Southwest was having a sale, a common theme here, so we bought two airplane tickets ($255.92) for a 7-hour Baltimore, Maryland Day Trip. We’ve never been to Baltimore Maryland, so I was pretty excited when I found the tickets.

As it was our first time flying Southwest, I needed to do some research about their boarding style, so I would be prepared for our Baltimore Maryland (BWI) day trip. If you don’t know, Southwest does not assign seatings for flights (aka “open seating”). When you check in, “you will be assigned a boarding group (A, B, or C) and position (1-60+) .” When you arrive at the gate, you line up by group & numbers position (there are signs) & wait to board. In contrast to other airlines, where everyone crowds the counter waiting for their group to be called, everyone is in an orderly line, which I prefer.

Similar to other airlines, you are able to check in 24 hours before the flight, & the closer to departure time you check-in, the higher the probability you will be in the last boarding group. On other airlines, that doesn’t really matter, since we don’t have luggage to put in the overhead bin & we have assigned seating. Even when we do get assigned the first boarding group, we don’t board with them. Why board the plane early to spend more time sitting on an airplane? We prefer to roam the terminal until the last possible moment.

For this flight, however, 24 hours and 1 minute to check in, I was in the Southwest app, my finger hovering over the “check-in” button. 24 hours & 0 seconds, I checked. We were assigned Group A, positions 10 and 11. The 9 people ahead of us probably paid ($15 each way) for “Early Bird Check-in. ” Both flights were pretty empty so we had the whole row to ourselves. It was so empty, the flight crew asked people to sit in the back of the plane to even out the weight distribution!

We landed around 10 am and hailed a Lyft ($5.26) to take us to brunch at Miss Shirley’s (Inner Harbor location). We had planned on getting pancakes and omelets, but the wait was so long (almost 2 hours!) by the time we were seated it was lunchtime.

We ordered a “Grandpa’s Pulled BBQ Pork Grilled Cheese” ($12.99),“

Pratt Street Cheeseburger” ($12.99) with an egg ($1.99) & a cone of sweet potato fries ($6.99).

After lunch, we had planned to go to the aquarium but the $40 per person ticket price was too much. We did a quick Yelp/TripAdvisor search & based on the museum's stellar ratings (and the free admission) we changed course to Walter’s Art Museum. The free admission (they accept donations & we left $5), made us skeptical of the collection quality, but this museum was top-notch. If you are in Baltimore Maryland, you must go to the Walter’s Art Museum.

After almost 4 hours at the museum, we left and took the Charm City Circulator (free bus) back to Inner Harbor, for a walk around the water.

We were going to walk the mile to Charm City Wings and Waffles, for dinner, but it got cold, fast. So we decided to call an Uber ($5.50).

We ordered the “5 piece Chicken & [Red Velvet] Waffles” ($9.99) which were divine! The chicken was boneless & well-seasoned. The waffle was still warm & just melted in our mouths.

After dinner, we grabbed another Uber ($13.40) to the airport to catch our 730 flight home.

Total Cost: $360

• Flight: $256
• Parking: $15 (FLL short-term)
• Transportation: $24
• Entertainment: $5
• Food: $60

A bit colder than we planned, and $100 more than last month’s day trip to Jacksonville, but all in all a great trip!