Moses Lake – Jason likes to travel

Washington – April 2019

Hey there, dear readers! I’m back in the groove, blogging weekly so here’s another 2019 adventure for you to enjoy!

I kicked off 2019 by mapping out my travel plans and of course at the top of the agenda was booking a trip to see Haleigh in good ol’ Washington State! April’s always a good travel month for that – public holidays to take advantage of and it’s usually not too busy at work. I figured an Easter break would work quite nicely.

Using just five days annual leave I managed to wrangle 11 days in Washington, kicking off the trip on the Wednesday before the Easter weekend.

I’ve done this journey a fair few times now but as we inched closer to the Canada / Washington border I was just in awe of the views below me. I say below me but barely, we felt that close to the mountains that I’m not sure I needed a parachute to hop out and have some fun in the snow – “Excuse me pilot, anywhere here will do..”

It was a breathtaking entrance in to Seattle. After landing I was keen to breeze through and get to my hotel ASAP – football had occupied much of my thoughts on the flight over and I knew Spurs would be playing shortly after my landing. I was hopeful I’d be able to catch the game.

That plan didn’t materialise. There wasn’t really anywhere near my hotel to watch the game and unfortunately I couldn’t find it on TV anywhere in the hotel – I had to settle for repeated “refresh, refresh, refresh” on my phone and hope that a combination of the BBC, Twitter, friends and family would keep me updated on the decisive Champions League clash with City. I’d watched Tottenham beat Manchester City in London a week earlier so we were just one “good” result away from progressing to our first Champions League semi final for 57 years.

I say “good result”. We actually lost 4-3 but that was enough to see us progress to the next stage. It was a dramatic and unforgettable finish to the game but the important thing was that we had progressed – what a way to kick off the trip!

I’d told myself that I wasn’t going to the semi final in Amsterdam in any hypothetical scenario that saw us qualify but I was ecstatic nonetheless!

Haleigh had her last day of teaching before their spring break so had to work on the Wednesday. She was driving over to Seattle later that day and we planned to spend the night in Seattle before returning East the following day.

Between Spurs victory and Haleigh’s arrival I didn’t really do much. I stayed quite close to the airport out of convenience and couldn’t be bothered making the journey in to downtown Seattle for the sake of a couple of hours. I think that ordinarily I might have squeezed in a nap but I was on too big of a high.

“So Amsterdam..?”
“No, no, no, no, no. I’m not going..”

Haleigh arrived a few hours later and we had a pretty relaxed evening. I don’t think we did much, I don’t even think we went back out for food and possibly had a pizza delivered to our room. I really can’t remember.

At the time Haleigh was living in Moses Lake still but we were planning to spend some of the break with Haleigh’s family in Walla Walla, so the next day we were heading back to Walla Walla with a little detour on the way.

It’s a little out of the way but we decided we’d go and visit a famous picturesque little town called Leavenworth. I say famous loosely as I’m sure there’ll be some of you who’ve never heard of it but Leavenworth is well known for having transformed itself in to a Bavarian town. Here in the heart of Washington was a little slice of Germany.

Leavenworth is lovely. As soon as you arrive you’re treated to picturesque mountain views surrounding the town and driving through you instantly appreciate the Bavarian style architecture.

We found ourselves a place to park so that we could have a look around and one of the first things that I spotted was that the street signs were in both English and German – a nice touch I thought.

Leavenworth isn’t particularly big. Like many American towns, it’s apparently a city but in my eyes barely more than a tourist town with a couple of streets to have a wander along. We popped our heads in to a few shops selling bits and pieces.

Whilst a very pretty place, there isn’t a huge amount to discover in Leavenworth. I think they go all out around Oktoberfest and Christmas and give you the “authentic” German experience of both but in April there’s not much going on and it was pretty quiet.

After mooching about for a bit we went and found a restaurant to grab some lunch at – the “BärenHaus” which was a nice pub restaurant selling typical German-style food. Haleigh grabbed one of her favourites (a Reuben which comes with Sauerkraut) and I probably ordered myself a Wiener Schnitzel because “when in Germany” it’d be rude not to!

Following on from lunch we had one last glimpse of Leavenworth before deciding to hit the road, it’d had been a worthwhile detour and I’m sure I’ll return one day. Hopefully coinciding with either Oktoberfest or Christmas-time to see how Leavenworth really sells Germany for those unable or unwilling to leave the USA to experience the real thing.

From Leavenworth we headed straight to Walla Walla – another drive showing off Washington’s scenic mountain views. I never tire of the drive – perhaps helped by the fact I don’t have to worry about doing the driving but it’s so pretty over there. A few hours later we’d arrived in the familiar setting of Walla Walla and settled in at the grandparent’s house who were kindly accommodating us for the weekend.

We mingled for a bit before calling it a night and relaxing in our room for the weekend. Amsterdam was still weighing on my mind as I went to sleep – ever more tempting as time passed. “Do I go..?”

Having slept on it I decided that I had to. A Champions League semi final featuring Spurs? Come on.. when is that ever going to happen again?

My indecision affected my plans. I should have been straight on it and getting those flights or trains booked up but by the time I’d come to my senses prices had sky-rocketed for both. I couldn’t justify the high prices so in the end found an alternative compromise and settled for an overnight coach trip to and from Amsterdam – bonkers but I had to be there!

All booked. I had to ridiculously start my day by emailing work requesting more time off. “I know I’m in Washington but..”

Amsterdam was sorted, I could finally and fully focus on Washington and the company I had with me. Later in the day myself, Haleigh and her brother (Ben) made the short trip over to the Tri Cities. We usually visit at least once whenever I visit as with the three combined cities (Tri-Cities, duh!) it’s a bit bigger than Walla Walla and a good place to hang out for a few hours.

We kicked off our afternoon with a little time at one of the parks in Richland which sits along the Colombia River. We popped our heads in to a small store with a bunch of art and bits and pieces before strolling along the river. I think Ben and Haleigh did a little Pokemon-hunting whilst I settled for grabbing some photos of the pretty views.

Richland Pokemon — Haleigh and Ben Pokemon-hunting off in the distance

From the park we headed in to the Tri Cities to check out the mall. There’s a decent sized mall in the Tri Cities and it’s much better for shopping and picking up a few bits. We visited a few of our usual favourites including the likes of Barnes and Noble, likely grabbed some food at Olive Garden and then made our way back to Walla Walla for the evening.

The rest of the Easter weekend was spent enjoying time with the family and eating good food.

For such a religious country I find it baffling that there’s little love for the Easter holiday. Unlike the UK, it’s business as usual on Easter Monday so we headed home to Moses Lake on the Sunday afternoon.

I entertained myself on Monday whilst Haleigh worked. I wandered in to town and paid a visit to some of my Moses Lake favourites that I have a lot of love for. I grabbed myself some tea at my favourite coffee shop, enjoyed some lunch downtown and then had a wander along the lake before calling it a day.

Monday evening and Tuesday was pretty relaxed. It’s nice to have a home base to enjoy a trip and not have to think about work, just sit back and relax a little. I had such a busy start to 2019 and there was no sign of that letting up in the weeks ahead so it was good to have some proper downtime on this trip.

On the Wednesday I ventured back in to town. Much like Monday I just mooched about a little, grabbed some lunch and then popped in to Moses Lake’s museum for a little while. It’s free to visit and the perk of visiting every so often is that the exhibit had usually changed in-between trips. On this occasion there was an exhibit based on the history of the local school which was pretty cool to learn about.

In the evening our friends, Maddie and Cassie, popped in to town so we went for dinner together at a favourite local restaurant called Rock Top. I hadn’t personally seen Maddie and Cassie since their wedding so it was nice for the four of us to catch up whilst I was in Washington. We had a nice evening before they made the drive back to Ellensburg and we headed home.

On Thursday evening we had another outing. There was some career fayre kind of thing going on at some school in the Tri-Cities which Haleigh wanted to attend so we decided we’d go and spend the evening in the Tri-Cities. One of Haleigh’s teaching friends ended up joining us for the trip so in the end they attended together and I was left to amuse myself.

I didn’t want to be a million miles away from the school and there wasn’t an awful lot in the vicinity but one thing that caught my eye was a nearby brewery which I thought would be perfect spot to wait.

