The Metro in Washington DC

I've invited some of my readers to be guest authors on this blog because soon, they're going on a business trip to Washington DC, where they will undoubtedly ride the Metro to get around. I added them because one of my favorite public transit stories actually happened in Washington DC when I was in high school, and I'm sure they'll have similarly fun experiences.

Here's my story.

We went on a family trip in the summer to Washington DC. My parents had done a little bit of research beforehand by asking around some of their friends who had been there. They learned that the Metro will get you around anywhere you need to go, so we didn't rent a car or anything. Our flight got into Washington, we gathered up our luggage and the next step was to take the Metro to our hotel, so we went outside the airport, looking for the Metro stop. We were walking back and forth, not finding anything promising, when my mom suggested that we go back into the airport and ask someone or get a cab. Then we noticed a guy who looked homeless, walking towards us, chanting "Metrometrometrometrometro metrometrometrometro."

"Hey, I'll ask that guy. I bet he knows where it is," my dad said, feeling like this was the most brilliant idea of the trip so far. My mom, acting as the voice of reason, said, "Don't ask him! He's obviously crazy!"

"Nah," my dad said. "I'll be right back." As he headed towards the metrometrometrometro guy, my mom started muttering something about getting mugged and something about my dad not listening and this was a dumb idea.

"Excuse me," my dad interrupted the guy's mantra. "But could you tell us where the entrance to the Metro station is?"

The guy stopped. He put up his hand and pointed, and then he gave very clear, articulate instructions on how to get to the Metro station in the direction he was pointing. My dad said, "Thank you very much," and walked back to the rest of us while the homeless guy went back to chanting "Metrometrometrometrometrometro."

"There you go," my dad taunted my mom, as we headed off in the direction of the Metro station. "You could have gotten killed," my mom said. "I was pretty sure he'd know where the Metro station was," my dad put in a very practical tone. And we got to the Metro station without any problem, following the homeless guy's directions.

I found out on my last trip to DC that there are people whose job it is to hang out around places heavily trafficked by tourists and point out the easiest way to get to the Metro. And they could be mistaken for someone with more sinister motives. And on my last trip, the guy gave me a map to the Mall, including all the Metro stops, which came in very handy.

And they don't always walk around going "Metrometrometrometrometrometrometro."