Sleepless in Seattle August 2018
In August 2018 I was extremely fortunate to win a whirlwind trip to Seattle to see Pearl Jam live in concert and one of their sold-out Home Shows, thanks to Hawaiian Airlines and Visit Seattle.
We flew to Honolulu to connect with our flight to Seattle, it was a long day but so worth it. Our driver was waiting for us at baggage claim to take us to our hotel Embassy Suites Downtown.
By this stage it was nearly midnight, we were welcomed by friendly staff and a bottle of red wine and chocolates in our room with compliments of the Sales Manager.
We only have 2 days so we tried to fit in as much as possible.
Day 1 - First stop Emerald City Guitars, walking distance from our hotel, if you want an instrument you must stop here. We then continued our walk to the waterfront where there are loads of restaurants, ferries, boats and the Aquarium. We booked in on our Harbor Cruise with our City Pass, had brunch at a burger joint nearby before boarding our cruise. Extremely scenic and the commentary was great, affordable drink prices too! Great views of the Space Needle, sports stadiums and we even saw a seal swim past. Next stop the Aquarium, the otters are so cute, again used our City Pass for entry, a good stop if you have young children. Across the road, we sited an old Antique Store and of course we have to go in (says my husband), who walked out with a Hawaiian Tremoloa (old school slide guitar) you could spend hours in this store, hidden gems everywhere. We walked up the stairs into Pike Place Market just in time for the fish throwing. I needed to get some shopping in too so off to Ross Dress for Less we go before walking back to our hotel for the 2 hour afternoon complimentary drinks and snacks. There also was a Seattle Seahawks pre-season game on this night be we opted to dine at the hotel where we could also watch and hear the stadium just up the road.
Day 2 - Early morning as we wanted to go up the Space Needle before the huge crowds, we arrived right on 8.30am and up we went, what a spectacular view and they have just opened the clear glass floor area. WOW, what a cool experience, going up the elevator was an experience in itself let alone the glass floor. Then we walked across to the MPOP the museum of music, there is something for everyone here. A great Nirvana Exhibition, Jimi Hendrix as well as a Fantasy Land full of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter type displays, Gaming displays and a fantastic gift shop. If you have kids there is a very innovative free play area just outside the museum that will tire them out. We then caught the monorail back into town, just a little bit more shopping at TJ Maxx before meeting my relatives for lunch at Pikes, it was great to sit down and relax. The afternoon came around so quickly that it was time time to meet John from Visit Seattle who had our prized tickets for the concert, he was so gracious, met us in our foyer and came up for drinks before walking us to the PRESS Box at Safeco Stadium. YES, we were in a Press Box right opposite the stage with food, drinks and amazing views. We were very spoilt, Pearl Jam played for 3 hours had special guests on stage and they also raised $11M for the local homeless.
2 days is just not enough we need to go back and explore more areas, it's such a cool city with a great food and music culture, it's definitely on my go back list!
We were definitley Sleepless with a 6.30am pick up the morning after the concert, but I wouldn't have it any other way!
Tip: Go to Seattle prior to an Alaskan Cruise, then enjoy your Hawaii stopover on the way back. Flying with Hawaiian Airlines breaks up your long flight, and you can't go wrong with their Aloha service.