USA | Boeing Tour and Seattle!

Floral ceiling at the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibition

Long weekend for Presidents' Day calls for a trip out of town!

Supposedly a four-people trip, it ended up being just Airat and I making the trip to Seattle for a day and Portland for two.

I was initially a bit nervous about making this trip with Airat as I wasn't used to traveling with new friends...I mean, even friends whom you've known for ages may not be a good travel partner, so what are the odds, right? Plus, we weren't always on the same page which made it not so surprising if we ended up killing each other on this trip #jkjk.

Do you think our friendship pulled through? Read till the end to find out!

- 17 February 2017 -

We left after his class on Friday afternoon...on the wrong bus. The blame was on me who was a bit flustered that I got us on the bus going in the opposite direction. Thank God I realized, got off the bus and quickly called for an Uber or we wouldn't have reached the Amtrak/Greyhound station on time.

We arrived in Seattle in the evening and walked our way to our hostel. I remember contemplating taking the bus, but he preferred walking as it gives a better view of the city. Since we weren't in a hurry nor was it too cold, I agreed for us to walk the 30-minute walk to our hostel.

Checked into the Green Tortoise Hostel, we dropped our bags and went out for dinner! Right before leaving, the staffs at the reception desk called out for free beer since it was a Friday night.

Did someone say FREE?!

Excited (not because it's alcohol, but because it's free - free is good), we got ourselves a cup each. They even provided stickers and markers to decorate your Solo cups!

Both hungry and not knowing what to eat, Yelp to the rescue! It was then when I found a fellow Middle Eastern food lover. Yay, someone who appreciates shawarmas and gyros and heavily spiced rice as much as I do! So easy to narrow down our search. Phew!

Few sips before ditching it

...inhale the aroma...

Satisfied with dinner, the rest of the night was spent walking around the city. It was a nice night out, sightseeing areas I didn't get to during my previous trip.

Bright city lights around, but not as busy as a typical city would be. Being approached by high homeless people wasn't fun though. However, Airat speaking Russian seemed like a good strategy at fending them off.

Slav squat all day err day

Hot coffee to warm up

My smile tho...

- 18 February 2017 -

Rise and shine! Early start of the day was fueled by Russian pastries (piroshky) and coffee. Upon hearing of its fame, we had to give Piroshky Piroshky a shot.

We were practically the earliest customers, but we didn't start a queue so a few people who were slightly later than us became the first in line. They opened their doors to us soon and we could pick our pastries in peace before the small corner store was flocked with customers.

Seriously, I'm not even kidding. There's always a queue at Piroshky Piroshky. I've even witnessed customers looking oh-so-satisfied getting their hands on some piroshky with that smug look on their face. Like, why so serious?

Piroshky is basically buns with either savoury or sweet fillings in it. I got myself the freshly baked Potato & Mushroom Piroshky. The Russian said it was acceptable but definitely not comparable to the ones back home...as expected, right?

A plus point about being out early is the almost non-existent queues at famous spots like Piroshky Piroshky for one, and the first Starbucks! We ate our breakfast standing up at the small stand by the window...and practically photobombed tourists' photos. Muahahaha...

"One caramel macchiato for Vladimir, please"

It may seem as though I like going to the Gum Wall right after breakfast, but trust me, it was really just out of convenience. This time visiting the OCD's nightmare of a place, we contributed to the wall-full of art!

After having enough fun at the Gum Wall, we strolled around the Pike Place Market for a bit to buy some postcards and souvenirs before heading to possibly our favourite part of this trip - the Boeing tour.

Contributed to the collection

The Boeing factory despite being a tourist attraction was quite remote and hard to get to. Situated in Everett, riding the bus would take us two hours of the time we didn't have. The alternative was to take an Uber which was pricey, but quick. We took it.

The Boeing factory is home to the 747, 767, 777 and 787 Dreamliner production lines. The Future of Flight Aviation Center & Boeing Tour cost $25 per person, and is available seven days a week. They do not allow phones or cameras during the tour, and there are lockers available to keep your belongings.

Before exiting the building, we were shown an introduction video to the Boeing company. The tour began the moment we hopped onto the bus, guided by a very enthusiastic guide who was the third generation in her family line to be a guide at Boeing. We were brought to each of the production sites where we got to see some pre-assembled planes on the gigantic production line, and some already assembled ones ready to be spray painted with colours of the customers' choice.

The gift shop marked the end of the tour (as usual). I saw a really cool waterproof jacket that looked like what their workers would sport, perfect for rainy weather in Bellingham...but it was essssspensive! So I just settled for lapel pins, magnets and a lanyard.

Coincidentally, we bumped into our friends just as we were leaving! They came with the English club from university and had the tour slot after ours. We ran into each others' arms as if we haven't met in ages, it was exciting!

(I didn't know how to tell her to get out of my frame lol)

The uberPOOL back to Seattle was the longest ride ever. It took around an hour or slightly more for us to get back (instead of 45 minutes) due to the few pick ups on the way. And perhaps I was kinda tired that I was busy dozing off in the car too...so it felt like a long ride.

