On-Line Community for
Overseas Brats and Military Brats

Homecoming 2010 is set for August 5-8, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, VA (DC Metro area).

This is a great chance to reconnect with old friends & see the nation's capitol at the same time.

More details on fees & activities are expected in ~ 4 weeks.

All official information, registration, etc., will be on Joe Condrill's web site:

Joe Condrill's Overseas Brats

Metro DC airport access, in order of difficulty & expense:

Dulles (IAD) -- free shuttle to hotel

Washington National (DCA) -- DC Metro Blue line north to Rosslyn, change to Orange line west to the West Falls Church station, then get on the Fairfax Connector bus #505 to the hotel.

Baltimore (BWI) -- you really really don't want to do this, but if you must, directions are on Hyatt's web site. The cheap way is to take bus B30 to the north end of the Blue Metro line, change to the westbound Orange Metro at L'Enfant Plaza, then catch the Fairfax Connector bus #505 at the West Falls Church Station.

Note that Fairfax Connector #505 does not start running until 7:30 a.m. on Sundays. You will need to plan your departures from DCA or BWI accordingly or use more expensive forms of transit.

Getting into the city to see the capitol without driving essentially will be the reverse of the Washington National Airport directions above, except that most DC visitors will just stay on the Orange Line.

Maps:

Fairfax Connector Route 505

DC Metro Rail Map

Just a quick note. The B30 express bus from BWI doesn't go to the Blue Line; it goes to Greenbelt, the north end of the Green Line. You can still transfer to the Orange Line at L'Enfant Plaza. Or you can transfer at Gallery Place to the Red, go one stop to Metro Center and then catch the Orange Line.

Additionally, coming in on Thursday or Friday, you can catch a MARC (Maryland Commuter Train) at the BWI Amtrak station (free shuttle on the lower level of the airport to the train station) to Union Station (then catch the Red Line on the Metro to Metro Center and the Orange Line transfer). Returning home on Sunday will require an Amtrak ticket (or take the Metro method back to Greenbelt and catch the B30 north). Returning on Monday will allow you to catch the MARC train back to BWI. MARC trains cost $6.00 one way from BWI to Union Station, DC.

Being in Maryland, I'm not familiar with the VRE (Virginia Commuter rail) routes and schedules, so I don't know if they are an option from Reston.