It wasn’t the easiest to find actually, it’s in quite a bizarre location on the suitably named ‘Railroad Ave’. There was actually some cool street art on route that made it an interesting walk but the brewery felt like it was otherwise in the middle of nowhere just on the other side of the tracks. It was a little too quiet for my liking – very little traffic and I’m not sure it’d feel the safest walking there after dark but fortunately it was light out.

Location aside, the brewery was lovely. It felt very off-the-beaten-path but still busy as I walked up with a few cars parked up and a lively atmosphere with a few people enjoying a beer outside. I walked in and first impressions were good. I took seat at the bar and ordered myself a flight. Along one of the corridors was various bits of train-inspired artwork and memorabilia which I guess correlated with the brewery’s location. All in all, it was a good place to hang out for an hour or so.

I think originally myself and Haleigh had talked about doing something together in the Tri-Cities but as Haleigh’s friend had tagged along we ended up just grabbing some food on the road and driving back to Moses Lake.

Unfortunately it didn’t seem like Haleigh had really had the chance to enjoy any time in the Tri-Cities and the school-career-thingy was a bit of a bust too so a wasted trip for Haleigh – although I very much appreciated the brewery visit haha.

Friday was a pretty chilled day. We enjoyed our final evening together and just hung out before calling it a night. The next day Haleigh drove me back to Seattle in time to catch my flight. The mountain views were as pretty as ever on the drive back – lots of snow on the mountains which was cool!

I left Seattle with mixed feelings. Being in a long-distance relationship is always difficult and of course I was going to miss Haleigh, not 100% sure when we’d next see eachother. It was bittersweet to be leaving so soon.

That said, I also knew that I had two imminent trips coming. I had two further trips to look forward to in the next ten days! Just one week of work and I’d be off on my travels again!

I was SO excited to be going to Amsterdam but before that? A first trip to Finland!!!
That story will be next up on the blog. Stay tuned!

Jason

Ten day photo challenge – behind the scenes!

Hey dear readers! It’s me again! You must be bored of me by now, right? I think this is the first time I’ve ever posted more than two days running! Haha.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed following and playing along over the past ten days. Now it’s time for me to reveal why these were “favourite” photos and the story behind picking these particular ten.

To be honest, I followed the favourite objective a little loosely. These aren’t necessarily Instagram-worthy or being printed to go up on my bedroom wall any time soon but they bring back good memories for one reason or another. In a lot of cases they’re favourites purely for the story behind the photo.

Forewarning – this is likely to be a long post. So if you’re only interested in the answers and not the stories behind them I’ll list the locations above each photo.

I think the initial “no explanation” part to this challenge was only implemented for people such as me who have to ramble on and on and on!

Anyway let’s get on with the stories shall we?

Day one – “I’m really fucking here!!” – Sydney, Australia

Truthfully, this wasn’t the photo I would ideally have used for this particular story. I wanted to share my first photo from this trip but it clearly had the name of the city in the photo so it wasn’t particularly suitable for the challenge haha.

This one seemed to have you all stumped! Interestingly Nick was the first to play along and made the observation that they’re “driving on the wrong side of the road”. The photo might therefore be a little misleading but the Aussies actually drive on the left like ourselves in England!

The Travel Architect suggested this was Big Ben’s little brother but the guess of Walla Walla, Washington was way off the mark!

This building is actually Sydney’s Central train station and the photo was taken from my dorm room at Sydney Central’s YHA hostel. Not a bad view right? The alternative photo had the name of the hostel and ‘Sydney’ was clearly visible so wasn’t much use.

Those of you following me on Instagram will have already had some insight in to the story for this one. On the 9th of February 2013 I was embarking on my first ever solo trip! On the 11th of February 2013 I’d landed in Sydney, Australia.

I was so fucking nervous. See Instagram for my “excited at Heathrow” photo before leaving. Sydney was one of those bucketlist destinations for me. The seed got planted in to my head about going to Sydney in the near future and shortly after I picked up Bill Bryson’s “Down Under” book which only tempted me further.

I started considering it and floated the idea with a few people – “I’m thinking about going to Sydney..” – and the feedback was pretty positive. I spoke to my parents about it, I booked the time off work, I had the money in the bank and nothing..

I just couldn’t find the courage to book the trip. I had everything planned out! I was going to Sydney on the 9th of February and come mid January I still hadn’t booked the flights or the accommodation.

It was really last minute but I’d finally done it. It was booked! There was no turning back now!

The rest was history. I stepped out of the train station, walked down the stairs and right in front of me was the hostel I was staying at. I was really in Sydney! Fucking pinch me! I checked in to my hostel and this was the view greeting me from the dorm window.

That trip changed everything. I’d got the bug! Travel stopped being a luxury and started being the priority. I don’t think the majority of the trips that followed would have happened had it not been for this trip and this experience.

Day two – “Disney of the North!” – Helsinki, Finland

Some interesting guesses on this one. Finland enthusiast, Marion, I knew would get this one instantly but she refrained from giving the game away and kept schtum on the correct answer.

The Travel Architect came up with Greece as her best guess so was on the right continent at least, meanwhile Salsa World Traveler went for something a little more vague and guessed “somewhere cold” – you weren’t wrong! It was Tanja however that came up with the correct response – Helsinki in Finland – an impressive guess given she’s never been to Helsinki!

Funnily enough, I almost went with a train station photo for this one too but then I started looking at day three and didn’t want to post three train stations in a row haha.

I’ve not actually blogged about the Finland trip yet but this was another bucketlist destination for me, albeit for very different reasons on this occasion. My grandmother was Finnish and she lived with us throughout my childhood up until she died. I’d always felt such a strong connection to Finland and those roots and it has always given me a huge desire to see Finland for myself.

It was only as the trip got closer that the realisation hit me that I might not actually like Finland as much as the place I’d built up in my head. I’d convinced myself that Finland was perfect. What if this trip crushed every fairytale I’d created in my mind?

In the days leading up to this trip the nerves really hit me. There was suddenly pressure towards this trip. I’ve always felt that Finnish connection and I’ve clung to it as best as possible since my grandma died but I couldn’t brush off this doubt. I was DESPERATE for this trip to live up to my ridiculously high standards.

The day of the trip came and this was it! I landed at Helsinki airport a little while later and it was pretty smooth, it’s a really nice airport. I followed directions towards the train platforms and then bought myself a ticket heading for the centre of Helsinki.

My first real memory of Finland was this little girl sitting on the train, with what I assume was her dad, and singing some nursery rhyme which just sounded heavenly. I then got off the train, stepped outside of the station and it was snowing! There was no snow in the forecast for the weekend!

“Are you kidding me? This place is magical! Sod Disneyland, this is Disney of the North!”

I was instantly swooning over Finland. I can’t adequately describe what I felt that weekend. I went with such high hopes and it was infinitely better than I could have ever imagined.

I’m not saying that’s necessarily the reality, Finland probably isn’t for everyone but the trip somehow strengthened my love for this country. I’m itching to go back and probably would have returned in 2020 had it not been for Covid.

This particular photo was on the day I arrived. It was still lightly snowing and I saw Helsinki cathedral for the first time and I was blown away. I’d seen photos of it online but it somehow seemed even more remarkable in the flesh.

I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to judge Finland objectively, it might purely be the Finland-tinted glasses on but I felt a belonging and at home in a place I’d never been to. Magical!

Day three – “I know your language!” – Köln, Germany

“Hauptbahnhof” was your big clue for this one, or the DB and S train services that run throughout this country! Translating Hauptbahnhof from German in to English would give you the main or central (haupt) train station (Bahnhof) so if you understood Germany or had been to Germany you might have been able to narrow this down a little!

I’m not sure how recognisable this train station is but this proved the easiest photo challenge so far. Tanja and The Travel Architect were able to narrow this down as far as Germany.

Fellow bloggers Little Miss Traveller, Whole lotta Rosie, Living in Karolingston, Our Crossings and Handstands Around The World were all much more accurate in their guess of Cologne – this being Cologne’s main train station!

I first visited Cologne in 2013, a few weeks after coming back from Sydney. I told you I’d got the travel bug! I was itching to go somewhere and Easter weekend was the perfect opportunity for some travel.

