Seattle, Washington

Today was our first early start since leaving Australia, as we had our 4+ hour train ride to Seattle. Since Uber doesn't seem to exist in Canada, I booked an early taxi online last night. The service (unlike Sydney) was extremely efficient and reliable, as the driver early and got us to the station in plenty of time.

This was one of the first times we'd used a train in the USA for a long time, so we weren't 100% sure how to check in! Fortunately the staff were pretty good and the agent even put us in "business class" (just nicer seats in Economy)! Even though the train ride was long, the time seemed to go quickly. We went to the dining car and got some snacks and coffee for the trip, and there was also the occasional commentary along the way.

Once arriving in Seattle, we waited for our bag and headed off to find the train to Capitol Hill. Even though I had printed directions, we still managed to get a bit confused and needed to ask for directions. Once we found the station though, getting to Capitol Hill was easy, as was the walk to our accommodation.

As the accommodation in Seattle was pretty expensive, we decided to stay at an AirBnb. The neighborhood was great - somewhat grungy but with a lot of character too. The apartment however is different! It is a very quirky, grandma style apartment, owned by a showgirl with very eclectic tastes. Whether it was the pictures of the topless Hollywood starlets or the poster of Disney characters copulating, it will still an experience.

Even more interesting was the resident house cat Kitty Paws. Maybe we misunderstood the apartment requirements but we didn't realise that we needed to change the kitty litter daily too! We put it all down to part of the experience, and headed out to enjoy the warm day.

Ted was interested in finding a Cheesecake Factory and fortunately we found one. Ordering was a chore though as the menu is enormous! The food is always wonderful though, and Ted was really happy they had an artificial sweetener cheesecake too. We then headed towards the Pike Place Market, an area we hadn't seen before.

I really liked the whole crazy atmosphere of the Market. It gave you a real feeling of a Seattle farmer's market, with a sense of history and nostalgia as well. I was interested in seeing the world's first Starbucks too which was only a few streets away. I'm always wanting to see anything that contributes to modern day history, even if it does serve the world's worst coffee!

As the sale of our apartment is still ongoing, we needed to find a library in Capitol Hill to send off some more documents. We bought some groceries before heading back to our apartment for a night out. We settled on a local venue called C.C. Attles which was a relaxed bear bar. Tomorrow we catch up with our friends Stephen and Woody from Fort Lauderdale who will be joining us on the cruise.Read more