Category: It Can Be Fun To Run Away

Part of the big question of this trip was “Can I do an extended trip without having a plan in place?”. It turns out that the answer is a very qualified yes; I can do it, but I’m really bad at it, and much like the silk rope producing spiders in the Get Smart movie, I…

I’ll be honest, I’m not sure that this is a reliable source, but for what it’s worth, here it is. The hotel is nice, and seems to be what I needed after a sleep-light time in Seattle. There is art. And a sofa. There is a bed, and a screen so that you can tell…

I slept like absolute crap last night. Dreadful. Not helped by an enormous amount of noise outside, and someone pointing their bed-lamp out the window & straight at the window of the room I was in, so there was about half of the head of the bed which was too bright to sleep in. I…

Last full day in Seattle, and the thing I had to get done was printing off my train ticket to Portland. Fortunately, an opportunistic wander past an Amtrak Quik-Trac machine (not convinced I’ve spelled that correctly, but I’m also pretty sure they haven’t either, so I’ll leave it be for now) demonstrated that their barcode scanner…

Today I did tourist things, and went on a tour of the Boeing Factory in Everett, WA. Where I was not run over by an aircraft engine, despite how this looks. As you can see, this is merely part of a display of Bloody Great Engines. And a section of aircraft fuselage used for testing. Well,…

I’ve been sleeping badly here, and last night was no exception, so it took me forever to get started. On the plus side, having a very late coffee allowed me to see the flood of Seahawks fans on their way to a football game. (US/Oval Ball Football) There were a lot of hats, shirts, jerseys,…

I’ll admit it, I’m hazy on what EMP stands for in this context. OK, I looked it up It’s the Experience Music Project museum. I didn’t sleep well last night, so it was something of a late start. I made up for it, however, by doing many things! I got an ORCA card, to make…

This is my second hostel of the US trip, and the first Hostelling International hostel, so it’s the first time my HI card has actually gotten any use. The level of luxury isn’t up to the Freehand Chicago, but I didn’t expect it to be. They have a system that’s new on me, where there’s…

The day started with a Seattle tour, run by one of the folks who works at the hostel & who seems to be the person who organises a lot of the social stuff. There was this tour, and the cookies & games thing another night, and an event recognising the recipients of a Hostelling International…

Everyone in the universe was in Seattle this weekend, it seems, with PAX West, a Mariners Baseball game, and a few conventions or conferences, so I found a place out by the airport. Hostelworld was convinced that there were no hostel beds in the city that weekend, and hotel prices were eye watering, so I…