Well not perfect! My last minute planning meant my options were relatively limited as far as my budget was concerned and I ended up booking myself a train to Cologne – not a city I’d ever cared about visiting, nor a country I really had much interest in visiting.

That trip was the first time I truly felt like I’d been abroad. I didn’t know the language, I was all on my own, the Germans didn’t seem particularly welcoming. My hostel was lonely – a very different vibe to my first hostel experience in Sydney. I was still an inexperienced traveler and all of the comforts of Sydney were lacking here.

I still enjoyed Cologne but I wasn’t sad to be going home at the end of the Easter weekend. So I was happily sat waiting for the train back to Brussels (and then London) and some bilingual, seemingly homeless, person approached me asking for money.

A bilingual homeless beggar! I brushed off his pleas in German, playing the ignorance card and he trumped me!

“No worries mate, I can ask you for money in English..”

What!? That backfired! For what it’s worth, I hadn’t refused the first request because I’m some heartless soul. I’ll happily help anyone but it’s difficult differentiating between someone who’s genuine and needs help opposed to someone who’s just a chancer and taking advantage of people’s kindness.

Nevertheless, asking me in two languages humbled me a little bit and he ended up walking away with a few spare euros in his pocket. That experience has stuck with me ever since.

Fortunately in 2016 I returned to Köln (not Cologne!) as a German speaker and it felt like a sign of personal growth. I’m not fluent by any means but it was hugely satisfying to be able to speak the language of the locals.

I’ve been to Köln four times now and whilst I hadn’t ever anticipated visiting that many times, the subsequent trips have been much more satisfying than that first trip was. No matter where I travel now I try and learn a few phrases because it can transform your entire experience. I’ve grown a soft spot this city and I’ve been to many other parts of Germany since too.

This particular photo was taken in 2016 on the way back to my hotel – I’m sure that ‘Hauptbahnhof’ sign was always there but it was more noticeable on this occasion and I had to get a photo.

Day four – “The big 3-0!” – Chicago, USA

This one was seemingly too easy for many of you! Marie, Jess, Marion, Salsa World Traveler, The Travel Architect, Tanja and Diana were all able to correctly identify this as Chicago!

Of course this inclusion shouldn’t be a surprise. How could I not include at least one photo from this trip? I could have probably found a hundred photos from this trip to have used but I really wanted something from the first stop on this trip – Chicago! My only regret is not making it harder for you! Haha.

This is genuinely a favourite photo from that trip though. As you’ll know, I’m still in the process of writing about this trip on the blog but it was truly an unforgettable trip. To spend that length of time on one trip, seeing so many places, creating so many memories – just wow!

It’s another trip that humbled me. Thousands of miles, six states, an entire month traveling the USA – I’m not sure I’ll ever take another trip that’s quite that grand and I’m really appreciative that I had the opportunity. It was the best way to celebrate turning 30.

This particular photo was one of my last in Chicago and I was just in awe of its beauty. I was sad I’d had such little time in the city and needed the memory of this view to take home with me before heading on to Minneapolis.

Day five – “snap me while you can!” – Paris, France

I had more success in making this difficult for some of you. Marion had no idea, meanwhile The year without Wimbledon and The Travel Architect were only able to narrow down their guesses to Europe with Budapest and Vienna for answers.

Fortunately some of you were able to come up with the correct response. Aiva, Marie, Salsa World Traveler, Tanja and Sarah knew this was in Paris – the balcony of the Musee D’Orsay to be specific!

This was an interesting choice because I’d say “favourite” photo loosely. Admittedly this was one of the better ones from the 20 or so photos I managed to take on this particular weekend. A chunk of those however included one of the most famous landmarks in the world, The Eiffel Tower, so I couldn’t use those for this challenge either haha.

This trip was somewhat of a throwback to the “good old days..”

“Erm, Jason.. I know you’re 30+ now but you’re not that ancient..”

I know, I know but this trip afforded me the luxury of something I haven’t experienced for a number of years. There’s perhaps even some readers who’ll never have experienced travel like this but what you might call “off the grid” travel.

I’d charged my phone before work on Friday morning. Following work, myself and Haleigh would be catching the Eurostar to Paris! Now I’m 99% certain the Eurostar has charging points but I hadn’t been worried all day – my phone battery would last long enough for us to reach our hotel.

I’ve not written about this trip yet but after a hectic ride we finally arrived at our hotel, I plugged my phone in to charge and nothing!

Tried Haleigh’s phone – success. Tried mine – nothing!
Tried Haleigh’s charger – nothing. Tried Haleigh’s phone with her charger – success!

My phone had decided it was taking the weekend off! “Sorry Jason, you can’t expect me to work in Paris..”

It was mind-boggling. Three days later, I arrived back in England and it charged like there’d never been a problem. I’m using that same phone and charger 18 months later and it works perfectly fine but on this particular weekend? No chance!

So it was a race against the clock really. I was preserving my phone life as long as possible but by Saturday morning my phone was dead! I was in Paris off the grid! I was unreachable. I had no idea where we were, I had no idea what time of day it was anymore, I had no idea what was going on in the world.

Had Trump declared war on North Korea over Twitter? Quite possibly but I had no way of knowing, I was unreachable, I was.. free!

I’d missed this way of traveling. As an American, Haleigh also didn’t have the luxury of roaming data to use so we were solely reliant on those ancient travelers methods such as picking up a paper map to find our way around or god forbid, asking somebody!

Ironically, one of the reasons I hadn’t done this style of traveling for so long is due to being in a long distance relationship! There are very few people I feel a need to be at constant beck and call with but it’s hard to just disappear and have no communication when you’re in a relationship that’s heavily dependent on online access.

So for this to happen on one of those rare occasions we were traveling together was incredibly convenient, fate-like even. Nothing outside of Paris existed for a weekend and I was with the only person that I needed to be with. Admittedly Haleigh could still use the Wi-Fi as and when she could use it but it was in short supply – we were in Paris and effectively off-the-grid.

What a city for such a luxury too! It was so, so nice. I’ve missed this style of travel a lot and I hate that it has been “so long” since I’d previously traveled that way, I’ve not done it since either. Haleigh is a convenient excuse but I’m looking forward to being together someday soon and being able to travel off the grid more frequently.

This was one of the few photos I managed to grab before my phone died. The photo itself is fine but I wouldn’t necessarily call it a favourite – however it aids this story and I’m looking forward to writing about this trip in more detail at a later date!

Day six – “My second home” – Moses Lake, Washington

The American flag was a little hint here because I thought it unlikely anyone would guess this one otherwise. As it was Salsa World Traveler came closest with a guess of Southern California having recognised those clocks from somewhere!

I don’t know that they’re unique enough that they couldn’t potentially be in other states but I’ve seen them throughout a few towns in Washington State so on the right coast at least!

This particular one was in Moses Lake, Washington which perhaps won’t come as the biggest surprise to long time followers of the blog (or other social media) who will know that I have spent a significant amount of time in the last three years visiting Washington State.

Moses Lake, Washington has become somewhat of a second home for me. I’d dare say I’m probably fonder of Moses Lake than Haleigh who lives there currently but it’s just a place that holds a lot of good memories for me and the locals have always made me feel welcome.

I’ve always been a big city person but I’ve spent many an enjoyable day in this little town. It only felt right that it was a “favourite” that I included among the photo challenge. This particular spot is opposite the small independent little coffee shop in the downtown area and has quickly become a favourite spot on my frequent visits to Moses Lake.

Unfortunately Covid robbed me of a proper farewell last April and although I’ll definitely return to Washington in the future, I’m not sure Haleigh will still be living here by the time I next get to visit.

I’m not sure I’ll have any real reason to go back in the future so it may be that I’ve actually visited Moses Lake for the last time – we shall see! Nevertheless, this photo brings me some joy and memories of living here and many other visits prior to that.

Day seven – “the growth of Weetabix Boy” – Bruges, Brussels

I was a little hesitant to share any indoor photos because it makes the challenge particularly difficult and dare I say impossible? However I also said that each photo had some story behind it and I’m not sure any other photo would have had the same meaning behind it.

