If he’s in Takoma Park, he might also be interested in Game Kastle in College Park (near Ikea). They are a welcoming community that do a whole bunch of games (card, board, miniature, rpg).

There’s a Patel Brothers in Adelphi that’s good too.

I have had customs take 10 minutes, and I have had it take 4 hours. 1-1.5 hours is most common in my experience (as a foreigner). So I think you will likely have enough time.

The other Aslin is by Van Dorn metro and fairly walkable from there. Haven’t been to some of those others but now there’s Metro maybe I’ll give them a shot.

Oh yeah good catch

There’s a metro station at DCA, on the blue and yellow lines. Just checked and it seems to be running as normal. It depends where near the Mall you’re staying but yellow line might be a bit faster.

For Udvar-Hazy, I don’t know that there is a good way to get there via public transport (edit: I see someone else posted the link, yes needs a connection) so might need an Uber/taxi. I prefer Udvar-Hazy to the Mall portion of the Air & Space museum.

Be warned there may be no food/drink at Udvar-Hazy at the moment. I was there a couple months ago, they had closed the old McDonalds that was there and refurbishing and getting a new food place in timing was TBD.

Agree with this, it’s often pretty quiet but is always relaxing and, at certain times of year, spectacular.

If you end up going in summer, bring a hat and some water else you’ll bake.