SEATTLE, WA - DAY 4

January 25, 2013
(Friday)

Be warned: I have a lot of stories on this day.

I believe that I've mastered the days in which I travel, where I travel. When I travel anywhere in the states, I go for 4 days, 3 nights. Typically that's the perfect amount of time but because this trip, I traveled alone, I got everything done in 3 days BUT it was nice to relax that last day. Now, if I travel abroad, 7 days and 6 nights is sufficient. I learned this when I was in Costa Rica.

My airplane outfit. I don't understand how people fly in anything other than sweats. When I see people wearing jeans on the plane, I feel uncomfortable.

I have a love/hate relationship with technology but when it comes to traveling, it's typically a love relationship UNLESS I can't get off of my phone then it becomes a problem.

I couldn't sleep in any of the days that I was in Seattle. So I was out of my room by 11am and had a pizza bagel and vanilla wafer latte. I actually really liked Seattle's Best Coffee better than starbucks. That's right, I said it and I've got NO PROBLEM not being a part of "the norm". And this coffee place was located inside of my hotel so it was extremely convenient.

As I was sitting down and watching people pass by, I thought what if someone I knew walked past and they just happened to be in the same state (traveling or living)?! I had that happen when I was visiting Las Vegas (October 2011) and I bumped into this guy I was playing soccer with (when I was in WI for a few months) and he was at the Bellagio on work while I was there visiting.
SMALL WORLD.

I went to Pacific Place which is a shopping center and sat down to read my book for an hour, before my movie started. I was paranoid about my appearance because I kinda was scrubby looking wearing my sweats, boots, a beanie and carrying a backpack (as opposed to my purse). So I kept thinking that people were going to assume I was going to steal books when I was in Barnes & Noble (I witnessed that happen when I worked for the bookstore years ago).  I really do live in my own little world.

I stopped at Barnes & Noble, on my way to seeing a movie. I confirmed that I highly enjoy overhearing people's conversation as they pass by.
I took this picture and sent it to Char. Her and I are planning our Jamaica trip for January 2014.
BOOM.

I love love reading these stories.

Real Lives.

Since I didn't have much to do on my last day, I decided to see a movie and what better movie than ANYTHING with Jason Statham in it? Let's be real. He's my only Hollywood crush. A real man's man. By the way, this movie was AWESOME. Filled with fighting and action. Jennifer Lopez played a typical pretty/desperate woman which I frown upon. I'm determined to portray women as strong and independent but can be girly at the same time.

On my way leaving the movies to go to the Chocolate Factory!

 Like I said on my Day 1 post, I was eyeing these bad boys since I first walked past. I stopped in and was just in awe at how good these apples looked. I was extremely indecisive (which I'm normally not) with which apple I wanted to get. I had one of the employees helping me and I was telling him how I was flying back to Vegas in a few hours and just had to try one of these before I left. The apple was $8.95 but he told me to look down at the screen as he was ringing me up and it said, "$4.95" - he gave me a discount which was so sweet!
I ended up getting the Avalanche Caramel Apple. I will also admit that when I took my first bite, I drooled. Not my proudest moment but that's how bad I was ready to eat this apple!
AND, come to find out, there's one of these places in Vegas. HAHA and nearby where I work! So I was so excited to have this "scarce" apple from this cool place and we have one . . . we all know where I'm getting my chocolate fix!

I picked up my luggage from my hotel and headed to the train around 6pm.
The city is gorgeous all lit up at night.

 My hotel was near the 3rd and University entrance/exit for the trains.

My luggage. I travel light.

Back to the airport I go!

As I was waiting to go through security, there was a woman in front of me and a man in front of her. That man seemed to never have traveled in his life because he had so many items, on top of a huge backpack, and didn't know what to put where. He was holding up the line and instead of getting irritated by it, I merely looked away and waiting until I could put my items up. (I've learned ways to keep myself calm: GROWTH)
As I got through security, I grabbed my boots and put them on then was grabbing the rest of my items and that man happened to be beside me collecting his 25 pieces and looks at me and says, "I really like your boots" (I will say "no homo" on his behalf) therefore the slight irritation I had for him earlier, had now been lifted. Sometimes a compliment can change one's attitude rather quickly.
Then I somehow discussed going back to Vegas, with this other guy collecting his items, and he was going there too. This was our conversation:

Man: "I'm going to Vegas too. 8 days."
Me: "Use them wisely and carefully."
Man: "Oh, I'm here for work."
Me: "That's what they all say but you'd be surprised! Have a great trip!"

When I was on that ferry, I saw this restaurant called "Ivars" and it looked delicious SO when I got through security and saw this, I was going for it!