As is quite clear, the story here was food related and given this dish is so synonymous with this country it seemed an acceptable exception for the challenge!

Little Miss Traveller, The Travel Architect and The Red Phone Box Travels all correctly predicted this was somewhere in Belgium. Nobody guessed this was in Bruges but given the lack of identity in the photo that’s understandable. Salsa World Traveler anticipated a trick question and opted for an out-of-the-box guess in New Orleans but this was as obvious as it seemed so no cruel trick from me on this occasion!

Anyway, on to the story!

I mentioned in a blog post recently that I don’t really eat cheese and how that’s just a long-time habit more than anything. I know that I’d in all likelihood enjoy cheese now but there’s no huge incentive for me to “find out”. For instance I could order the cheese burger instead of just a regular burger in any restaurant but why? I’m equally content eating a burger without cheese so if I’m going to have a burger then I’ll do that.

Admittedly that’s not the greatest example as far as cheese was concerned but the point is I was a fussy eater as a child and it has been difficult to kick those habits as an adult. I’m just an incredibly predictable person – which was best summarised in my “Weetabix boy” post.

Nearly three years on from writing that post, I can guarantee you I’ve probably had Weetabix 500 times for breakfast – at least! Realistically it’ll be many morning’s more than that number.

FYI – I’ve yet to receive notification of any Weetabix sponsorship or ambassadorial role but maybe this will serve as a timely reminder? Weetabix’s CEO reads my blog, right?

Anyway, the overall point being that in many ways I’m too predictable for travel but this photo served as proof that I’m better than I was twenty, ten or even five years ago.

I first visited Belgium back in 2013. We’d gone to Brussels for a friend’s birthday and ended up taking a day trip to Bruges. We stumbled upon the main square in Bruges and I remember the smell from the food market hitting our 3 person-party – Belgian waffles!

The other two were inevitably drawn towards the smell of food but as someone who is the complete opposite of a “foodie”, I was a little more sceptical. Do I even like Belgian waffles? Am I going to part with my euros to find out? What alternatives are there?

I can’t actually recall if I stumbled up the “courage” to try them or wherever I skipped out on lunch entirely due to my fussyness but it’s funny for me to look back at and think just how safe my food choices were when I first began traveling.

I’ve been to Belgium a few times since that first trip. Whether it has been Brussels, Bruges, Gent or Liege – you don’t have to go too far to find mussels on the menu – it’s the “biggie” as far as Belgian cuisine is concerned.

However despite several trips I’d always excused myself from taking the leap as far as mussels were concerned. I’ve eaten waffles and seeked out other famous Flemish dishes in both Belgium and Lille but I’d always found an excuse to bypass mussels.

Six years after that first trip I found myself back in Bruges and enough was enough. I told myself that I couldn’t leave Belgium without trying the famous “Moules Frites” and consequently you have your photo!

Undoubtedly a minor accomplishment for many of you but it wasn’t a dish I ever thought I’d “give a go”. Accompanied with some wonderful Belgian beer, it was a little tick for “Weetabix Boy”.

Day eight – “this isn’t Leeds?” – Florence, Italy

I had a feeling this might be one of the easier photos to guess the location for because if you’ve been to Florence, it’s an unmistakable view. If nothing else the Duomo is one of the most easily recognisable buildings amongst this skyline that I think it’d be impossible to confuse with anywhere else. So it proved with the guesses!

Sarah, Marion, Aiva and Ellie all correctly guessed this was Florence – with some very specific guesses naming exactly where in the city this is! It’s safe to say that Salsa World Traveler has yet to visit this wonderful city with a guess of Spain – hope you get there soon!

Again this particular photo probably wouldn’t have been my “favourite” from this trip but I’ve posted many Florence photos on the blog already so I thought I’d go with this ‘happy’ photo instead which I don’t think has ever seen the light of day anywhere other than on Facebook!

Unlike any of the other photo choices, the unique thing about this particular photo is that it theoretically shouldn’t exist! I wasn’t actually supposed to be in Florence at this moment in time, I was supposed to be in Leeds!

I’d booked flights to Italy with the intention of flying home on Friday morning, in anticipation of joining a friend at a gig up in Leeds on Friday evening. As it turns out my flight home wasn’t on the 27th of February (2015), it was on the 27th of April!

“How did that happen!?”

I still have no idea to this day but of course it was a last minute realisation. The night before flying to Italy I wanted to check in for both flights and discovered that I had no flight home on the Friday! With a “fuck it” attitude I figured I’d sort it out once I got to Italy – I’m going regardless, I’ll work out how or when I’m getting home later.

The upside is that my mistake meant I stayed in Italy an extra night and I spent my extra 24 hours in Florence seeing beautiful spots such as this: the Piazzale Michelangelo.

The other reason this trip was a little special is because it was probably my last off the grid trip – ironically to the detriment of this particular moment. The atmosphere here was wonderful with dozens of people sat on the steps waiting to watch the sunset. There was a little stall selling beers and snacks and all I wanted to do was to tell my friend to meet me here so we could enjoy a beer together and watch the sun go down with everyone else.

However sadly where “off the grid” travel had its perks in Paris, this was one of the occasions where you remember it’s not all glamour and has its inconveniences too. The only way of meeting up with my friend whilst in Florence was with a specific pre-arranged “meet here at this time” plan.

We’d already agreed to meet up outside the Duomo that evening and the only way to make a change of plans was to hunt him down in this huge city and try and do it quickly enough to get back here for sunset. Inevitably it didn’t happen and I made my way back down with a heavy heart – jealous of the people I was leaving behind at Florence’s prettiest view!

Nevertheless, every time I see this view it reminds me of the time I got an extra 24 hours in Italy so I can’t say it was all bad!

Day nine – “the quiet before the storm..” – Amsterdam, Netherlands

I was a little worried that this might have been an easier one so I was pleasantly surprised to see that I’d stumped Aiva, Marion and Anita with this one! Marie and Leighton however were more successful in guessing this was Amsterdam, with Leighton going one step further and narrowing this down to being Dam Square! Great job!

I’ll be honest, one of the first things I thought after picking this photo was “I clearly need a new jacket..”

Somehow this jacket found its way in to three of the photos on display in this challenge! Needless to say, it’s a well travelled coat! Although admittedly this and the Helsinki photo were at least taken in the same week so perhaps it’s a little more acceptable?

and what a week it was! I’d flown to Helsinki on Saturday, I was determined to prolong my weekend in Finland as long as possible so I flew home on Monday evening.

I didn’t have time to dwell on my disappointment at leaving Finland behind because no sooner than I was home, was I off again! On Tuesday morning I woke up to go to work and on Tuesday evening I made my way down to Victoria to hop on an overnight coach to Amsterdam to get me in to the city early Wednesday morning!

Consequently this photo was probably taken close to 6am which is why one of Amsterdam’s busiest squares looks like a ghost town. Unless you’re up at the crack of dawn, you’re not going to see Dam Square look like this when you visit!

Now you might be wondering why there was such a quick turnaround between trips and why I’d take an overnight coach trip to Amsterdam – what a hassle!

Admittedly it wasn’t planned that way! The Finland trip was planned months in advance, along with a number of other plans in 2019. However Amsterdam hadn’t been one of them!

Yet my beloved Tottenham Hotspur decided it was this year that they’d give the football thing a crack and, against the script, somehow found themselves playing in a Champions League semi final in Amsterdam!

As a hypothetical I’d told myself I wasn’t going to travel for a Champions League semi final. Of course I’d go for the final but Dortmund was my European trip for 2019, I wasn’t going to the quarter finals or semi final. More than one European football trip wasn’t in my budget for the year.

The quarter final was easier to commit to, particularly as the “European” adventure would only have taken me as far as Manchester but that hypothetical semi final became a genuine semi final – our first at this level since 1962!

“I’m not going.. I’m not going.. it’s my mum’s birthday.. I’m not going..”

By the time the foolishness had subsided I’d paid the price for my indecision. It was a Champions League semi final, how I could I not go!? This may NEVER happen again!

Unfortunately by the point the penny dropped, the sensible Spurs fans had already taken advantage and booked up the flights and Eurostar journeys to Amsterdam. Now I wanted to go but costs had skyrocketed which made a cheap Amsterdam trip impossible! I compromised and booked a return overnight coach – cheaper and two less nights accommodation!

