Ever heard about an upcoming out-of-town special event and said to yourself, “I wish I could be there, but it probably won’t work out”? And then just let it go?

But then there’s also that saying about only regretting the things you don’t do.  So, when my teenager expressed a interest in attending The Comedy Central-sponsored Rally To Restore Sanity in Washington D.C., I decided to ‘go for it’. So here’s how we found ourselves, this past Saturday, on the National Mall along with over 200,000 other attendees.
There are two main factors in planning event-related travel:  logistics and budget. When the second is limited, the first is more challenging. I also had to factor in time – my daughter didn’t want to miss too much school and I have to ration the personal time off. And the event had been announced by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show in September and I started actively trip-planning in mid-October, only two weeks out from the October 30th event.

TripTik Travel Planner at AAA.com supplied the mileage from my home to D.C. – 854 miles or around 13 hours.  Nope, too exhausting a drive for a short visit. AAA.com/travel showed airfares from Orlando – AirTran had flights going into the conveniently-located Ronald Reagan – formerly National - Airport but the fares were not cheap for Friday and Saturday. So I tried Amtrak and found we could get on a train from Florida on Friday afternoon and be at Union Station in D.C. early Saturday morning – within walking distance of the Mall. There were still low-priced seats available, and kids' fares are half-price (a deal that’s good up to age 15!) and AAA members get 10% off with a 3-day advance purchase. The overnight ride would mean sleeping on the train and the budget didn’t have room for the sleeper car option, just coach seats. But this was to be a spontaneous casual adventure. I was able to get a cheap flight back on Sunday, two train rides were more time-consuming than I was up for and we didn’t want to miss Halloween. (Note: I did have to go to the airline’s site to get the one-way tickets.)

Transportation was set, and the event was free so no ticket purchase was required for that. Unfortunately, a search for a hotel for Saturday night let me know that there were limited options left at this point. Oh well, I’d deal with that later. We’d figure something out. I used TripTik Travel Planner again to review a map of Washington (we’d just been there last December, when it was buried in snow but I needed a quick refresher. I got the information for a trolley tour that night from the AAA TourBook guide, so we’d get to see more of the city.

So, on Friday afternoon, we got a ride to the Deland, Florida Amtrak station. It’s a cute little depot off the beaten path (yes, I had to TripTik the route online as well).  I had a bar-coded reservation confirmation printed out and used the kiosk at the station to get boarding passes in seconds. The train arrived on time and we got our seats, which turned out to be more spacious than I expected with more room than airplane seats. My daughter was delighted to see electrical outlets at each row, her greatest fear is iPhone ‘low battery.’

We went to the club car to watch the scenery flow by, hit the snack bar and talked with some other passengers, many of whom were going to the rally. That’s a nice aspect of train travel – people are friendly for the most part and there's a feeling of camaraderie. One woman I talked to, Penny from Winter Park, had some great stories of how she’d been all over the country on Amtrak, traveling alone but meeting people, feeling safe and being able to relax and enjoy the scenery.

We ate in the dining car and it was acceptable food, though I know many train riders bring their own as well. We were able to sleep that night, perhaps not the most restful night ever, as you can’t help but be somewhat aware of some activity in coach but it was fine. I’ve always wanted to take one of Amtrak’s western routes, though I’d go for the sleeper accommodations for a longer journey.

We arrived at Union Station early and got breakfast before setting out for the rally. The walk along Louisiana Avenue was energizing, going with the flow of people heading in the same direction. We passed the block-long lineup of media satellite trucks (and porta-potties) and saw the crowd already gathering at 9 a.m. for the noon start but got a spot within view of the stage and the Capitol behind it. We were fortunate that it timed out the way it did, those that arrived later or had to deal with the overloaded D.C. Metro system that morning ended up much further back in the crowd.

We passed the time by people-watching, reading the amusing homemade signs and talking with the diverse crowd around us. There were college students, parents like me, some kids and retirees. The middle-aged man next to me had come from Fresno, California, there was a family from Missouri, a couple from New Jersey, some young guys from Pennsylvania, etc.  In keeping with the event’s theme of reasonableness, it was a mellow crowd. Some signs espoused points of view and some discussions were lively but it was generally laid-back.

My 15-year-old daughter Lindsey was taking it all in and taking pictures but the crowd apparently had a common trait (well, realistically, besides liberalism) … AT&T cell phone service.  The collective activity in the area overloaded the system, so no tweets or FaceBook posts-in-the-moment from us, sadly.  We couldn’t even get a call or text to go through until that evening.

The rally itself was a three-hour blend of music, video, comedy, speakers and special guests. Stewart and Stephen Colbert continued their mock policy debate of ‘sanity’ versus ‘fear’ and the baby boomers in the crowd sang along to Yusuf Islam’s (formerly Cat Stevens) “Peace Train” (interrupted by Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” followed by The O’Jay’s “Love Train”). Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow dueted, Sam Waterston read a poem, Kareem Abdul Jabbar showed up and Stewart offered some serious moments. Full coverage and analysis of the rally are all over the web if you’re interested (or still wondering what the point was), just Google it.

Probably the coolest part of the event for me was being surrounded by the sea of people and then looking up at the Jumbotron and seeing the overview shot of the Mall with the crowd stretching back to the Washington Monument and thinking, I am in that. It was just a few moments in time, but still, we experienced it in person. (Jumbotrons have to be the best event-related invention ever, especially for short people.)

We wrapped it up by walking around after the conclusion for a little bit of celebrity-spotting at the stage exit, seeing Arianna Huffington and Tony Bennett – he had sung "America the Beautiful" -  and The Daily Show cast departing in the traditional D.C. dark chauffeured vehicles.

The final crowd estimate was well over 200,000 and most of them tried to get something to eat afterwards, resulting in crazy wait times and settling for what we could get. That’s the down side of event-related travel – dealing with long lines and perhaps less-than-great service experiences.

That night, we rode the trolley around to more permanent parts of our nation’s capital, visiting monuments to guys who maybe couldn’t have imagined a television-comedian-inspired rally, but probably would have been all for it. I climbed the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at about 10 p.m. Saturday with the last energy in my legs, thinking ‘you know, I’m glad we just went for it’.

And yes, we slept in the airport Saturday night.  You may want to plan your event travel a little earlier.