I got the Halibut and it was divine.
As I was sitting down and eating, these two guys walk past and I hear one guy say, "I really like the signage here." You don't hear that everyday so I wanted to share it with all of you.

Finding outlets at your gate is like finding gold.

I would like to share that when I was having my thoughts (which happens more often than I'd care for), I used the word "peruse" and thought "what a great word?!" 

Let's use fun words more often!

 I'm addicted to this book. Winning with People by John C. Maxwell is REAL.

Waiting patiently to board.

As I was waiting, this man stood in front of me and I really liked his shoes.
Good taste.

 I always get a window seat (unless I have a connecting flight) and as I was walking down the aisle, a couple were sitting in the row I was in so they got up for me to sit down. As I sat down, the husband sits beside me and says, "Oh, I'm glad you're small." HAHA He wasn't a big guy but he did take up my arm rest which I didn't care for but I just stayed close to the window.

He and his wife were really cute and you could tell that they've been married for years. It's nice to see older couples, that have been through life together, but I get tired just thinking about the things they've been through together. Bless them. (Not sure if I could do it. I take that back. It's not that I'm not sure if I "could" do it but I'm not sure that I want to do it)

Someone on the plane reeked of Tequila because that's all I could smell when we were flying.

How do you know when you're flying to Vegas? When the plane reeks of Tequila.

As we were taking off, those lights in the distance, were planes flying in.

Looked amazing.

I'm so grateful and thankful for the experiences that I'm able to experience.
I really do work just to travel. Traveling is expensive so I have to have a decent job and pick/choose what I do on a regular basis so that I save properly in order to take so many trips.
People always say, "You're so lucky you get to go on trips all of the time" but I always tell them that they can too. I don't spend my money on going out and drinks. I save it for my many trips.

THANK YOU, SEATTLE for being so hospitable!
I'll be back sooner than later . . . 

SEATTLE, WA - DAY 1

January 22, 2013
(Tuesday)

To clarify, since everyone seemed to ask me the same question, YES I went to Seattle alone. Two years ago, I decided that I'm going to make it a tradition to be anywhere else but the current place I'm living, for my birthday. In 2011, I was in Costa Rica with my best friend Karen and last year I was in Atlanta with my best friend Jesse. I tried asking some people to come but no one could SO I'm not about to put my life experiences on hold just because I can't find someone to come with.

My flight was at 7am and I was due to arrive into Seattle at 9:30am.
This is my classic (very classy) bathroom picture.

This year, the weather in Vegas has been pretty cold. Just two weeks ago, it was 27 degrees for about two weeks straight.

The weather wasn't too different in Seattle so I didn't have to adjust.

As I was going through security and waiting my turn to go through the scanner, this woman behind me has a money pouch in her hand and refused to put it in the bucket, that goes through the x ray thing. AS IF there's some sort of x ray elf that comes through the machine and selects items to steal before they come out of the other end. Really. Amateur travelers. 

Once I got through security, I walked to the departures to find my gate number and the sad part was I first had to think what city I was currently in then remember where I was flying to. For some reason, I kept saying that I was going to Atlanta and I'm thinking maybe because I went there last year (around the same time). MAN, does it suck turning 27!

I absolutely love technology. Well, that's a lie. I love it only when it's convenient for me such as traveling. I always check in, prior to getting to the airport, I never check in luggage (unless I'm going abroad, and I never have to print a boarding pass because it's on my phone.)
Welcome to the future.

I was waiting in line at burger king, for a breakfast sandwich, and this man's luggage bumps into mine and he's all, "excuse me" and I just look at him and say, "that's quite all right." (I think that God puts trying people in my life purposely just to help improve my weaknesses.) Then I turn around and see this tall, Asian man that looks just like my friend, Charlene, her dad EXCEPT her dad is not Asian. It was really weird.

I've gotten much better, over the years, with my patience but I've not quite mastered it yet SO I wait until all of those people board before I even attempt to get on the plane.

I was very comfy. Love my boots from Roxy.

Love my city...

I took this because you can see The Palms Casino from here. They are the three tall buildings on the left/center of the picture. My other home.

Welcome to Washington!

There was some tall building sticking up through the clouds. And it was SO cloudy and the clouds were so close to the ground that when we landed, you didn't realize we were on the ground because all you saw was white.

I thought that this was a fabulous name and idea for this coffee shop inside the Seattle airport.

I was expecting to take a cab to my hotel and I was expecting to pay a lot since the airport is 35 minutes from downtown BUT thankfully an airport employee (young tan man...details are important) informed me that I can simply take the train which is $2.75 instead of a $60 cab ride. 

THANK YOU!!

I noticed a lot of Chinese translation in the airport and trains as opposed to Spanish. I didn't know that Seattle had a large Asian population. I love learning when I travel!!