This particular photo was essentially the calm before the storm. Those already in Amsterdam were happily sleeping, the rest would be following throughout the day to watch the English completely take over Dam Square for the day.

I still can’t put in to words what followed. I’d go as far as saying this was probably the best night of my life. From 3-0 down Lucas Moura put away a hat-trick to send us to the first Champions League final in our history!

From 3-0 down! In a Champions League semi final! In the 95th minute! Away! In Amsterdam! What the fuck just happened!!!?

I spent the evening bawling my eyes out – tears of joy, tears of disbelief. I hugged hundreds and hundreds of fellow Spurs fans who were equally delirious in Dam Square. A complete contrast to the silence and emptiness of that same morning!

The only thing that could have topped this night would have been winning the final three weeks later in Madrid but this night will live long in the memory. For it to have come barely 48 hours after being in Helsinki made this a truly unforgettable week. Two contrasting experiences but WOW!

Day ten – “Africa, it’s right there!” – Gibraltar

I wanted to end this challenge with somewhat of a challenge so this is another I wasn’t sure anyone would get, with the exception of Marion who visited even more recently than I had! Hannah however also correctly guessed that this was the wonderful Gibraltar!

Whilst I do like this photo, I actually blogged about Gibraltar quite recently so many of my favourite photos from the trip were only posted recently and I didn’t want it to be too easy for you. Those of you following me on Instagram or Twitter may also have seen a few other photos so I opted for this one.

I have to say that Gibraltar was somewhere that wasn’t too high on my list to visit really. I live in the fantasy that at some point I’m going to visit every country in the world so I’ve always had the intention of visiting Gibraltar someday but the reality is, Covid pushed Gibraltar towards the top of the list to visit.

It was one of the few countries you could visit last year with minimum fuss. Low covid cases, zero covid deaths (at the time of my visit, sadly no longer the case) and because it’s an overseas British territory I was pretty confident Gibraltar wouldn’t be banning UK citizens from visiting any time soon.

Whilst my visit was largely due to limited options, I can safely say this is somewhere you should be making an effort to visit! Gibraltar is lovely. I touched on it more in my blog post on Gibraltar and Marion went in to even more depth on her trip here but wow! I did not expect to like Gibraltar quite as much as I did.

I don’t know what I was expecting but Gibraltar had the best bits of European and British culture with the added bonus of Spanish weather – what more could you want!? I absolutely loved it, I could easily see myself living in Gibraltar and walking by my company’s Gibraltar office only aided that temptation.

“Could I keep my job but work from here!? Please?”

This particular spot was undoubtedly one of my favourites in Gibraltar. Had 2020 been a normal year I’d hoped to visit Africa for the first time last year, probably starting off with Morocco which has jumped towards the top of my list to visit.

I’ve been to some wonderful places in the world over the last few years but I’m conscious that I still haven’t been anywhere too far outside of my comfort zone. I’m determined to explore Africa, Asia and South America in the coming years but obviously any hopes of getting there in the immediate future have been disrupted by the worldwide pandemic.

So there was an element of awe about ‘Europa Point’ in Gibraltar! I could see Northern Africa! I felt like I could almost reach out and touch it!

“It’s right there! That is Africa!”

It was spellbinding. I found myself a spot to sit and just really take it in. Even in a digital age, Africa has an element of mystery and wonder about it. This is probably as close as I’ll ever get to Africa without setting foot on African soil and it was really, really cool to think about in that way.

I’ll 100% return to Gibraltar but I’m hopeful it’ll be under better circumstances because I’d love to just catch the ferry over to Morocco next time. Africa was right in front of me, Gibraltar and its famous rock behind me and Spain to my right – what a feeling!

Anyway, I think I’d best wrap this up! Thanks for playing along over the past eleven days! I imagine next time on the blog it’ll be back to the “big 3-0” trip but I guess we’ll see!

Stay tuned!

Jason

2020 travel roundup

Happy New Year everyone! I hope that you’ve had an enjoyable festive period despite the difficulties that 2020 has offered.

It has become somewhat of a tradition for me to do a little round up of the travels throughout the year. Of course 2019’s effort looked much busier than this post will be with trips to seven different countries in 2019, however I still managed to travel enough this year that I can squeeze a post out of it. Here goes..

January – Durham!
Doesn’t the start of 2020 seem so long ago now? I went in to this year knowing that there would be life-changing circumstances and consequently that I probably wouldn’t be traveling much this year.

Before you start asking – no, I’m not psychic! Haha. Nobody could quite predict this kind of year was coming but I’d quit my job and made plans to live in the US for a few months so I figured with, at least, three months of unemployment and a lot of uncertainty in 2020 that I’d probably have to cut back on travel this year.

“but one more trip?”

That’s the ever-present urge isn’t it? I could feel my adventures slipping away and pondered if I could squeeze in just one more trip before flying to Washington in February? Another New Years Eve getaway? A short weekender somewhere? Anywhere? Please?

Well, the football was enough to tempt me (surprise!). One of the highlights of the footballing calendar is the first weekend of the year – the third round of the “magical” FA Cup. The big names of football enter the competition and if the minnows, amateurs and part-timers are lucky they get a chance to test themselves against the very best.

It’s one of those weekends that football fans look forward to and my beloved Tottenham were playing “up North” in Middlesbrough and having successfully acquired a ticket I figured why not?

The train times weren’t particularly co-operative so I decided to make the most of it and have one final “hurrah” before the big trip of the year. Although I had little desire to visit Middlesbrough itself so settled on booking a stay in the nearby city of Durham – somewhere I’d been wanting to visit for a while and never really got around to.

It was a wise decision, I’d been to Middlesbrough before anyway but Durham is a lovely and charming little city. I also managed to arrange a catch up with my friend Sarah, which in hindsight was wonderful because I’ve not been able to see much of anyone this year haha.

Other than the football it was a pretty relaxed trip. It’s not the biggest city and I think two nights was sufficient enough to have seen the bulk of it but it was nice to kick off the year with a bit of travel and explore a city well worth visiting.

February – Washington!
Of course this trip needs little introduction. Long time readers will know I’d planned this months in advance. I’d made the decision to leave my job and go and ‘live’ in Washington with my girlfriend for three months.

Three months in small-town Washington, a city called Moses Lake to be precise. January was a bit of a slog, particularly as far as work was concerned because I knew the end was imminent. I was counting down the days and after one final weekend in London of football, beers and pizza I was on my way to Seattle for a very different way of living.

I’m a London boy at heart but now live in the “small” city of Peterborough with its 200,000ish inhabitants. Yet here I was spending three months in Moses Lake with its population of 24,000 people! 24,000! If I find Peterborough small at times, how am I going to cope in Moses Lake for three months!?

Moses Lake History — Moses Lake, Washington

Oddly I adapted and settled pretty quickly. I’ve already written about my time in Washington on the blog but it was lovely. Admittedly I think being unemployed helped, I had absolutely nothing to worry about and was living the easy life!

I grew to appreciate the simplicities of life without a job – taking a book with me to the coffee shop downtown and sitting in with a cup of tea for a couple of hours, wandering by the lake on a nice afternoon, date nights and all the other nicer things in life that you don’t have to worry about when you have a job.

Ignoring the necessity to finance this way of life, I could do this forever – who needs to work!? This is the “new normal” and long may it continue!

and then the “new normal” struck – supermarkets deprived of toilet rolls and that dreaded C word!

“The new normal..” – I’d only just escaped the old normal! What is this nonsense? Stay at home orders and closed businesses and a lockdown in small town America!

I tried to wait it out, hoping Trump’s optimism of re-opening by Easter would prove accurate but it wasn’t to be. On the 30th of March he advised lockdown measures would be extended throughout April and as I was due to fly home on May 1st it was time to find plan B.

Ultimately I had to cut my time in Washington short, not ideal and still no inkling on when I’ll be able to return but I still got the best part of 8-9 weeks in Washington, 6 of those before going in to lockdown so a good chunk of time in a place I’ve grown particularly fond of.

