During my 3rd year of university in Scotland, I did a year-long internship in California and at the end of the 12 months, I had 30 days to travel around the US. I started off in Las Vegas, and then went to Southern Utah to hike Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park and then flew to Seattle. I stayed in Seattle for 2 nights, then went to the Olympic National Park for a couple of days and then stayed for another 2 nights in Seattle.
Arrival
I flew from McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas to Seattle - Tacoma International Airport for about 30 dollars and landed around 17:00. I stayed in the North Admiral neighborhood as I was couchsurfing. Couchsurfing is a website where you can find local hosts in the destination you are planning to go to and you can stay with them for free. The purpose is to meet like minded travellers and learn about different cultures (and of course to save money). The main thing I always do before reaching out to a host is read their reviews and make sure that other female solo travellers have stayed with them before. But until now, I have only had really good experiences with it.
When I arrived, my host, Roger, made me feel really welcome and already had my bed set up in the living room. He asked me if I wanted to go on a walk to see the Seattle skyline and of course I said yes. As the neighborhood was across the bay from the city centre, we could see all the famous landmarks all lit up at night, including the Space Needle and the ferris wheel.
Day One
The next morning, I woke up early, had a peanut butter jelly sandwich and headed towards the Water Taxi Pier where I got the water taxi across to Downtown Seattle. The ticket cost me about 6 dollars one way and it took about 20 minutes to get to the other side which was plenty of time to take photos of the city from the ferry.
When I got there, I spent a few hours walking around and taking photos of Downtown Seattle. I went to the iconic PIke Place Market which is the oldest continuously operating farmers market in the US and strolled around the different shops. I stopped by the famous Pike Place Fish Market where I watched the staff sing and throw a fish to each other to catch every time someone ordered one.
I then got myself a cinnamon roll and an apple turnover from one of the little bakeries in the market.
I walked around a little more and then sat at a cafe called Moore Coffee Shop, where I had a Taro Purple Latte with super cute latte art on it. While I was there, I edited some photos on my laptop and wrote some postcards to send to some friends and family.
Later, I walked by the original Starbucks store at Pike Place, however the queue to get in was really long so I just took a photo of the storefront.
Day 2
The second day, I decided to take the bus to Port Angeles so I could explore the Olympic National Park for a few days. But I go into more detail about that in this post that I dedicated just for that.
Before going for the ferry, I went with my host for breakfast at a cafe called Luna Park Cafe which is a retro-style diner in West Seattle. It served all-day breakfast with lots of vegetarian and vegan options too. At the time I was only vegetarian so I had the vegetable omelette with vegetarian sausage and it tasted delicious.
I then took the ferry across to downtown Seattle where I got a Greyhound bus to Port Angeles.
Day 3 in Seattle
Fast forward to coming back from the Olympic National Park, I met up with my host and his girlfriend where we went to the Pride Parade! I was really excited because I had never been before as I worked in hospitality the previous years where I always worked weekends and missed it.
It was one the most beautiful days I have ever experienced. The moment we walked up to the parade, I felt so emotional as everyone was just so happy, it was like I could feel their happiness and I felt so proud.
We went to a few different bars and took loads of photos.
Then we went to the Starbucks Reserve Roastery, an immersive experience where you can watch the coffee being roasted, from the sacks it comes in to it being loaded into the green coffee loading pit. Even though I don’t drink a lot of coffee, it was a great experience and it was really interesting to watch the process.
For the last 2 nights I couchsurfed again but somewhere different. Eric and his lovely golden retriever, Finley, hosted me on their boat!
It was a great experience and something that I wouldn’t normally get to do as it would be out of my budget. We sat and chatted for a few hours and then I had an early night. I was quite tired from the last few days. My bed was super comfortable and the best part was getting to sleep next to Finley, the friendly dog.
Day 4
The next day, I stayed on the boat as my host took it out for a few hours and we actually went past Bill Gates’s home as well as Jeff Bezos’s.
I even got to steer the boat for a bit which was pretty cool.
In the evening, we had dinner on the deck and watched the sunset behind the bridge.
Last day
I only had a few hours in the morning before I had to get the bus to the airport so I got up early and went to the Seattle Public Library to catch up on some uni work.
I then took the train to the airport where I flew to New York City for my next adventure. If you have any questions, let me know in the comments or you can message on Instagram @marisa.vogiatzi
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