I made it to my hotel, Executive Hotel Pacific, by 10am and was all checked in. I was going to nap for an hour or two but the moment I checked in, I got my second wind. SO I put some make up on, had to force myself to get out of the bathroom and stop taking pictures and explored downtown Seattle!

Before I left the hotel, I needed to understand my surroundings and Stanley, a front desk employee, was beyond helpful. We initially started talking because I was there on a friends/family rate and he knew I worked at The Palms Casino. He's from New York but lived in Vegas for a year or so and now lives in Seattle and loves it. He gave me a map of downtown and gave me great advice. I was telling him how I'll be back in Washington for my first football game so he said he's going to come and make a sign that says "KK". We'll see if he comes but that would be awesome!

Just a few blocks from my hotel was the Pike Place Market!

This was the first starbucks ever built in 1912.
Seattle, literally, has a starbucks on every single corner. I didn't have a coffee from this one because there was a line (and we all know how I feel about waiting in lines) so I settled for a picture.

So I was walking and looking at my phone, probably uploading pictures on Instagram, and I smell something delicious and of course it's Greek food.

SO I bought some dolmathes (rice/meat wrapped inside of grape leaves with tzatziki sauce)
They were divine.

Just as I was leaving the Greek place, I'm walking past an old man buying produce and one of the employees is helping him and asks (very cheerfully), "How's your day going?" and the old man responds with, "Shitty." I just happened to hear it and laughed. I find it amusing how different people's perspectives are on life. YOU choose it!

I was walking around all of Pike's Place Market, since it's about six blocks long, and passed this place.

My jaw dropped. I knew that I NEEDED to get one at some point before I left.
(More to come on my last day post of Seattle)

Pike street and Pine street were the most common streets that I walked along, just going up from 1st and Pike (Pike Place Market area) to 6th and Pike (Pacific Place shopping center).

As I'm walking towards the shopping blocks, this guy says, "Hey beautiful, how you doin? Shake a hand, meet a friend. Let's talk about it." and he just kept talking without any kind of response from me. 

I somehow found Banana Republic. I wasn't even intending to shop buuut I did.

I have way too much purple and I just added to it by buying this shirt.

I love looking at books and silly things that Urban Outfitters has.

Fantastic sign.

Saved by the Bell board game!

Silly things like these pencils.

I love TLC...brought back memories.

 It took EVERYTHING IN ME to not buy these shoes. I do not need more shoes. I have way too many and wear the same pairs over and over so the rest just sit in my room. I didn't buy these but I loved them.

 They have a supermarket, in the middle of downtown. Actually everything is in downtown.
I just love Seattle.

My hotel in the day time.

I had been going since 10am and it was now 3pm. I was lacking sleep and very hungry so I stopped at this AMAZING sandwich place one block up from my hotel and took a nap.

This was called "The Wreck". I don't know what it had aside from it being spicy. I get everything spicy and now I'm at the age where I actually get heartburn, which is rather irritating, BUT not irritating enough to not eat spicy food. FORGET YOU old age, I'm eating Spicy!

More spice! I love spice in my life!!

My shopping for the day. Of course my favorites are the belt and shirt.

I napped from 3:30pm to 5pm, woke up and walked back down to Pike's Place Market. I ended up having starbucks and talking to Karen for a little while on the phone. I love talking to her, she always makes me laugh. So thankful I've had her as a friend from 10 years old. LOVE YOU, KAREN!

This map and coffee were my vices every single day and every couple of hours.

I got back to the hotel around 8pm and Bridesmaids was on! It was just starting so as I was changing into my work out clothes, I was watching it and this part was when she said, "You can't trust anyone.....EVER." HILARIOUS but I had to turn if off and head to the cardio center. I think because I walked SO much, my body was already warmed up which allowed me to run and workout for an hour. It was a good workout.

I wasn't that excited about this tiny cardio center but I was alone and got it done.
So it was good.

About 40 minutes after I'd stopped running and was doing some free weights...my work out turned into a dance party REAL QUICK. Shakira was on my ipod and she was singing, "Loca loca loca"!!

These were the two books that I bought from the used bookstore. I ended my evening with reading "Winning with people" which is GREAT so far. I'm almost halfway through.

I didn't realize just how much Seattle really resembles New York except it's cleaner, less congested and everything really is within walking distance if you're staying downtown. All of the tourist attractions (tours, space needle, ferry), they are all walkable and nearby. AND everyone who lives there is genuinely happy. I asked for directions, to make sure I was going the right way, or asked for recommendations often and no one EVER seem bothered or annoyed AND most people would walk a block with me to make sure I knew where I was going. If you want to feel like a pampered guest on vacation, go to Seattle. People are VERY hospitable.