Sadly I don’t know if I’ll actually get back to Moses Lake – I hope I do because I feel like I owe it and myself a proper goodbye but the reality is the next time I’m in Washington Haleigh may no longer be in Moses Lake. It’s a shame my love-affair with Moses Lake ended the way it did but perhaps our paths will cross again someday.

April – Utah! (Cancelled)
Sadly not every travel story this year had a happy ending. Haleigh’s a teacher and had a few days off in April for her spring break which we were keen to make the most of and have an adventure together.

We’d been toying with a couple of ideas – namely Oregon and Utah but in February one of Haleigh’s cousins (Michelle) who lives in Utah came up to Washington with her boyfriend (David) which was enough to steer us towards planning a trip down to Salt Lake City.

ValentinesDayDateNight — Valentines Day with Haleigh and my Utah favourites

We pencilled in the dates but as Covid emerged and as April neared it was apparent our plans would have to be postponed. It was a shame because we’d considered visiting Salt Lake City on my “big 3-0” trip too and it didn’t pan out then either. Maybe it’ll be third time lucky?

Fortunately the only booking we’d made was one night in a hotel in Boise, Idaho which was fully refundable but Covid robbed us of a trip to what would have been two new states for me.

As it was, my change of plans meant I spent the bulk of April at home in England instead.

August – the Norfolk coast!
After getting back to England in early April I made the decision to self-isolate and stay at home for two weeks – not that anyone actually advised me to do this. At this moment in time the UK were still welcoming people with open arms without any fuss – bonkers!

Towards the end of that second week I switched my focus back to the real world – time to find a job! To my surprise I actually got a job interview really quickly! Sadly I didn’t get that particular job but then my former employers approached me about returning in a new job role so by early May I was employed again. Even before going to Washington, completely unaware of the imminent pandemic, I hadn’t anticipated that I’d be employed that quickly.

I’d very much landed on my feet! I’d planned and budgeted for a spell of unemployment so I’ve been luckier than most this year in that I’ve not really felt the financial strain of Covid. Better yet, I’d found a new challenge and was doing something far more enjoyable than the previous year – hurrah!

By August I was ready for a break and thought I’d treat myself to a few days away for my birthday. I wasn’t quite ready to hop on a plane just yet so limited myself to staying within the UK and was intending for something a little more outdoorsy and less of a city break which I often favour.

I looked at a few options but in the end stayed pretty local and only went as far as Norfolk. I really fancied a few days by the coast and although I’ve seen a little of Norfolk, there’s still lots of it I haven’t seen so I booked myself a hotel for 4 nights in Cromer – Monday to Friday as I was keen to avoid the weekend crowds!

My second UK break of the year! It was nice to get away for a few days and it was a nice reminder of how much I love being by the sea.

It was busy in parts, which is a little inevitable in the summer months, but overall it was pretty easy to keep distanced from other people and even with the UK running its “Eat out to help out” scheme throughout August places were taking social distancing seriously with various measures in place.

Overall it was a lovely few days away and the perfect trip to refresh and re-energise before getting back to work.

October – Gibraltar!
All work and no play? I’ve long held the belief that work isn’t that important. This wasn’t some lesson I learnt in 2020 but it was probably a year that helped emphasise it.

In 2019 I was on my last legs with work and 3 months without working, particularly the first 6 weeks without lockdown was bliss. If I was financially secure enough that I didn’t have to work, I don’t think that I would.

You might ponder what relevance that has to Gibraltar but a change in working environment was a factor. There was a mixed feeling in August in not feeling quite ready enough to get on a plane and also a question over whether I was right to get on to a plane?

I was working from home, I wasn’t seeing friends, I was very much in my own little bubble and expanding my horizons seemed irresponsible perhaps. So I ended up visiting Norfolk which required little travel and being by the sea and outdoors made it much easier to minimise my social contact.

Fast forward two months and the advice and guidance had vastly changed and work wanted me to return to an office-environment with the UK government at the forefront of that advice.

That change of environment changed my mindset a little. The reality was that this change of circumstance meant that the place I was most likely to catch Covid would be at work.

So I’ll leave you to be judge and executioner as to whether it was right for me to travel abroad but it felt right for me. If I could go to work in an office with 100 odd other people, why should I feel guilty about traveling?

Ultimately it was still another solo trip so still pretty easy to keep to myself, after looking at a number of different options I narrowed down my choices to two countries with low Covid cases and countries that seemingly had a better handle of Covid than the UK (who doesn’t, right?): Turkey and Gibraltar!

I’d been itching to visit Turkey for a while but something swayed me towards Gibraltar. I didn’t want to get stung by a last minute cancellation and I just couldn’t see the UK halting travel to a British overseas territory. It didn’t look like there was any reason for the UK to halt travel to Turkey either but that, the fact Gibraltar had yet to register any Covid deaths (that sadly isn’t the case any more) and a couple of other things pushed me towards visiting Gibraltar.

As it was, Turkey went on to the UK’s naughty list a matter of days after I’d booked my flights so I got pretty lucky.

I was excited to visit a new country and having had no huge desire to visit Gibraltar previously, it was a pleasant surprise. I already wrote about my time in Gibraltar here but it was the perfect mix of British and European culture – the best of both really.

Overall it felt much safer than the UK too, I felt a little vindicated in picking Gibraltar over taking a break within the UK. Gibraltar seemingly had a good handle on things whilst the UK was spiralling. Maybe I could just buy a boat and stay in Gibraltar?

I think I would have liked Gibraltar regardless but visiting in Covid times, making comparisons to back home, made it so much easier to love. I forgot all about work and was mentally back to sipping tea in Moses Lake, the only difference being this time it was beer in sunny Gibraltar.

I’d go back in a heartbeat and it didn’t take long to see why so many Brits visit and retire here. It’s that South of France or Spanish retirement dream without the language barrier – perfect!

November – “where to?”
I’d optimistically booked off Thanksgiving week months in advance, on the off chance travel might have recovered by then and I’d be able to get back to Washington.

As it got closer to November it was clear that wouldn’t be happening and I was pondering what to do with my week off of work? I figured I’d probably not actually do much and maybe squeeze in a couple of nights down in London before the end of the year.

Then the UK went in to lockdown for pretty much the entirety of November which scuppered any hope of going anywhere. In the end I don’t think I even left the house in that particular week – not the most exciting of breaks and the first time I’ve ‘wasted’ annual leave in probably six or seven years. I had to use it before the end of the year though so it was unavoidable, still better than spending a week working.

December – London!
I had three more days to use up before the end of the year and having coming out of lockdown I was keeping an eye on where I could potentially visit.

Options by this point were even more limited than they had been for my trip in October. I was determined to book a trip as late as possible, hoping that the weekly Thursday travel updates might offer somewhere but it wasn’t to be.

So I reverted back to my November plans, I really wanted to get to London before the end of the year. December / Christmas is such a magical time to visit London and I hadn’t spent any time in the capital since February!

Ordinarily I’d visit London at least twice a month I reckon so ten months without a visit left me feeling like I was long overdue a trip. I was particularly keen to visit some of the museums in the capital, I haven’t really been to any of them since I was a kid living in London. My only real opportunities to visit are at weekends or public holidays too and they’re just hell-ish to visit when the kids are off school – no thanks!

Keeping in mind my plans, I decided I’d book myself a couple of nights in a part of London I rarely stay in – Kensington! The National History Museum was towards the top of my list to visit and it was just an ideal location to base myself in and I was surprised to find London so ‘cheap’ for this time of year and this location – clearly feeling the wrath of the pandemic!

So with Peterborough and London both in ‘tier 2’ I hopped on a train and enjoyed a couple of nights in the capital, again by myself.

It was the best and worst time to be in London. The best because London was so quiet by usual standards, a lot of central London was dead – two weeks before Christmas and no crowds or people anywhere. I had Westminster and the likes all to myself!

So why was it the worst time to be in London? Call me crazy but.. London was dead. I love London so much. I love the hustle and bustle, I love how much life London has and it broke my heart a little to see London so.. un-London-like.

I shouldn’t be able to walk around Westminster without cursing dawdling tourists. Either move quicker or have the awareness to get out of the way!

There were a few things I really got to appreciate and gave me a small taste of London, I managed to enjoy a couple of people busking in a couple of locations and London still feels so magical at this time of the year but it was a very different London to the one that I’m used to.

