So, my holiday started on Friday with a bit of a rushed, stressed me having a panic at the absence of broadband in Wales and needing to get three last bits completed for work.
It was very strange getting up to Wales. The first time I had been up there since Champ died and there were no animals, not even the sheep! Very strange not having to worry about the dog running off!
Once work was sorted I was able to get on with packing and, once I had realised that all I really needed was my passport, tickets and hotel details, I eventually left to get the train from Caersws.
Train from Caersws to Birmingham New Street was uneventful, but on time which is a miracle for Ariva. At Birmingham I was on a lovely Virgin Pendolino train, and going for my usual weekend upgrade to first class. Yet again, I managed to get this for free and even managed to get free wine although I had been let off the upgrade charge, woo! off to a good start.
Eventually made it out to Heathrow and to the Sheraton by midnight and was up again early to get to the airport.
Met up with Angela and checked in (very boring, long wait, long flight, long wait for customs at LAX, long wait for flight to Seattle, short flight to Seattle as we both slept through all of it, shot trip to hotel, sleep, short trip to airport to collect car).
The Car. Oh, The Car! A White Ford Mustang (Sally) who purrs like a beast and is just fantastic!
Drove into Seattle and to our first hotel (not counting the Travelodge as it was just somewhere to lay our heads after the flights). Stayed at the Inn at the Queen Ann near the Seattle Centre. A lovely independent, boutique hotel close to the business end of Seattle but not too noisy. If you are going to Seattle, i strongly recommend you go there.
Had a lovely day in Seattle going to the Experience Music Project - a fantastic place with lots of music (and Jimmy Hendrix) memorabilia and history, as well as a fantastic practical session where you can have a go with drums, guitar and keyboards and have the opportunity to record a CD. Also part of the same building was the Science Fiction Museum (very appropriate for our trip!) which has lots of original props from many sci-fi shows including Star Wars, Blade Runner, Star Trek and the original costume from the Rocketeer (that last one is especially for you Clare!).
After that we went on a Duck Tour of Seattle which was great fun and great value, you see all the main parts of Seattle as well as going out on Lake Union were we saw Gas Station Park, St Mark's Cathedral and the house from Sleepless in Seattle. Then we went down to Chinatown and had some fantastic Chinese food; Ange had the house chow mien which had beautiful squid, scallops, prawns, chicken and beef; and I had Prawns Schezwan style with mixed vegetable fried rice. All was beautiful and fresh and tasty and excellent value.
We then came back to the Seattle Centre and went up the Sky Needle. It was rather chilly but beautiful seeing the city by sunset. The history of how they built the needle was fascinating.
Today we had a late-ish start and then went down to Pike Place market (to see the fresh fish stalls) and wandered back via a bit of lunch to collect the car and start out to Vancouver. The trip across the Canadian Border was very uneventful, although Ange and I both wanted to take the border guard home with us. We didn't think it would go down too well if we commented on it though! Arrived in Vancouver around 5.30 and we've checked into the lovely Century-Plaza Hotel and Spa. We're now chilling out before heading out to an Irish bar and then for some food and cocktails at Gotham restaurant (again, to continue the geek theme!).
We're here for three night's in Vancouver so we're hoping to get out to Whistler as well as exploring the city.
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