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After my incriminating trip to Las Vegas (which I am naturally not going to write about), I headed up North to Idaho. I love saying the name of that state. Idaho! It's a fun name to shout when your'e a candidate for Miss USA. Basically it's all desert from Vegas to Idaho. If a zombie apocalypse were to happen I'd go to Nevada because they have so much space there and very few people. Hence less chances of zombie encounters. One should have a plan for a zombie apocalypse and that's mine. I miss watching The Walking Dead. I stopped by a small town called Eli, and there was nothing there. I used to think if I could just go to America, I wouldn't mind if I had to live in the middle of nowhere as long as I'm there. Now I think differently.
I did not include Idaho in my itinerary but I saw Paradise Valley from the highway and thought it was stunning. Expansive green fields with bare mountains that were flat on top. If it were less green it would look like something out of a Marlboro commercial. I made an overnight stopover in Twin Falls and
Boise. Boise, I like that name too because it sounds kinda funny.
Finally I arrived in Seattle. I had no idea where to go. I got there a few hours earlier than the time I told my host I'd arrive so I decided to walk around for a few hours. It was Sunday and almost everything was closed. For some reason I didn't feel safe. I had a feeling that I was gonna get mugged any second. I saw the Space Needle while I was on the bus so I knew the general direction where it was andI decided to walk there, with my backpack. I must have walked about 20 blocks from Kings Street Bus Station to the Space Needle, and it took me about 45 minutes. Almost all the people I passed by on the 2nd street near the Chinese supermarket were homeless. Homeless people scare me. I think it's different in America but where I'm from, we're very cautious around the homeless. So being alone on a street where everyone I see are homeless made me nervous. I had to walk fast until I got to Pike street. I could have taken the bus but the
The Bellagio
I can easily spend four hours here watching the dancing fountain show.transportation system confused me. Trains are easier. And walking helps me get to know the place better so I'd have less chances of getting lost in the following days.
Downtown Seattle is the most modern business district I've seen in the States. The buildings in the central business districts of LA and San Francisco were older and they did not have as many shiny sky scrapers as Seattle. An ugly elevated highway called the Alaskan Way blocked the ocean view.
It took a lot of perseverance, will power, and extra time for me to finally reach the Space needle. It was $34 going up so I didn't bother. There are several interesting places surrounding the space needle. There were a few museums but I'm not really interested in museums. I'd only go in if it was free. I only went inside the one building that was free and it was an indoor children's playground. At least it had free wifi so I immediately posted a selfie with my face next to the Space Needle so mom would know where I was and know that I was safe. My family wants me to keep updating them where I was
to make sure that I was safe because they're a little afraid of me travelling alone in the US. I thought emailing and texting them my location all the time was not the most manly thing to do so I just posted photos on Facebook.
One good thing about travelling is that once you've been to a place that you thought was dangerous, and you get out of there without a scratch and with lots of fun memories, then your perception of that place changes. You realize that the world is generally safe. I should have gone to Mexico! Then again, I'm afraid to go there alone and nobody wanted to go with me because they're all afraid. And those who are not cannot afford it.
As I was walking to Spring Street in Cap Hill where I will be staying with my AirBnB host, I came across a lady who was crying loudly and limping as she walked. She looked like she got mugged. I stopped and asked "Can I help you miss?" she ignored me. Again I tried "Is this the way to spring street?" I was trying to humor her. Din't work. The other tourists
who overheard gave me the stink eye.
I got to the apartment 30 minutes late. The building did not have a doorman. All the tenants had a badge to unlock the door at the main entrance. I walked around the building to see if there was another entrance but there was none. One of the tenants got out of the building as I was waiting outside the door so I stopped the door from closing and got in! I knocked on the door of the apartment I was supposed to go to but there was no answer. I knocked several times more. No response. I thought I'd been had. It was getting dark and I didn't know where to go. I was at the lobby for about 20 minutes when finally I saw my host. He asked why I didn't text him. I was gonna say "why are you one hour late?!" but held my tongue. I might be paying but it was his home and I'd be in a lot more trouble if he didn't let me stay. The apartment was messy. Food, clothes and shoes were all over the place. It was a nice apartment in a
modern building in a good neighborhood. It just wasn't neat. But it was cheap so it was fine by me. He offered me ice cream and I politely declined though I wanted ice cream. He's a nice young man. About 26ish Egyptian immigrant who works for Facebook. I looked him up before booking the place to make sure that he's not a psycho killer. It was my first time to use AirBnB. I was running out of money for motels and the cheap ones are too far from downtown. And my credit card company offered me $50 discount on my first booking. I watched television with him for a couple of hours. He's a very smart guy. An accomplished software engineer at a young age. He has achieved what a lot of young men around the world are dreaming of. A successful career in one of the world's top companies. Living in the States in a nice apartment and he's only been in the States for less than two years. I wish I had his life. He's living my American dream.
I went out to get something to eat. It was only 8 PM but I couldn't find a
restaurant open. Even Subway was closed. There was only McDonald's but I'm vegetarian and there was nothing there other than fries that I could eat. I went back to the apartment after I found a granola bar and yoghurt in a corner store. My bed was an air bed behind his couch. The linens were already on the bed and were a mess. It was obvious that a previous guest slept there and he didn't wash it. I did't complain because it was already late at night and I did't want to get kicked out when I had no idea where the closest hostel was. It was time to go to bed so I went to the bathroom to shower before I sleep. A surprise was waiting for me there. His big yellow turd was floating on the toilet bowl. So I flushed it. There were skid marks galore all over the toilet seat. He did not have toilet tissue but had the Asian bum gun. I pretended like nothing gross happened. He didn't say a word about it either. Although I'm pretty sure he knew what happened. Maybe he didn't mind.
Still when AirBnB prompted me to leave
a review, I gave him 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Cool apartment in a safe neighborhood near downtown." Every word is true. It indeed was a nice apartment in a nice neighborhood, ten minute walk to downtown. I just didn't tell the whole story because I didn't want to be a jerk. How can you leave a bad review for someone who you just met, spent a few days with, and treated you kindly? He was a really nice guy and we got along really well. It just so happened that he forgot to flush when I was there. Maybe my reluctance came from the feeling that I was a guest in his house. Or perhaps, having grown up in boarding school in high school and then on to a college dorm where the likelihood of walking in on your roommate having sex with his girlfriend is quite high, I have a very high tolerance for men's disgusting habits. So take those AirBnB reviews with a grain of salt. Or maybe a bag of salt if that means more caution.
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LAtrain
Lauren Allain
Your airbnb
Sorry your Seattle experience included that host! Your description of it was hilarious, although I felt bad laughing at what I'm sure was a less-than-ideal situation. If you like tulips you should try to get back to Seattle in April one year and head to the Skagit Valley tulip festival.