30-Hour Adventure in Seattle and British Columbia

Ten dollar one way airfare anywhere in the United States ?!? It sounds like a joke or a scam or a glitch in Jetblue's website. However, thank God it was not. This was the beginning of my spontaneous fun adventure from sunny southern California to the green fresh air of Pacific Northwest.

As a simple Filipino immigrant, one of my goals is to visit as many countries as I can in all 7 continents in this lifetime. So with a little hesitation, I decided to book the flight to Seattle and reserved a rental car so I can drive up to British Columbia, Canada to visit my friend Ruby and her family when I saw this airfare promotion from Travelzoo.com.

Here's my 30-hour adventure in Seattle and British Columbia.

This is how it all begun, I am now checked in and was finally assigned a seat after all the passengers who paid full-priced airfare boarded. After 2 hours and 20 minutes, I arrived at Seattle International Airport then I picked up my car rental.

I am so glad that the sun is out in Seattle, however it is still chilly at 55 degrees Fahrenheit. I guess I got lucky because the weather the day before was cloudy, windy and cold.

Now, I was getting ready to drive around Seattle. So I programmed my first destination on my GPS. On my way to the first “place” I was going to visit I was excited at the same time scared. I have not done anything like this before so this is definitely out of my box. Finally I got to my destination, I was so happy and very grateful. I walked around and took pictures. I would say it was a success since I did what I planned to do. I wished I had more courage to go one step further and just do it. Well, at least I learned about myself that my looking good issue or my not wanting to look bad sometimes get in the way of what I really want. So that’s it for destination #1!

I am now on my way to my next destination – to see the First Starbucks Coffeeshop in the world and to walk around the famous Seattle’s Public Market. As I was driving in the freeway, I notice a few things that are different from driving in the 405 freeway in LA/OC, one is that the beautiful green trees in the freeway and also noticed how different the drivers are here in Seattle because they follow the speed limit of 60 mph and they rarely change lanes. So refreshing to enjoy my drive without being worried of being cut off or tailgated that can sometimes happen while driving in the 405 freeway.

I finally arrived at Pike Place. I walked around the public market. This public market is famous for the fish throwing entertainment. I did not get to see this because it usually happens between 8-10 AM. The public market have lots of cool stores – organic fresh and dried fruits, jams, souvenirs, unique clothes and of course seafood.

After looking at the different shops, I met with my college classmate, Apple, who lives in Seattle. We met at the first Starbucks coffeeshop. I got myself a grande Soy Strawberry Frappuccino. The best part was we got there during their happy hour, which means half off on the Frappuccinos. It was so cool to see the where it all started. It was so amazing to me because this first Starbucks coffeeshop was just a way for a couple of friends to make money while they were in college, and is now in every city in the US and even worldwide. Apple and I walked around downtown Seattle while catching up on what has been going on in our lives after we graduated from college more than a decade ago. I definitely enjoyed downtown Seattle, seeing the waterfront view, Seattle Art Museum and many more.

Last part of my journey, it is late in the afternoon and it is time to drive up to British Columbia to see my very close friend Ruby. It was a nice drive up but I stopped by a Seattle-based burger place, Red Mill Burger, that JR Celski tweeted about. The great scenery, great spring weather and the sunset made the 2 1/2 drive go by so fast. As I passed the US-Canada border I was looking forward to seeing Ruby’s 2 sons. When I arrived at their house, I played with the boys and they taught me how to play their new card game Eureka. Of course, they beat me because they are just that good, smart and adorable. Ruby is so thoughtful, she cooked dinner for me and she bought me my favorite Philippine fruit, lansones (it’s like longan but better). I ate all of it by myself since they do not sell this fruit in the States.

As my 30 hour Seattle and British Columbia adventure comes to an end, my heart is filled with gratitude to God who continues to guide, support and amaze me on how wonderful this life is. God who has always provided opportunities in life, I learned that I have the choice to take a risk and say “yes” or be scared and say “No”. Thank you God!!!!

Lastly, I’ll leave you with my own version of the Visa commercial: ”Roundtrip airfare ticket from Long Beach to Seattle = $41.40, Soy Strawberry Frappuccino at the first Starbucks coffeeshop = $2.16, a thirty hour spontaneous trip to Seattle and Canada = PRICELESS!"

P.S. I hope that after reading this, you get inspired to do something spontaneous, out of the box or something that scares you that you would need to partner up with God to achieve it. Just do it!!

Being in the "NOW" moment,

Kaye