XtraSpecTravel80
Jul 2019
Tour guide is very knowledgeable in historical dates and time periods. An amazing history lesson. He has a sarcastic humor, straight shooter, and sometimes he digresses on points... He will start talking, pause and not finish a complete thought. The bus is very nice, one of the best I've taken a tour on. The tour itself is as described, you actually stop and get off at the Capitol, Lincoln memorial, MLK memorial, Frederick Douglas house (but know that can't go in the house on this tour, can just walk around the house and stairs involved), African American Civil War memorial, and the mural at Ben's Chili Bowl! Everywhere else you are just driving by to see (ie Mary McLeod Bethune Council house, Howard University, and more). And the ending takeaway is that you do actually get that "very illusive ticket" for everyone that takes the tour to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (so if you're looking for an easy way to get into the museum, you've found it... I was leary but it's real!!). If you've been to the Museum website then you know what I'm talking about... there are a lot of rules on how to get the free ticket. But let me tell you when you follow those rules and you still see that no tickets are available, then you know this tour is more than worth it (along with seeing all the other sites, which to get to all of those on your own would be time-consuming in itself). So my tip is when you're from out of state vacationing with limited time, this is the way to go. Know that you must finish the tour, he doesn't give out the tickets until the end, so if you don't have a full day available then don't purchase this tour. Also, you are dropped off at three museum and you must get back home on your own. You will get there between 12:30-1pm and walk straight in. We didn't have to wait in a very long line that was formed already. Although you only get about 4.5 hours there, if you pace yourself you can get through it all. It's a lot to see, and probably would normally take 2 days to go through it properly; but we did lay our eyes on everything and made time to eat at the cafe there and shop at the museum store. All in all it was a great, enjoyable experience!!!