Wide Awake in Seattle

It was easy to be wide awake in Seattle, defying Circadian rhythms and jet lag. Not just because Seattle is coffee (birthplace of the world-renowned Starbucks chain) and other artisanal coffee brands like Storyville Coffee, but because its natural beauty perks you up, its food choices keep the eyelids up and the walkable streets keep the legs fueled. One gets a kick out of Seattle.

Our memorable Air Canada familiarization trip to Seattle and Vancouver began brewing on a 12-hour smooth flight on the Canadian flag carrier’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Vancouver, from where we took a 60-minute flight to Seattle.

Our “nice travels” began  at 9:30 a.m. Monday (6:30 p.m. Sunday Seattle time) from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

It was a cozy ride on AC’s Signature Class (Business Class), with its wide seats that recline to an 80” lie-flat bed, and cushions you can adjust to your preference of softness or firmness.  There is a  signature massage-on-seat, too. I loved how the window seat, which I have always preferred for the nook and privacy it gives a passenger (regardless of section) was a solo seat on AC’s Boeing Dreamliner. It was as if I had my own little suite all the way to Vancouver.

Food choices included Pinoy favorites like adobo and Pancit Canton with plump shrimps. Wines were carefully selected and served generously. Since it was a morning flight, I treated myself to a glass of champagne at lunch, before getting cozy on my chair with Conclave on the 18-inch screen, one of the many choices on Air Canada’s state-of-the art entertainment system.  With noise-cancelling headphones, I found Conclave engrossing with an unexpected revelation! (But that is a different story.)

From Conclave, I settled down in my enclave on the sky for the smooth trip. Another movie (Last Breath starring Woody Harrelson) and soon it was time to land in Vancouver.

After a brief stopover in Vancouver International Airport for pre-clearing at US Customs and Immigration in the same terminal, and an opportunity to freshen up at Air Canada’s Maple Leaf lounge, we were boarding our Air Canada express flight to Seattle. It was seamless. After a 60-minute flight, I was in the “Emerald City,” Seattle.

After picking up our luggage (yes, direct from Manila to Seattle),  and no more need to clear Immigration and Customs (as we had done that in Vancouver), our group was at the AC Hotel Downtown Seattle for an early check-in. By noon, I was having fish tacos on a patio of Gasworks Brewing overlooking a lake and a marina, where people were kayaking and paddle-boarding under the gentle summer sun.

After a sumptuous meal on terra firma, we walked over to Gas Works Park, which to me looked like a steel and copper “Stonehenge.” It is a 19.1-acre public park on the site of the former Seattle Gas Light Company gasification plant. The former power plant is on top of a gentle hill, overlooking a serene lake. Ducks walk around as tourists do. I love how the power plant was repurposed to be a monument to a century-old gas plant that was shut down in 1956, but whose lines and curves make it look like a modern art installation. The sight fired me up.

From there we walked to the famous Fremont troll under the bridge  — reportedly to transform a vacant space under the Aurora Bridge, also known as the George Washington Memorial Bridge, into an intriguing work of art crafted from rebar, wire, and ferroconcrete. It won the “Best Weird Wonder” in 2023’s Best Northwest Escapes viewer poll. Again, this left me with eyes wide open.

By popular request, we were obliged with a trip to Trader Joe’s by Air Canada’s Vincent Leung and Seattle Tourism’s Shawana Lee. This was better than an espresso. After shopping, we were ready for cocktails at Gemini Room, where creative cocktails and food offerings are served in a fun and thoughtfully designed space that had Oriental and Middle East accents.

Dinner was experiential at Seattle’s version of a “paluto” restaurant — Taylor Shellfish Oyster Bar, where seafood was leaping out of their watery beds and aquariums, then served as requested. It prides itself with “tide to table” offerings. In 1890, the Taylor family began farming shellfish in the waters of Puget Sound.

Five generations later, it continues to provide customers with the best shellfish the Pacific Northwest has to offer.

After a hearty, healthy meal, it was time for a nightcap.

By 7:45 p.m. of June 2, Pacific daylight time (10:45 a.m., June 3, Philippine time), we were at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room for a nightcap. This isn’t just a store, it’s a museum, a coffee shop, a roastery. It’s a destination. We discovered the art, science and craft of truly inspired coffee — all of the rare, small-lot Starbucks Reserve coffees are roasted and packaged at this roastery before being shipped all over the world. While enjoying coffee, you can watch coffees roast. It is the only  Starbucks Roastery and Tasting Room in the world, about nine blocks from the original Pike Place Market Store.

By 10 p.m.  (1 p.m., June 3 in Manila) and 27 hours after take-off from Manila, I was still reluctant to call it a day in Seattle. What a day full of perks, discoveries and sightseeing it was. To be in Seattle is to SEE-attle. From trolls to Trader Joe’s, from gas works plants to “the works” at the Taylor Oyster Bar.

As Air Canada is known for, it was nice travels all the way. Twenty-seven hours after leaving Manila, I was wide awake in Seattle and settled in for the night only to dream of the next day. *