skoans, jam, and butter ready. It was such a lovely morning, and I looooved Megan’s dress, her vail, the gospel choir, the american priest, all the love! Definitely took some notes. For whenever my future wedding will take place, hah!

Today, I’m taking you with me a few weeks back. I thought it would be nice to pin out our roadtrip to Philadelphia and Washington DC a little more than I did in my vlog from the trip, so today I’ll take you through the route and some of the places we saw.

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New York City to Philadelphia

Stocked up on coffee and snacks we left Manhattan around 11am Tuesday morning and started the 1h 55m drive to Philadelphia. A very comfortable drive on the highway during the whole journey. When we arrived, we parked in a garage close to the center and went for lunch at Air Grille by the City Hall. We then headed to the Independence Mall to play tourists, but I honestly thought it was a bit overrated. It didn’t really catch me too much. The one thing I really wanted to see, Philadelphia’s Magic Garden, was closed. I would love to go back and check that out some time.

After a good four-five hours in the city we went back to the car and drove 30m outside to a town called Essington, where we stayed the night at the Wyndham Garden Hotel. A very plain hotel for people who are heading to the airport in the early morning hours, but pretty convenient for our trip the next morning.

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Philadelphia to Washington DC

Wednesday morning we got up bright and early and headed on the 2h 30m drive to Washington DC. We decided to go straight to Georgetown to see the Swedish Embassy, walk around the cute streets, and get some lunch. The Swedish Embassy was closed (honestly our research for the trip was less than good, but we discovered other cool places instead), but we spoke to an employee at the embassy who told us you can book a guided tour in the building, and that there’s a lot of Swedish art and technology to see. 

Georgetown is the university area in Washington DC. It’s full of little stores in cute, colourful houses. It’s nice and clean (like the rest of the city) and full of life. I could’ve spent way more time in that part of the city, and actually our Inn wasn’t located far from here.

We stayed at Adam’s Inn in Lanier Heights. A small place in old Victorian style and with a backyard for dinner and hangouts, and breakfast included.

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Thursday we started our day at Capitol Hill located in one end of the National Mall. We did not go inside, although that was on top of the list for my dad, but the line was simply too long. So I would recommend getting those tickets before hand.

We explored the whole mall, the Air & Space Museum, the White House, but my personal favorite was the Wharf. An up and coming marina with a great fish market (and regular restaurants and bars). You can buy fresh fish to bring home, or get it cooked there to eat by the water. Such a good experience, and I would much rather do that than eat lunch at a café/restaurant.

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Back to New York City via Havre de Grace

Friday we headed on the 3h 50m journey back to New York City, with a pit stop in a small town called Havre de Grace. My parents had randomly found the town when searching for a stop 2h into the ride. Havre de Grace is a cute, little town voted America’s 20 best small towns to visit in 2014 by Smithsonian magazine. We took a walk by the water, had lunch at a retro diner, visited the comic book store Washington Street Books & Music, where Edward found old comic books from the 1980’s (he could’ve spent hours in there, so for any comic book lover, this is your place). There are some pretty cool vintage stores on the main strip also.

I hope you’ve gathered some inspiration for a roadtrip when you visit (or if you live in) New York City. I love travelling, and when you can take your car 4 hours away and feel like you’re a plane ride away, it’s a win for me.

Let me know in the comments down below, if you are planning to take the trip or have any good recommendations for the cities mentioned!

Xx Christina