Couch Surfing

This is a promising idea. While we were on Bequia we met a couple who are couch surfers  and so we've joined up and put up a profile. I still have to sort out the study so that there isn't junk on the futon, and then we can post that we have a couch available and see what happens. Although I can't imagine who would want to come here this very moment. Drizzling cold rain. I'll post more about this later, but I wanted to mention it. I have the idea that couch surfing could be combined with a US rail pass, and I've already been in touch with a lovely woman from New Iberia, Louisiana. That's a town on Amtrak's Sunset Limited schedule. 

Did I mention? Couch surfing is free. Check it out.

Avoiding airports as long as possible

I'm excited by the possibility that by next winter we may be able to travel all the way from Bellingham to Seatac airport south of Seattle, on the ground, so to speak. And not on the Interstate trapped in a motor coach either. 

There's a light rail connection due to be completed to the airport from downtown Seattle, hopefully by the end of the year. I think this means we will be able walk down the street with our bags to the Amtrak station here in Bellingham and ride the train to Seattle, where we will transfer to the Sounder light rail line to the airport. (We're lucky enough to live in walking distance of the train.)

It gets complicated of course. It would require traveling light enough, for one thing, though we usually do that anyway. But the train doesn't get to downtown Seattle until 10:00 a.m. or so,  meaning scheduling a flight out of Seatac late enough in the day for the connection to work. 

The point, though, is not getting sucked up into that airport maelstrom, that hurry-up-and-wait mental state, those interminable announcements, until we have to. It's about starting the trip slow, relaxed, uncrowded. If I could take the train all the way to Grenada or St. Vincent and the Grenadines, I would. I've toyed with the idea of taking the train from Seattle to Miami, Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, or some other gateway to the Caribbean, and flying from there. 

I like to play with these possibilities. I get on the Internet and try to match up schedules to see what's possible. Sometimes it turns out to be pretty impractical. But we did a mini-version last week, when we arrived in Seattle after 21 hours in airports and airplanes, and too late to fly the rest of the way home to Bellingham that night. We took a taxi to a hotel for the night, spent the next day catching up with friends who live in Seattle, and took the train home in the evening. Instead of feeling like my brain was boiled, I was totally relaxed when we unlocked the door after three months away. 

I guess I'm advocating slow travel. It makes you feel like a human.

Back from Bequia

It's been four days since we hauled our suitcases up the hill from the train station on the last leg of our journey home, and re-entered life in the (currently) cold zone of Bellingham, Washington. Which is where we live, and more about this wonderful place later. 

However, we do run away when winter comes, and are just returning from a three-month stay on the island of Bequia. Bequia is the largest Grenadine island (five square miles) in the Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. That would be at about 13 degrees north of the Equator. A very desirable latitude this time of year. 

I'll be sharing travel and visitor information gleaned from this trip and others on this blog, link up to some photos, and also share local information for people headed for the Northwest.