Holiday Planning

Welcome restful reader. We've been planning another week away! We'd planned to take a short holiday in April, which due to the pandemic then got pushed out to July, and then cancelled entirely. With some amount of reopening happening, and a short trip to Mendocino showing that such things are possible, we're now looking to go a bit further afield.

So in a couple of weeks' time we'll be hopping on the Coast Starlight train and taking the overnight trip to Seattle. This is the US, so the train averages a measly 40mph, meaning the trip takes 24 hours, but having done this journey in the other direction a few years ago, the scenery is pretty amazing. We're in a private sleeper cabin to keep us well away from all the other COVID-y folks who might be joining us on the journey. If this goes well, one idea we have for when we return to the UK permanently is to travel coast-to-coast by train in the US over a number of weeks.

Seattle's official nickname is the 'Emerald City'. In some ways the place is a bit like Southampton - it's a major container port where water dominates - but the local geology make it pretty different in a lot of ways. It's still pretty close to a tectonic plate boundary so there are mountains, a bit of volcanic activity, and a lot of inland lakes and forests; the landscape is a bit more like the highlands of Scotland than Hampshire. Weather-wise, I always like to say that Seattle is basically the same as London - it rains quite a lot, it's slightly warmer than London in the summer, and it's consistently a bit colder in the winter, but again it's by the sea so the climate is tempered somewhat by the ocean.

Everywhere you go in the US has its own flavour, and I tend to find Seattle feels... well... just a bit more European than either California or, say, NYC. It's much cleaner and tidier up there, but still has that concrete-y utilitarianism that plagues this country (yes, there's a motorway ripping right through the middle of Seattle city centre, ten lanes wide in places). Seattle itself is pretty liberal and cosmopolitan, but outside the city, it quickly becomes a Republican stronghold. Seattle also makes a more reasonable stab at public transport than San Francisco: there's a light rail system which goes as far as the airport (although it's frustratingly slow and doesn't go anywhere near the terminal building).

Seattle is of course famous for its coffee, and in my experience, rightly so. There are a lot of espresso bars there, and barista culture is definitely A Thing. This extends to the office too (remember those places we used to visit?) - easily the best coffee I've had at a Google office has been from the baristas in Seattle, so much so that my caffeine consumption often goes through the roof when I'm visiting.

As yet we don't have great plans for when we're there, but will most likely rent a car and get out of the city for a couple of days to do some walking or touring in the local mountains and forests, COVID and fire season permitting. But first up we're really looking forward to the leisurely train trip through the mountains and up the coast to the Emerald City. We certainly won't be in Kansas any more!