Ugh. Parking. Yes, it's a pain and if you're not used to parallel parking, it's even more difficult. When I grew up in the midwest, we drove around and around before we paralleled parked. Like most things, with enough practice (and scraped bumpers) you start to get good at it. It also helps to drive a car you can park nose to curb...like our Smartcar...

Now the easy part of parking is not having to worry about parking. One option that is several months old is ZIRX which is a fairly new app to Washington DC drivers. There are couple more similar companies who do this, but they're not in DC...yet. They have a defined area of downtown DC that will have a valet meet you and park your car and return your car - on demand - with about 10 minutes notice. Their fees run from $5 to $15 and with a bit of planning, can be a great resource. The Washington Post just wrote an article about how they will park your car and wash it and even get an oil change... - https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/need-a-parking-spot-an-oil-change-a-gas-refill-theres-an-app-for-that/2015/12/05/4aba105c-92ce-11e5-b5e4-279b4501e8a6_story.html

To pay for parking at a parking meter in most of DC (and MD and VA) you will need to download and register with the ParkMobile app. This app is critical to help you automatically pay for parking meters as long as you can enter the correct spot number. It's truly a necessity in DC, if you need to park a car you own.

Planning ahead, you can choose ParkMe's app which allows you get the best price on parking spots and claim them ahead of time.  https://www.parkme.com/washington-dc-parking.  Or you can try out Parking Panda -https://www.parkingpanda.com/dc-parking which also guarantees you a parking spot before you go, but includes monthly parking options as well.  

Finally, if you're in search of monthly parking from traditional garages, the best local garage option we've found is Colonial Parking and their website www.ecolonial.com will help you sort and find parking spots by location and if the spots are available with 24-hour access or limited access.  

Be on the lookout for the next and final posting about transportation tips in DC where I will discuss public transportation options and tips - H St StreetCar excluded...