We had booked a civilised 11.30 am flight to Seattle. The flight’s scheduled time was under an hour so the plan was to arrive mid day, get lunch and exlore the Seatle local area.
We departed for the airport at 9.00am and by 9.30am had returned the car and checked in for the flight. After the initial airport security we came to USA immigration. We struggled to get our passports to scan but with a bit of help it was done, The immigration passes printed and mine was fine but Barrie’s had a cross through it. The was the same as we had experienced in New York last December when we landed and they took him away for questioning. We were therefore not too surprised that he needed to go for additional questioning, we knew there has been a mistake last year when we stopped in Miami and they failed to register him leaving the country at the same time as me. We were sent to a room where we waited and waited as the clock ticked it became apparent we were unlikely to make the flight. There were very few people working and the process just seemed to be very slow. I found some one to ask and he simply told me I could go but not my husband and it would take as long as it took. Finally at 11.20, with our flight at 11.30 they called Barrie and asked him 2 questions then said he could go!! We ran through the corridors and passed our plane with the door already shut moving the steps away. Fortunately Alaskan airlines were very understanding and rebooked us for their afternoon flight at 2.45pm thus we had a few extra hours at the airport thanks to homeland security.
When we finally landed in Seatle and were reunited with our luggage at about 4.30 we jumped in a taxi to downtown Seattle to our hotel Andra. The hotel was medium size boutique style. The room we had was spacious with a sitting area and desk and a walk in closet. After a short while sorting ourselves out we headed out for a walk. We walked in the direction of the sea front and the Pike Market. It was late if the afternoon so everything was shutting up. We did find the original Starbucks and also located the Crumpet shop which we earmarked for breakfast one day. We then headed back up Pike street away from the market and took in the local architecture mainly of tall buildings, one in particular that was in progress of being built appears it will be the tallest building in Seatle when completed. We walked to Convention centre station and then turned left toward to Seatle needle passing restaurants and coffee shops we suddenly found ourselves by a spherical building of 2 glass balls. This turned out to be Google head quarters.
Feeling hungry and tired we headed back to our hotel and walked passed a ‘Mediterranean’ restaurant. The menu looked a bit greek / middle eas with Dolmades and humus dishes so we headed in and had a delightful evening meal.
Day 2
Seattle glass and gardens and space needle
Day 3 – Thursday
Crumpet shop
Seattle Museum of Art and market
Kati vegan Thai