I have recently been obsessed with Anthony Bourdain’s show ‘The Layover’. Bourdain was and is an absolute legend, and this show is one of his most interesting ones as it shows you how to make the most of your much-dreaded layover in some of the most exciting cities in the world. For me personally, layovers are a real sweet spot if they’re just the right amount of time in the right city, i.e. 6 – 8 hours in a compact, walk-able city. It’s a great way to see a new place without having to spend on hotels/overnight accommodation, and really condenses your experience so you see the best of what the city has to offer. Plus, why would anyone waste 6 hours in a busy airport, eating stale fast food, and being pushed around by mobs of passengers when you can go out, breathe the fresh air of a new city and sample authentic local cuisine?

On my recent travels to the US, I had short layovers in 2 amazing cities – Washington D.C. and Atlanta. Perfect cities to get in, see the sights, eat some good food and get out! With the 4 – 6 hours I had in each city, here’s what I got up to:

Washington D.C. – 4 hours

We landed in Washington D.C. around 5 pm from New York and had a connecting flight to Chicago around 9 pm. This is a great city for a layover, as the airport is just under 10 minutes away from the city by car. We jumped into an Uber and headed straight to the National Mall. It being our first time in D.C, we were keen to see all the iconic monuments. We visited the Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool first, and then walked through the beautiful gardens on a warm summer day to see the World War II Memorial and Washington Monument. It is really amazing when you see the Washington Monument for the first time, its perfect reflection glistening in the pool – so iconic! We then took a little detour and stopped by the White House, passing several impressive buildings like The Treasury Department and Department of Congress. We then continued our walk parallel to the National Mall to see the United States Capitol building, walking past several Smithsonian Museums on the way. You can spend an entire day at each Smithsonian Museum, but I’m saving that for a later day 😉 For now, I am very happy I could see some of the most famous monuments in the world within my short 4-hour layover with enough time to grab a quick bite before boarding my plane to Chicago! It was really amazing to walk past the buildings where some of the world’s most powerful decisions have been made by the most influential people to have ever walked the earth! You can feel the immense force of D.C.’s political history encompass you, even amidst the lull of a quiet summer day on a short layover.

Atlanta – 5.5 hours

We landed in Atlanta around 2 pm, and originally planned to have 3.5 hours in the city before being back well in time for our international flight to London. However, between the time spent navigating the gigantic Hartsfield–Jackson airport, sorting out an Uber hiccup, and getting into the city, we lost over an hour and were left with just 2 hours. The only item on the agenda however was FOOD! My husband and I were dying to try authentic, Southern soul food and were famished having skipped breakfast to accommodate all the fried chicken and Mac n cheese that Georgia had to offer! We headed straight to Busy Bee Café which is said to have the best soul food in the South, and has fed Martin Luther King Jr. and even President Obama! Owing to its reputation however, we reached the café only to find that there was an hour-long wait to get in. An hour is actually a very reasonable wait time for Busy Bee Café which has known to keep hungry customers waiting for over 3 hours in line outside. However, sadly on this occasion we didn’t have the luxury of time, and ended up going to our back-up restaurant, Sweet Georgia’s Juke Joint in the heart of downtown Atlanta. Here we had our fill of fried green tomatoes, fried chicken, mac n cheese, collard greens and St. Louis ribs. Southern food lived up to its reputation – comforting, soulful and just something you can eat a lot of! Completely food-ed up and satisfied, we had just enough time to take a quick walk along downtown’s famous Peachtree Street before getting our Uber back to the airport. The 2 hours were more than enough to experience and enjoy true Southern hospitality, including our super-friendly Uber driver who was also a food blogger and gave us some amazing recommendations for places to eat in Austin and New Orleans… for the next layover maybe!