Finally booked hotel for DC trip

Due to hubby being civil service I decided to wait until congress passed a budget and I knew we would have paychecks coming in for the next couple of months (ie: no govt shutdown) to book the hotel for the funeral at Arlington. I also figured if there was a shutdown aside from not having any money coming in from his job, we would only need a hotel up there for one night since everything else would be closed. With a budget until Sept we get paychecks and things will be opened. So I booked the hotel. We'll be staying at the Comfort Inn in Alexandria. It has free internet access (needed since hubby is going to college on line, free parking (I hate paying to park at a hotel), a free shuttle to and from the Metro, and free continental breakfast (bonus). Plus got a deal for prepaying for the stay. The bonus is a savings of around $30 a night, but has restrictions of no cancellations, and they charge the CC within 2 days of the reservation being made.

Which one? 5716 South Van Dorn Street or 6254 Duke Street?

The one on Van Dorn puts you near the Van Dorn Metro stop on the blue line, which also stops at Arlington National Cemetary. I don't know the nearest metro to the one on Duke St -- it would probably be Van Dorn or King St., which is also on the blue line.

To get to the Mall, you can stay on the blue line, and the Smithsonian stop will probably be closest to whatever you're going to see. For a shorter trip, you might want to transfer to the yellow line and get off at L'Enfant Plaza.

If you don't have one of these yet, you will want one.

http://www.wmata.com/rail/maps/map.cfm

It's the one on Van Dorn Street. The Van Dorn Metro is the one the hotel shuttle takes you to and picks you up from. It says the shuttle runs from 7am until 10pm.

I did print out a copy of the metro map. My husband is going to also put it on his e reader.

Thanks for the tips.