UPTOWN TO DOWNTOWN

DAY 71

MONDAY 13 JUNE 2016

2715 NE 96th St - 2327 2nd Ave Seattle

1510 - 1830

24.24 km (15.06 miles)
Av. Speed: 13.4 km/h (8.3 mph)
Max. Speed: ??
Time On Bike: 1h 48m 24s

Although Pia and Zach had extended the offer for me to stay an extra night, I had committed to the remaining 5 nights of my time in Seattle to a downtown venue, the City Hostel.

It ended up being a little late to cancel and as a result, I wheeled out just after 3 pm on Monday to make good on the booking.

MANY THANKS TO ZACH AND PIA, MY GREAT HOSTS FOR 3 DAYS IN SEATTLE!!

The Burke-Gilman trail is an excellent urban bicycle and pedestrian trail through the midst of Seattle, making transit through the city much more accessible and straightforward than it would otherwise be and something I could only dream of being able to use in my home town of Sydney.

I had utilised the BGT on the way in on Friday evening and was able to make equally effective use of it on the way out as well.

With stops via Safeway in Wedgwood for a 3.30 brunch and a quick pit stop at the NE public library, I made my way downtown via a curious Seattle attraction known as the Fremont Troll.

The "Troll" is something of an exceptional piece of community street art, located under large freeway overpass in the Fremont district.

HANGING WITH THE FREMONT TROLL

Some 3½ hours and a thousand rush-hour red lights later, I pulled up outside the City Hostel in 2nd Avenue and checked in for 5 nights.

THE DELTA SITUATION

Pia had been generous enough to give me use of her phone on Sunday evening as I attempted to make fresh contact with Delta after an extended and inauspicious session with them on Saturday.

Essentially it had been less than good news as I had requested to change the date of my return ticket to Sydney and the quote I was given for the honor was not only excessive but unacceptable from my standpoint.

I wanted to get to the bottom of it ASAP although I knew it was most likely going to be a difficult and unrewarding process - hopes of an outcome in my favour were quite low.

Still, I had to try.

Around and hour later an outcome was reached and although not ideal, was significantly better than it had been 24 hours earlier.

Not only did I have a return date to Sydney finalised but it was half the cost of what I had been quoted the day before.