Day 10: Seattle Bound

Nice Trick
see all photos »

Well today I made my way over to the U S of A!!!

The day started with a walk to the main bus depot, which wasnt really very far from the hostel, maybe 10 minutes walk, but I still caught a bus there!!!

Because I hadnt walked towards the downtown (as the bus depot was the opposite direction), I hadnt had my cooked breakie, so i had to make do with a McDonalds breakfast....these a McDonalds at the bus depot!!

After I'd bought my Greyhound Discovery Pass (which was about 250 quid!!!!), I boarded the bus. It was pretty random, because one of the girls who was in the hostel in Victoria was boarding the same bus.....small world!!!!

Open Mic
see all photos »

Anyhow, the bus ride was pretty good. I got chatting to some people, the French Canadian girl i met in Victoria, an english lad who was travelling from Vancouver to Sacremento (33 hours on the coach!!!!), and this American lad who was travelling about. The trip ended up going really quickly!!

One note......American Boarder Customs are soooooooo over the top. Not only did I have the usual questions (was I ever a member of the Nazi Party of German?! Have I ever commited crimes againest humanity? etc etc) but they also finger printed me, gave me an eye retina scan (presumably incase i loose my eye while i'm here) and photographed me......then they charged me $6 for getting into their country.....fuckers!

The total trip was about 4 hours or so.

So I'm in Seattle now, and it's pretty darn cool!! When I first arrived I went for a quick drink with the 3 people i was talking to on the coach, then went on a hunt for my hostel. I had a bit of a panic though, becuase the directions i had just lead to a big hole in the ground when the hostel used to be!!!

Luckily it's only moved around the corner. The hostel is WICKED!!! Definetly the best Ive stayed in yet!! It's brand new (i was the first person EVER to sleep in my bed!), theres Breakfast and dinner included in the price, free internet, really nice bathrooms and the staff are cool.......and there was an Open Mic night the day I arrived

So once I'd put my stuff in my room (it's worked out well, I have my own 4 bed dorm!!!), and had a shower, i went for a bit of a wonder. Seattles 'world famous' (apparently!) farmers market is about 30 seconds walk from the hostel. They have 'fish throwers' there, but because it was late in the day everyone was just closing up when i got there!!! So i wandered to find a cup of coffee and then went back to the hostel to claim my free dinner! Mexican!! Lovely....even more so because it was free. I then got chatting to this girl from London, and we just hung arounf waiting for Open Mic night to start. When it did eventually start it was pretty cool! They'd basically got a load of buskers to come in an perform there stuff and to be honest most of them were really good!!!! There was one guy with bongos who was really good!!!!! I had a few beers too, and being it was the first time i'd had a proper drink since coming a way i was pretty pissed by the end of it!!!

Anyhow, once all the music had finished I went into the smoking room for a chat with a few people the went to bed!!!!

First impression of Seattle, cool!