Tag Archives: AirBnB

Goodbye Seattle

20 Jun

We leave our Airbnb host this morning as we wrap up the remaining sights to see and leave Seattle before the evening rush hour. It has been interesting to experience the city, which reminds me somewhat of San Francisco because there are some similarities.

2R/1B yet very practical

Lovely Welcome pack

Stairs coming down leads to Living area

Our home the last two nights has been really homey too. It’s at the basement of the home of the host. A little smaller than the one in Portland we stayed in, this place however is really thoughtful with practical gadgets and space usage. Although only two rooms, one bath and a tiny kitchenette (no stove though), there’s a living and dining area to be used. And oh, the bed’s much better for my back and the comforter excellent to stay warm.

When we first arrived, the lovely host left a welcome note, a bottle of wine and chocolate! How much more welcoming does one need? Excellent host. So we leave with a heavy heart but full of nice memories of Seattle.

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What To Do in Seattle

20 Jun

The day did not start out well. The problematic rear passenger tire became a big problem when we got ready to go exploring at 9.00am. It was almost flat! Oh no…

A quick start of the engine showed that the PSI reading was down to 10. Uh oh… M1 had to call the car company, put on hold for the longest time, rerouted to several other phone numbers before we were told it was okay to drive to their Seattle branch to exchange the car. So we gave up the XT5 for a Dodge. There was no other choices.

The little problem caused us to be delayed by two hours. Oh well… we got going after that. It was hard to find parking in the city. It took us sometime before we found one. Parking is expensive too.

First stop: Space Needle Seattle Center. The CityPass was a good thing to purchase earlier as we enjoyed much savings compared to purchasing at the ticket counter. The queue to go up wasn’t that long; so up we went and had wonderful views of the city from all directions.

Next stop: Pike Place Market. We shared a quick on-the-go Chicken Masala Naan before walking within Public Market towards the Gum Wall. After all the photo ops, we went for our Harbor Tour.

The hour long cruise was enjoyable as we saw a spectacular view of the city skyline and the interesting things within the harbor.

After we disembarked, we headed for Seattle Aquarium which was nearby. The most enjoyable creatures (at least for me) were the octopus and utterly adorable otters.

By the time we got done, we were famished and decided to do a crabby dinner at the Crab Pot. We ordered two servings of The Alaskan and a cup of clam chowder and ate to our fill. Burp.

Reenergized, we made our way to the original Starbucks at Pike Place to buy some collectible mugs before heading back to Space Needle for the evening round to see the city. And it drizzled. Brr…

It was late when we got back to our Airbnb.

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Goodbye Portland

19 Jun

It sure was nice to sleep in despite the bed being too soft for me. Our Airbnb was very cozy, a little apartment with two rooms, two baths, a kitchenette and living room area. The property looked like it was purposely renovated to be an Airbnb host.

The only thing was the floor was cold even with socks on. And this is Summer! And the upstairs creaked loudly too when someone was walking around. But generally the overall comfort and convenience made up for the slight discomfort and little disturbance.

Too bad we can’t appreciate it more because today, we will check out to explore Portland as much as possible and be on the road thereafter. There simply isn’t sufficient time to cover the city unfortunately.

I met up with an old friend from my internship days when I was in New York City. She was one of the many mentors at WBMG, Inc. where I learnt so much. We did a Peruvian lunch while hubby and the girls went off exploring more sights and tastes, and gave us almost two hours to catch up.

It really was so good to see her after all these years, and after saying our goodbyes, we left Portland for Seattle by mid-afternoon.

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Hello from Portland!

18 Jun

We got into Portland in the late afternoon and the must-do included taking pictures of several iconic places. The weather here feels more like Summer.

Our precious box of doughnuts

The choices we picked

One of the stops included Voodoo Doughnut and we got got our good things that came in a pink box! Yum…

Next was Powell’s Bookstore. I felt so overwhelmed with so many books and categories, I didn’t know where to begin. M1 suggested for us to explore in pairs otherwise we would be lost. By eight, hunger got the better of us and we headed off for dinner at Washington Square. We had to have Xiao Long Paos!

It was ten by the time we checked into our Airbnb. Tomorrow we will sleep in!

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