Nevertheless it was a nice trip to end the year and given the circumstances still not a terrible travel year. I got to have a taste of living in another country, took four flights and managed to visit one new country. I also managed to visit a couple of new places in the UK so all in all, I probably still did better than most.

However I’m hoping 2021 is a much better year for travel. I’ve got no travel plans at the minute and it doesn’t feel good haha!

Quarantine! — Masked up and waiting for adventure!

I hope you managed to squeeze in some travels this year too! Up next on the blog? I continue with the “big 3-0” trip. Stay tuned!

Jason

Living in the USA: month two!

Welcome back dear readers! Those of you following for a while will know I’m currently Stateside! Back in September I announced on the blog some big news!! I was leaving my job to spend February, March and April in Washington State for a sufficient amount of time with my girlfriend.

You can catch up on how month one went here, but if you didn’t read that post then I guess I’d sum it up by essentially saying I’d grown accustomed to being unemployed. I’ve contemplated writing a blog post about this previously but one word that I think describes me pretty aptly is “unambitious”.

Society’s definition of ambitious is one I struggle to align with. Ambition is associated with progress in your profession. If you’re a window cleaner or road sweeper or whatever you’re nothing compared to the CEO’s of the world and the concept has always bemused me.

Why can’t ambition be to become a parent or to travel the world or to own my own house or to fall in love? I’m not suggesting it’s impossible to have both but society seems to judge your ambition or your importance dependent on your profession. It’s not okay to just float along in life – “What do you want to be when you grow up? Where do you see yourself in five years?”

My ambition was to become one of those “skilled workers” the government talk about. I wanted to be an accountant and once I got my foot in the door, I realised the accountants I was aspiring to be were sending me emails at 11:30pm on a Wednesday night or 5:30am on a Friday morning or spending their weekends working.

My sister got married on October 5th last year and whilst my job role was a very different job at that moment in time, in the back of my head there was this little voice screaming “Quarter-end”. I’d already made my mind up on coming to Washington by that point but I could just envisage this alternative lifestyle of the “ambitious accountant”..

The first Saturday of October? The first after September? It’s quarter end, I’ve got to work.. “Sorry Natasha but..”
“BUT IT’S MY WEDDING JASON!!”

WeddingPhoto — Me and my sister at her wedding, October 2019

How many ambitious professionals have missed something of significance because of work commitments? I quickly learnt that I didn’t want to be that person. Over the last few years I’ve watched my sister get married, I’ve celebrated New Year’s in Paris and Edinburgh, I’ve attended countless games of football in multiple countries, I’ve bar-hopped in Nashville, danced in the streets of New Orleans, fallen in and out of love, laughed, cried and most importantly lived..

I know I’ve gone off on a bit of a tangent but that brings me back to the original point. The morale of month one was happiness. I made the point in that post that, finance-permitting, I could happily never work another day in my life. Just give me more of this life. Drinking tea in coffee shops, walking by the lake, watching football in a bar, spending my time visiting museums, date nights, catching up with friends. If being ambitious means sacrificing all of this, I don’t want to be ambitious! Work just isn’t that important to me (P.S – if you’re reading, please employ me!).

TheEasyLife — Tea and a good book, what more do you need?

Anyway, I published my month one post on March 3rd and a few things have changed since then. I think the cruelest thing about my first four weeks here was truly appreciating time and freedom. Time seemed to stand still for the entirety of my first month here and it was bliss having the freedom to just enjoy the simple things in life. I don’t think I’ll ever be a “small-town” person but I was certainly appreciating the perks that come with it and living somewhere like this.

The last couple of weeks in particular has often been described as “this is the new normal” but I’d only just escaped the restraints of “the old normal”. So it has been an interesting second month, I’m not sure it’ll read as fun as the first month here but there have still been some highs and noteworthy moments that I hope you enjoy hearing about. I plan to go in the same format, week by week, as month one. Here goes!

Week five
I call this FA Cup week. Whilst not working certainly has its merits, the lack of routine certainly makes tracking the days a little trickier. Haleigh’s work schedule helped of course but I’ll be honest and say the football was probably one of the things helping me keep on top of the calendar – “what game is on today or this weekend?”

Week five was FA Cup week with games on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Unfortunately the FA Cup isn’t shown on TV out here but fortunately is on the ESPN app that is sold with the Disney+ bundle which meant Haleigh’s family were already subscribed to it. At the very least I’d pinpointed Wednesday as a “day at home” to watch Tottenham’s FA Cup game v Norwich.

FootballAtHome — Even away from home, I still need my football fix!

I thought about what else to do this week and I decided it was going to be a bit of a recovery week as far as my bank balance went. Week four in particular had been a little spendier than I’d anticipated and I didn’t want to blow all of my money halfway in to this trip, I didn’t want to be financially dependent on Haleigh whilst I was here so this was a week to cutback a little.

Tuesday I spent at home, watched the FA Cup football and popped to the apartment complex’s gym afterwards to work off some of the beer from week four’s Brews and Tunes festival haha. I then spent the evening relaxing with Haleigh.

As I’ve already alluded to, Wednesday was Tottenham’s FA Cup day so one I intended to spend at home. The FA Cup was the one remaining shining light in this shit-show of a season for Spurs. It has been a disaster but if we could win the FA Cup, for the first time since 1991, for the first time in living memory for me (born in 88), then this season could still go down as a memorable one.

Sadly Spurs were dreadful. We took a fortuitous lead and then spent the next 70 minutes sleeping instead of trying to cement the win. Our manager’s complaints for weeks had been how the injuries were taking its toll on the squad and instead of ensuring we avoided an extra 30 minutes of football we sat back and waited for the inevitable Norwich equaliser late on which took us to extra-time.

From then on we tried to win the game, 80 minutes too late and ultimately got what we deserved for our negativity by losing the penalty shoot-out. I’ve joked all season that I couldn’t have wished for a better season to have pissed off for 3 months and this was the “cherry on the top” – another pathetic display and result in this shambles of a season.

I am missing the football but one thing I can credit the virus for is in ridding me of having to watch this Tottenham team. I’m sure for any Liverpool fan the prospect of a cancelled season is agonising but there will be celebrations long in to the night on Tottenham High Road if we void this season and start over.

It was another football-inspired mood-changer on this trip. Four games without a win and I’d only been here just over four weeks at this point. Ridiculous. Fortunately Thursday was less football-filled and consequently a positive day haha.

Two of Haleigh’s co-workers wanted to meet up and the invitation stretched to me to impose on a “girl’s night out”. As it was, one of the colleagues wasn’t able to join us so it just ended up being myself, Haleigh and Kristi. We went along to one of the restaurants I’ve mentioned previously on the blog, Michael’s on the Lake, it’s a nice place that unsurprisingly is situated along the lake.

Michael's On The Lake — Views at Michael’s On The Lake, August 2018

We chatted over drinks and good food before saying our goodbyes. It was nice to spend a little time together, Kristi kindly paid for us, refusing any notion of us contributing towards dinner. We promised to do it again before I went home with us returning the gesture.

Thursday had been the one thing I’d budgeted for this week so with a cheaper night than expected I decided to get out and wander in to town on Friday. I re-visited my usual favourites. I kicked off my morning with some tea and a book at Mason’s Place which has become one of the nicest ways to pass the time here. It’s a cosy and friendly place in town. In the home state of Starbucks I’d still much rather visit and support little places like this, even if Starbucks is to an extent a “local business”.

Moving on I went to grab lunch and popped in to Midway Pub. I usually only visit when there’s football on but in spite of there being no football, it’s still a nice lunch spot and again just friendly to visit. Oddly enough the previous week I’d got chatting to a barman I’d yet to see in there, who just so happened to be leaving Moses Lake and moving to Seattle in the imminent future. Today I got talking to a barmaid I’d yet to see in there, who was leaving Moses Lake and moving down to California. Two born and bred Moses Lake barstaff moving out of town – bizarre! She was friendly though and offered a few recommendations of local things to see and do before I left Washington.

MidwayPubMosesLake — Midway Pub, best in Moses Lake!

