Alaskan Adventure
Day 1: Seattle, WA USA
When I travel, I like to fully maximize my time at my destination of choice. As a mathematician, I refer to this as optimization. As a traveler, I refer to this as getting up in the middle of the night in order to make a 6am flight. Waking up at 4am is never fun, but somehow it seems less painful when you know you are leaving on vacation.
My mother, the angel that she is, had volunteered to wake up that early in order to drive me to the airport. Luckily, it is a quick 10-minute drive to the local airport, so it is an easy drive...that is, at times other than 5am!! As expected, the Rochester airport is pretty much deserted and I regret, as always, arriving a full hour before my flight's departure. I chatted with one of the TSA staff for a while to kill some time and eventually it was time to board the plane. Almost all of the flights departing from ROC are on prop-planes, so I settled into my tiny seat on a tiny airplane, prepared to close my eyes for the quick jaunt to Cleveland.
In Cleveland, I ended up having a mere ten minutes inbetween my flight from Rochester and boarding the next leg of my journey. Still, it was an easy connection, now that I am getting used to so many flights and different airports. I don't fly that frequently, but at once a month, I certainly beat the average flyer. Finally, a real-sized jet! The seat, of course, is no larger, but I am excited to see that there are seatback televisions! Hooray for five hours of bliss! Of course, after take-off, I came to realize that the oh-so-generous Continental Airline charges for the use of these televisions. Being the cheapskate that I am, I refused to pay for the TV programming and instead settled into the reading and sudoku I had packed for the flight. (This is a decision I would come to regret the next morning...) Interestingly enough, Continental provided full breakfast service, something I hadn't expected.
We touched down in Seattle at only 10:30 in the morning, leaving me a full day to explore the city. This, I thought, is why I woke up so gosh-darn early!!
I always pack light. It is so much easier to lug around one suitcase than two, and I hate waiting around for checked luggage after flights! The other perk to packing light is you can use public transportation instead of paying for a taxi from the airport.
There are two options I considered to get from the airport to downtown Seattle: one is a bus, the other light rail. Well, light rail sounded more comfortable to me, and the shuttle from the airport to the light rail station appeared before the bus did, so it was an easy decision. For $2.50, I could get downtown. The only downside? It took twice as long, a fact that I had somehow missed when researching options. Whereas the public bus takes 20-25 minutes (the same as a taxi), the light rail takes 45. Oops.
Regardless, it was easy enough to get downtown and only a short three blocks to my hostel.
A hostel, you ask? Why is a girl who is cruising (one of the most comfortable ways to travel!) staying at a hostel? Simply put, for the built-in social network. I was traveling alone (by choice), but I wanted to have people to start conversations with. I assumed a hostel was perfect for this. This would be my first stay at a hostel, after my first try in Brussels had been replaced by staying at a local's home.
The Green Tortoise hostel has quite a reputation for being a party place, but the location is wonderful - right at the intersection of 1st & Pike, at the entrance to Pike Place Market and across from the original Starbucks. That alone is worth the inconvenience of sharing a room. I was able to check-in, even at 11:30, so I locked my suitcase up in "my" designated storage area and decided I would head out for the afternoon.
My mother, the angel that she is, had volunteered to wake up that early in order to drive me to the airport. Luckily, it is a quick 10-minute drive to the local airport, so it is an easy drive...that is, at times other than 5am!! As expected, the Rochester airport is pretty much deserted and I regret, as always, arriving a full hour before my flight's departure. I chatted with one of the TSA staff for a while to kill some time and eventually it was time to board the plane. Almost all of the flights departing from ROC are on prop-planes, so I settled into my tiny seat on a tiny airplane, prepared to close my eyes for the quick jaunt to Cleveland.
In Cleveland, I ended up having a mere ten minutes inbetween my flight from Rochester and boarding the next leg of my journey. Still, it was an easy connection, now that I am getting used to so many flights and different airports. I don't fly that frequently, but at once a month, I certainly beat the average flyer. Finally, a real-sized jet! The seat, of course, is no larger, but I am excited to see that there are seatback televisions! Hooray for five hours of bliss! Of course, after take-off, I came to realize that the oh-so-generous Continental Airline charges for the use of these televisions. Being the cheapskate that I am, I refused to pay for the TV programming and instead settled into the reading and sudoku I had packed for the flight. (This is a decision I would come to regret the next morning...) Interestingly enough, Continental provided full breakfast service, something I hadn't expected.
We touched down in Seattle at only 10:30 in the morning, leaving me a full day to explore the city. This, I thought, is why I woke up so gosh-darn early!!
I always pack light. It is so much easier to lug around one suitcase than two, and I hate waiting around for checked luggage after flights! The other perk to packing light is you can use public transportation instead of paying for a taxi from the airport.
There are two options I considered to get from the airport to downtown Seattle: one is a bus, the other light rail. Well, light rail sounded more comfortable to me, and the shuttle from the airport to the light rail station appeared before the bus did, so it was an easy decision. For $2.50, I could get downtown. The only downside? It took twice as long, a fact that I had somehow missed when researching options. Whereas the public bus takes 20-25 minutes (the same as a taxi), the light rail takes 45. Oops.
Regardless, it was easy enough to get downtown and only a short three blocks to my hostel.
A hostel, you ask? Why is a girl who is cruising (one of the most comfortable ways to travel!) staying at a hostel? Simply put, for the built-in social network. I was traveling alone (by choice), but I wanted to have people to start conversations with. I assumed a hostel was perfect for this. This would be my first stay at a hostel, after my first try in Brussels had been replaced by staying at a local's home.
The Green Tortoise hostel has quite a reputation for being a party place, but the location is wonderful - right at the intersection of 1st & Pike, at the entrance to Pike Place Market and across from the original Starbucks. That alone is worth the inconvenience of sharing a room. I was able to check-in, even at 11:30, so I locked my suitcase up in "my" designated storage area and decided I would head out for the afternoon.