27 hours on the road - that's exactly how long the bus ride from Miami to Washington takes.

36 hours without sleep - that's how long you need to hold out so you don't miss anything and keep your belongings safe.

A torn backpack - sometimes things just wear out.

All of this fades against the backdrop of the city's splendor!

Downtown is a pleasant surprise. After not really enjoying the South, you feel cozy here: the streets get narrower, the buildings taller, and there are more people on bicycles.

After reaching the hostel, checking into my room, and taking a shower, I headed to the supermarket. My eyes were wide with excitement! The prices were reasonable (though still more expensive than Walmart), and the quantity and variety of goods were a huge relief after the bus trip, where the only food was waffles, bananas, brownies, and a gallon of water. After stocking up on fruit, rice, juice, water, and tomatoes, I returned to the hostel and fell into a deep sleep.

Tip: Usually, the smaller and less known the store, the higher the prices. In huge supermarkets, the same food can cost 1.5-2 times less.

The next morning, I made breakfast in the company of a Norwegian, 2 Germans, a Turkish girl, a Scotsman, a Chinese girl, and a woman from Texas. The hostel provided dishes; also, people checking out leave food on a special 'Free to use' shelf (where a jar of Nutella was lying, which came in very handy). During the whole time I was there, nothing went missing from the fridge.

It's very convenient to see the sights: if you live downtown, you can just walk to the National Mall, where the main monuments and memorials are located, and all the world-famous national museums of Washington and the botanical garden are situated around the National Mall.

Tip: Don't be fooled by the size of the National Mall. It's better to set aside 2 days for sightseeing to make it to all the museums (they are very, very interesting!), because they, like all government institutions, close at 5:00 PM.

Walking from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, I heard Russian speech. Then, after listening for a bit, I walked over and saw 4 girls and a guy who was silent the whole time (later I found out he was Polish). I introduced myself, and it turned out that two of them were from Kazan, and the other two were from Kyiv, but they were studying in Poland. Dawid, that same Pole, turned out to be a good guy, and we started talking. According to him, he rented a car and drove first to Chicago, then from Chicago to Miami, and from there to Washington. It turned out he was also leaving for Philadelphia in a couple of days! He offered to go with him. I already had a ticket to Philadelphia from Washington, but I agreed anyway.

Tip: If you want to visit the White House, you need to apply in advance through the embassy. Otherwise, they won't even let you onto the grounds.

We only managed to see 1 museum - the Museum of Natural History. So, we agreed to leave tomorrow at lunch to manage to visit at least the Museum of National History. That's what we did.

The weather for all these 3 days was just right: sunny, but not scorching like in the South, and pleasant, not stuffy, slightly cool evenings.

And you know who I met at the very end? Those same girls I met at the hotel in Orlando)

It's a small world, Washington is beautiful! #Washington #Travel #USA