Seattle

This time I’m traveling to Seattle on Southwest. It’s been awhile since I’ve flown Southwest so I was surprised by their open seating policy. It worked out ok and it was a pretty uneventful flight. The only issue was the plane change in Baltimore. When they transferred the luggage it was pouring rain. I guess Southwest doesn’t believe in covering luggage with a tarp. The luggage was so wet that water was running out of bags on the baggage carousel.

I took a cab to my hotel and when I unpacked all of my clothes were soaked and had to be hung up to dry. I was not a happy camper but maybe the downpour had surprised them. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.

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Now about my digs for the week.

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My new employer is putting me up until Friday when  it will be time to head back home. My accommodations are in the Hotel 5 which is located in the Belltown section of Seattle.

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I feel like I’ve been dropped into one of J.A. Jance’s novels. She writes a series of novels about J.P. Beaumont, a Seattle Homicide Detective. She often describes places in Seattle which until now were just fiction.

But back to my Hotel, I walked in with my luggage still dripping water to see plastic draped through the lobby. Apparently they had a construction project going and they ran late. The poor night desk clerk looked quite harried. Another “guest” and I use the term loosely was reading him the riot act. I’m not sure about what but nothing the clerk offered him was good enough. I really felt bad for the clerk..not the guy yelling.

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As soon as the clerk could break away from Mr. Irate, he checked me in and in spite of having just been reamed out like that, he was pleasant and professional  to me.

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The hotel was filled with bright colors, nothing calm or subdued here. At first I felt like I was getting a wake up call at 10 pm with all the bright colors but slowly they began to grow on me. The floors in the room were hardwood which surprised me since most hotels have industrial carpet. I have to admit I liked the way the hardwood looked.

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There was free WIFI in the rooms, always a big plus in my opinion.

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I unpacked and hung my soggy clothing in the shower to drip dry…I’m serious, it was that bad! Then went back down to find a restaurant. It was quiet in the lobby now so the clerk sent me one block down to the Palace Kitchen

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  where I had a lovely if expensive dinner with a ceramic chicken.

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Tomorrow I’d find the home office and meet the staff.

Posted in Food, Seattle, Travel, Washington State and tagged , , , .