Welcome to the blog I’ve been ever promising. Seattle was an experience of 1st time things. It was my first long distance trip alone. It was my first flight with Frontier Airlines. It was suppose to be my first business class flight – more on that later. My first trip to the North West region of the United States.My first time using Air B&B. You  get it right? Lots of firsts. Let’s start with this randomness and how I came back an even mellower human being.

Painting the scene.

It’s mid July, humid, hazy, hot. We’re in  Nashville, TN and it’s  around 11:30 pm. We’re at Steak ‘N Shake with some of my FAVORITE Scentsy people. One being Heather M. Heather lives about an hour away from Seattle, where I have a high school friend named Stacey. Heather and I talked about her baby shower (oh- she’s pregnant and due 9/11 in this part of the story). I make a quick snap of a decision (after seeing how much money I had left over from this trip) that I would be going to this baby shower.

Preface*** I live outside of Columbus, Ohio.*** 

I booked a flight on an airline I’d never heard before through Priceline.com. I had no idea the ride I was in for. I scoured Air B&B until I found a room with hosts that I knew would have stories to tell. The wife an author/painter from Amsterdam and the husband a singer/stage production guy from Texas. The room was way cheaper than a hotel (we’re talking the whole stay was the cost of 1 night in a hotel!) so I wrote a message and they accepted my reservation. A jump into my generations culture- without shock. This was it. My flight booked. My room paid for. Research on car2go, Lyft, Uber, and Zipcar done. Heather was going to pick me up from the airport, I’d have a day with Stacey, then the Baby Shower, and then a flight home. Crafted and planned carefully with trips to Pike’s Place, The Space Needle, and fun food joints. A few days before my trip my phone pinged. An email from Frontier Airlines shown brightly. I had to pick a seat, and I had to let them know (and pay for) my baggage and said seat. Well if I have to pay for a seat I suppose I’ll pick business class… first 3 rows. Oh I didn’t know at the time… and what I would have killed for to have the knowledge I have now. These expenses caused this flight to be MORE expensive than other airlines. I justified the cost because of the business class seats- or so I thought.

Airport Time, Excellent!

I live about 30 minutes from John Glen International Airport, previously known as Port Columbus. I opt for early morning flights so I can clear TSA with plenty of time for coffee, breakfast, and a restroom trip. I love my routine so I stuck to it. 2 hours early- through the line quickly, and off I went in search of a Starbucks. I ordered my double shot on Ice which they had no clue how to ring up. After holding up the line, I finally got the correct drink. Everyone was super nice about it- I was just a little self conscious about it taking so long. It’s an airport and I know people are in a hurry. No one was mean to me though! Win! I grabbed a quick sandwich and found a seat with charger as one does- except none of the seat chargers worked. I remembered to pack and charge my extended battery pack though so another win! Ping- my Facebook Messenger goes off. It’s 5:45 am and not a soul I know is up at that time. It’s Heather. Why is she awake? Because she’s in labor so she cannot pick me up from the airport. Okay 1) Squeals of Delight because this baby knew I was coming and decided today is the day! 2) Worry because this baby is 3 weeks early and there could be issues. I quickly convinced her that I would be fine getting myself to my Air B&B, and not worry about me.

I had express boarding so I was on the plane quickly- however business class was no more than stretch seating. 3 extra inches of leg space. Let me paint another picture- I’m not towering tall. In fact I’m 5’5″. I didn’t need extra leg space. My personal items ended up having to be stowed 3 rows back which made me nervous the whole time. The icing on this Frontier Cake was when they offered the extra seats I was in to passengers for 15$ LESS than what I paid for it- when their site said it would be MORE expensive on the flight to upgrade. We landed in Denver and I had never been happier. We were released from the plane so it could gas up and be cleaned but we’d come back to it for our Seattle leg. Before I knew it I was collecting my personal items and requesting a Lyft.

Lyft vs. Uber

Columbus doesn’t have much of a Lyft following, but we have Uber. Fun Fact- I’ve never used Uber in my state. Only others. Which makes me familiar with it’s process. There were signs all over SeaTac Airport with Lyft codes so I decided to try it. A lesson I learned in the SeaTac airport- Lyft drivers are urged to purchase economical cars in Seattle. They get a bonus buying discount. Their car of choice: Prius. Their colors of choice: Grey, Black, and Midnight Blue. I’ll let you figure out how hard it was to find the actual Lyft I was suppose to be in. I learned this lesson chatting with an Uber driver with a Charger in red. I regretted my decision to Lyft because she was so fun! I got in my Lyft- asked about the area, thanked my driver and starred at the house I would be staying in. The notification came up with the 22$ car ride bill (after my 5$ discount). I pulled up Uber and the ride would have been 16$ with no discount. You got me Lyft! Props on that one- your marketing tactics at the airport worked well. I later Uber’d back to the airport to rent a car- turns out it was cheaper!

Air B & B not Air Conditioning….

The panoramic view of my Air B&B house was a lot to take in. There were compact discs on strings hanging in a tree. There were flowers and herbs everywhere. I approached the small stoop lined with shoes, rang the door bell and gazed fearfully at an orb spider in the middle of it’s web off to the left. I heard the clicking of the lock and found the Texan looking at me. I was welcomed, asked  to take my shoes off and it hit me. The day I arrived in Seattle the pilot announced it was unusually warm for the location and month. Unusually meant 25 degrees warmer than usual. It was 95. I must have removed my filter requiring AC when searching Air B&B, because my room only had a small personal fan. The room was butter yellow with paintings done by the owner. The bed was decorated with floral coverings. The pillows were memory foam. One of my favorite memories is of the sleep I got in that bed. I grew up in a house with window AC units in certain rooms only. There are a few combinations of tricks that help me sleep in the heat. 1st a cold shower- do not fully dry off. Putting on your pajamas while damp then putting a fan close to you will keep you cooler. I also got a glass of ice and put it in front of the fan. The ice melts and the fan throws teeny tiny water droplets at you until the ice gets too low in the glass. I also opened the window because it cooled down a little at night. It worked swimmingly. It’s a mistake I will never make again though!

 The Air B&B tree

Friday Night Skylights

I studied materials my hosts had in my room. It was a surplus of arts, travel, culture, and food magazines, cards, and paper menus. I found a punch card to a local burger joint and asked if it was any good. As I was walking out the door I ran into my other host who asked if they could join me. We all wanted out of the heated house. To our surprise the burger joint did not have AC either. Seattle has some pretty strict recycling rules that took me a day to get use to. Compost piles and Food Scraps, Paper, Plastic, Glass, it was all required. We have to pay for this in Ohio, it’s treated like something special you get to have- in Seattle it’s something you have to do and if you do it incorrectly you can be fined! It’s fascinating.

We decided to eat outside, I waited for my  milkshake, cheeseburger combo knowing the milkshake would make the heat so much better. Heather had warned me of the food prices but this ended up being my most expensive meal of the trip. As we finished up my hosts decided to take me on a driving tour of the city. We stopped so I could get some amazing pictures of the skyline and gardens. This city is gorgeous and surrounded by Glacier Lakes, the sound, and has amazing sunsets. My hosts were very impressed with my ability to bounce back from having a large chunk of my plans destroyed. I can honestly say I too was impressed with myself. We went back to the house and I was given Trader Joe chocolate bites and a glass bottle of water for my room. The little details were not missed and were appreciated.

Here are some pictures from my 1st night in Seattle. Look for Part 2 very soon!

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