Upon drop off, we went straight for lunch as we were starving by then. There's a cafeteria at the factory, but we wanted to get more appetizing food back in the city so we endured the starvation for a bit.

I went for my most anticipated Shrimp & Chips from Jack's Fish Spot, while Airat went for kebab from Turkish Delight. The shrimps were very fresh and succulent, but the fries were kinda burnt...what a bummer. It was supposed to be perfect!

My right eye started hurting during lunch...not sure if it was too dry or there's dust on my contact lens, but my eye drops were of no help at all. It was so irritated that I was tearing non-stop (or perhaps the tears were due to me being bullied by the Russian #jk)! Running short on time, I wanted to just bear with it and carry on with the Seattle tour after lunch as planned, but my very considerate partner convinced me to go back to the hostel to sort it out as there's no use being in discomfort.

I thought of quickly running back to the hostel while he finished his lunch to save time, but he preferred going back together. Maybe he was thinking I'd feel bad about it as he said he'll just use the restroom when we're back. That way, the trip back was for the both of us, not just me. That logic tho... It was a nice gesture on his part and I appreciate it.

As we were planning for this trip, we came across a multi-admission pack to visit the attractions in Seattle. We got the 4-pack for $69 which included the Space Needle, Chihuly Garden and Glass, Pacific Science Center, and Seattle Center Monorail (round trip).

With this pack, we saved 25% of the total price and get the Blast Pass (express pass). Funny thing was I didn't realize our pass was the Blast Pass, so it all made sense when we got to skip the suuuuper long queue at the Space Needle. Yay!

At the peak of the tower, there's the open-air outdoor observatory deck, overlooking the city. Indoor area was a coffee kisok and seating area for those who wants to have coffee with a sky view. There's also some interactive features like a screen where you can explore different attractions in Seattle, and a touchscreen wall panel to key in your data to mark your visit!

On board the Seattle Center Monorail

Blast Pass holders!

  

Left my mark!

The other attractions didn't interest me much (and we had to rush through them to make it in time for our bus to Portland), so I felt like I kind of wasted my money. The Chihuly Garden and Glass is an exhibition of sculptures made up of glass, while the Pacific Science Center was largely catered to kids.

KeyArena

And that was all for our time in Seattle. We headed back to the hostel to pick up our bags that we left at the baggage storage and walked our way to the Bolt Bus station just by Chinatown.

Snacks on bus rides are a must, agree? The bus ride to Portland was around three hours and we'd be super hungry by the time we arrive. So we tapao (takeaway) some Chinese pastries, buns and of course, bubble tea from A Piece of Cake for the journey.

That was Airat's first encounter with bubble tea and man, did he fell in love with it! Being smart, we shared some pastries and one bubble tea so that we'll have more for supper. Plus, we didn't have the appetite to finish everything on the bus anyway.

The bus arrived in rainy Portland at around 10pm and we walked for 30 minutes to the University Place Hotel and Conference Center. The four to two people reduction meant we had to give up our Portland Mariott Downtown Waterfront and downgrade to a two-star accommodation.

It's all good, but not gonna lie...there's a slight pang of disappointment as we walked past the should-have-been hotel on our way to our actual hotel. Oh, we also passed by the famous Heathman Hotel from Fifty Shades! It wasn't a high rise building...more of a fancy, few-story boutique hotel.

Exhausted by the late arrival and walking in the rain to our accommodation, it was a sigh of relief upon check-in. Having a common sense of using the room key card to activate the electricity, we entered the room and searched the wall for the power switch or a switch of any sort. Nada.

Tired of trying to figure things out, I went to the front desk and ask how to turn on the lights. The conversation went like this:
Me: Hi, how do I turn on the lights...electricity in the room?
Receptionist: ....... *blinky eyes*
Me: You know, the lights? How do I turn it on? There's no slot for my room card...
Receptionist: ...oh, you just turn the lamps on.
Me: ...you mean turn them on manually? Individually?
Receptionist: (very confused facial expression now)...yeah...
Me: Oh! Okay, thanks a lot!

When it hit me that it's not like other hotels I've been to that is up-to-date technologically, I felt so embarrassed! Embarrassed as I felt as if I'm this foreign city girl that has only stayed in fancy hotels. (Mind you, budget hotels in Malaysia like Sun Inns have the card slot, ok?)

I ran back to the room and showed Airat the magic trick aka reaching below the lamp shades to turn the switch clockwise. His expression though...was priceless. He was just as dumbfounded as I was! With true team spirit, we went around the room switching on all the lamps. I told him how the dialogue went, complete with the whole re-enactment of the scene and it was hilarious.

A cold night it was, he went to fiddle with the heater. Suddenly, I was shocked by a loud-ass generator sound. I looked at him and he looked at me with stunned big eyes. "Man...this is old-school", he said.

We laughed it off and ended the night with supper of more Chinese pastries and bubble tea.