Aliya Pinnock 28/06/2024 Aliya Pinnock 28/06/2024

The Last Day. AIA24. Washington D.C. ArchiWeek.

This ArchiWeek we have a week in the life submission of my experience at the American Institute of Architects Annual Conference 2024 in Washington D.C! I was invited by the AIA due to the work I have done here at archistudentnotes so what better way to share my week than with a (rather long) ArchiWeek submission here at archistudentnotes.com!

This post is Day 5 of the Conference itself!

Written by Aliya Pinnock, Edited by Aliya @archistudentnotes

Archiweek

ArchiWeek is the sub-section of archistudentnotes sharing week in the life accounts from Architecture Students, Architectural Assistants and Architects from all over the world. It is free to read and free to submit!

This post is the last day of the trip! If you are interested in reading my week from Monday click here!

Would you have tackled the week any differently?

The Last day.

It is the end of the week and the last day of the trip! A welcomed lie in after 8am starts at the conference which meant our day started at about 10am!

We got up, finished packing, checked the room and sadly went to check out. We did however leave our bags with reception so that we could go for a last day exploration at the Capitol Building, the last ‘major’ site that we hadn't got up close and personal with.

We jumped in an Uber which took maybe 10 mins and got out at the Capitol Building. We took a look around and took some photos as we walked around the building until we got to the back (or front?) of the building, looking back towards the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial in the background. With limited time left to eat, collect our bags and travel to the airport before our flight, we got an Uber back to the hotel and grabbed some Brunch from The Smith Restaurant opposite. We sat outside ahead of our very long journey back to the U.K, ordered a Burger and chips and the most beautifully tasting buttermilk pancakes I have ever had with a beer and a brunch cocktail. After a very very nice meal, we crossed the road back to our hotel, chilled in the hotel cafe, grabbed a drink and then back into our last Uber back of the trip, back to the airport.

The Uber was quick and we passed the Thomas Jefferson Memorial on our way so another site of our list and then we checked our flights, picked up our boarding pass and headed to security. Security as became common on this trip took ages but the flight from Washington to New York was very quick and we got to see the NYC skyline as we landed which was nice! I was very nervous about our 1 hour connection but the flight was on time and we did not have to go through security like we did at Orlando.

Our final flight was from New York to Gatwick which made a lot more sense than the way we came as we were not going back on ourselves. The flight however was not as chilled, it was an overnight flight, in the middle 4 seats and my Partner was sitting next to a child who was not being parented by her Mother sitting next to her…i’m talking climbing all over the seats, kicking etc. Safe to say we did not get much, if any sleep so we booked into the Yotel at Gatwick which was honestly suhc a good idea and I could not recommend it enough. We had a couple of hours sleep, had a shower got changed and then we were a bit more awake and presentable to meet my mum in Central London for her birthday meal. We had a great time my mum enjoyed her gifts and then it was back up the country to Nottingham arriving just after 9pm after a very long day, but the most excellent week.