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Day 7 - Thr 17 Apr 2003
Awake very early, but stayed in bed and had a read! Down for breakfast, there's a nice bit in the paper about Paula Radcliff dropping the world record for the marathon by two minutes - it seems there was little coverage of that fact over here. Mentioned that she got the BBC sports personality award with six times the votes that David Beckham got.
Anyway, dragged my bag down town to catch the bus (which was there waiting - result!) Filled in my customs declaration for the US and had to ask someone what state Seattle was in! Doh! Weather is the same as the past few days - dark clouds with the threat of rain, but brighter in the distance.
Our bus driver seems to be a bit of a card - he handed over a red rose to a lady walking by - by the sounds of it he sees her walk by everyday - it seemed to make her day! I'm kinda sad to be leaving Vancouver, but I think I've seen all that I wanted to see. My favourite building was the maritime one, with that fab doorway, and those 'sculptured' bricks.
We're heading south towards the US border, and the driver has heard over the radio that the US border patrol is stopping everyone today. Got off the bus at our last stop before the border, and got some Oreo's!
Well got through US customs etc. no problem - apart from thinking that I'd left my sunglasses, but they were in my pocket all the time!!! The immigration officer spotted the Jordanian stamp in my passport, and I thought that was going to cause problems - but he just handed me the passport back, and welcomed me into the US!
Helped a Mexican lady with directions to the Greyhound Bus station in Seattle, she kept going up and talking to the driver while we were in motion, so I offered help just to stop us all getting killed!!
The weather is starting to clear, and we're starting to climb thro' some large mountains - so I guess it's not that surprising. Traffic on the roads is starting to fill up, but it's nothing like the M25 back home!
Off the bus, and walked into the free bus zone in Seattle, a great idea, but no buses came while I was waiting! So walked downtown, dropped my bag off at my hostel, and took a wander around the Pike Place Market - a bit of a tourist trap, rather like Covent Garden. Then started off with the LP walking tour. The Bank of America tower is very tall - 385 metres - it takes two elevator rides to get to the 73rd floor viewing platform - my ears popped twice! If I was scared by the Vancouver tower, then this one was worse - it's sooo tall!
Got back to the hostel and did my washing, and paid for my two other nights here - the room is very basic, but for 28 quid a night I can't expect to much! I went down to the common room, and had a good chat with two English girls from Devon, who are 18 month around the world adventure - they have been on the go since February and have done a lot of the US on the Greyhound bus.
NextView my route around the world here
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