I headed home before Haleigh got back from work. Friday has typically become our date night so we went out to Rock Top for the first time on this particular trip. It’s become a bit of a regular for us, it was the place we had our very first date back in September 2017, but oddly we’d yet to come here after almost a full five weeks in town. I don’t know why but I was really in the mood for a burger and surprisingly opted for my first ever Veggie burger.

I appreciate vegetarians and vegans who impose that lifestyle for a number of reasons, and perhaps this just wasn’t a great veggie burger, but those kidding themselves they’re a substitute in taste for a meat burger are mistaken. As I said, perhaps it just wasn’t a great veggie burger or perhaps I was just consciously aware that it was a veggie burger but I felt like there was a noticeable difference in taste. That said, it was still enjoyable. I had no complaints with the burger itself but it was no substitute for the “real thing”.

Following food we tried our luck at going bowling, we’d talked about going a week earlier but when we phoned they suggested all of the lanes were fully booked so we decided against it. We had better luck this week so went along for a couple of games. I bowled pretty well, particularly in the first game, but I found myself mesmerised by the guys in the lane next to us.

LakeBowlMosesLake — Date night at Lake Bowl

I’m guessing they participate in a bowling league of sorts and were getting some practice in but it was entertaining to watch. I’ve no doubt they knew what they were doing, partly as I used to watch my parents play bowling in a league every week, but I’d just watch them seemingly aim for the gutter on each throw and watch the ball do its magic and swerve back inwards and see all of the pins drop. As I said, mesmerising bowling!

The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxed. I don’t think we really did much other than hang out. We’ve spent most of our time at home either watching Netflix, watching movies on Disney+ or playing CTR on the PS4 haha.

Week six
Ah, the last week of normalcy out here in Washington! The first thing I did this week was unsurprisingly football related again. I’ve been trying to get out at least once a week but generally aiming at twice a week. With midweek football being a frequent occurrence at this time of the season I’ve generally been able to squeeze in a pub trip most weeks.

This week Tottenham were playing their second leg of their Champions League tie against Leipzig. Ironically after all my complaints of visiting Germany too frequently in recent years, if I’d not been in Washington I would likely have been in Leipzig for this fixture. It’s a German city I’ve yet to visit but heard good things about.

Leipzig are one of those football teams that cause a little controversy due to their ownership, particularly in Germany where football clubs are generally majority owned by fans (supposed to have a 51% majority even with other investors). Leipzig are owned by Red Bull and have quickly risen through the German football ladder which makes them quite unpopular amongst football “purists”.

Their quick rise in football also means they’re relatively inexperienced on the big stage so my hope was, with a manager familiar with the “dark arts”, that overturning a first leg defeat in London wasn’t impossible. However so it proved, we were comfortably well beaten by a really good footballing team. It was hard to be bitter about a team beating us that played the kind of football I could only dream of watching us play.

Before the week was even out pretty much most European football had been suspended so this was the last game I’ve been able to watch out here. Although as I alluded to above, now on a winless run of six I feel blessed that the football has been placed on hold. I don’t know what the solution is for the remainder of the season to be completed but Tottenham’s season essentially ended at this defeat anyway. Removing this season from the history books would actually be welcomed by me haha.

MosesLake — Another nice day to go out in Moses Lake

Moving away from the football, I decided I’d go out on Thursday too. I think signs of the panic setting in were really starting to show by this point. It only seemed a matter of time before Washington followed measures being placed elsewhere in the world and in the States. Likewise the signs of hoarding was already clear to see on shopping trips.

As usual I visited Mason’s Place to kick off my day however with the uniqueness of some in-house entertainment. One of the customers was sat with a guitar and practicing a few tunes which created a really nice atmosphere whilst I sat down and read for a little while.

I decided to go and check out somewhere different in town today for lunch. I’d not really noticed it until recently but this little building, that looked like a bar, was placed across the street from Safeway and having looked it up online actually looked bigger than it’s outside appearance suggested. I made my way over to “The Ripple Tavern” and sat down at the bar.

I was really surprised to see how busy it was. There was no sign of any fear amongst the locals here but more importantly, I was just surprised at how busy it was for a Thursday afternoon. I’d go as far as saying this is the busiest place I’ve been to during the day in Moses Lake across multiple trips here and just multiple weeks on this trip alone.

It seemed largely full of regulars but it was still a surprise to me. I ordered myself a beer and some food, the beer I wanted was this mango-flavoured delicious beer that I got a small taste of but seemingly they ran out of so I ended up with something else. The food was good, the staff were friendly enough and it was nice to discover a new spot in town. That said, I didn’t really see it as a regular haunt.

Not that it mattered too much, that proved to be my last outing in Washington for the foreseeable future. Before heading home I popped in to Safeway, I knew we needed a couple of bits so thought I’d pick up some stuff for breakfast and things. I also knew we were running low on toilet rolls so I was hoping a daytime afternoon trip might be a good opportunity to get some. The aisle was inevitably sparse but I at the very least managed to grab a pack of four which I figured would keep us going without a need to start getting creative! It’s just as well because we would have run out before we were next able to find any!

Earlier in the week, I’d said to Haleigh not all of our dates had to be about going out and spending a tonnes of money so we agreed to have an “at-home” date on Friday night. With the benefit of hindsight maybe we’d have done this Friday night differently but we decided to stay in, get some food (pizza I think) and just hang out with a couple of movies. Haleigh introduced me to ‘The Great Race’ which was a fun little comedy released back in the 60’s. It wasn’t a film I was familiar with but one I enjoyed nonetheless.

MosesLakeSnow — More snow on the complex!

It snowed overnight on Friday so we didn’t really do anything over the rest of the weekend. They announced school closures in Washington on Friday which meant, after Monday, Haleigh would be off work for the next few weeks. We were both excited at the prospect of more time together, ultimately the reason I’d come here in the first place.

However on Sunday night the governor of Washington imposed further measures and ordered the closure of most, non-essential, businesses. Restaurants and bars could only operate a take-out or delivery service whilst most other retail and leisure businesses shut down. Those measures would take effect immediately for King County (the Seattle area) with further detail announced on Monday morning for the rest of the state (us!).

Week seven
Being honest, I was hoping the lack of clarity in Sunday’s statement might mean I could squeeze in one more lunchtime outing on Monday. I don’t think everywhere in the town actually closed but the ones I’d intended to drop in on had made it clear on social media channels that they’d be closing immediately so it scuppered any hope of going anywhere on Monday. I just stayed at home and prepared myself for “the new normal”.

Washington’s closures were for an initial period of two weeks to help “flatten the curve”, so I apologise if weeks seven and eight feel a little boring in comparison to the previous six but I guess we’re all in the same boat right now. Although there were still memorable moments of course. Just spending more time with Haleigh was nice enough and we’ve been able to do more at home together.

The week was plodding along nicely before reaching Friday – date night! Obviously this was another one spent at home but wouldn’t go forgotten! We had dinner together whilst watching whatever on the TV. Following on from dinner we tidied up a little and I made a point of heading outside to dispose of the trash – on somewhat of a secret mission!

MosesLakeSunset — Sunset views from our apartment complex

After ridding myself of the rubbish I took a little detour and swung by our mailbox we’d neglected over the past few days, anticipating a little package inside that I’d had confirmation had been delivered. I’d ordered it under very different circumstances, expecting Haleigh to be working and also under the premise that we’d be free to do as we pleased but the restraints and closures scuppered my plans somewhat.

After collecting my little box I returned to a confused Haleigh, pondering why it had taken me so long to walk to the skip and back. I was expecting this to come so had pre-planned my excuses!

I mean, obviously, I’d just wanted a little fresh air and walked to the skip all the way on the other side of the complex to stretch my legs.

“Alright, you weirdo..” – buahaha! My secret mission had gone without too much suspicion!

I got myself back in to a relaxed state, returning to the pyjamas that myself and Haleigh had been wearing all day before conversation led to the fact today marked exactly two and a half years together – a nice little landmark in our relationship. Of course there was cause for this direction in the conversation, that little package I’d gone to collect was an engagement ring.

I can’t say I’d pictured any engagement being in our pyjamas on the sofa during a quarantine of sorts but it felt like a meaningful date to do it and just so happened to be the date the ring arrived too – I was so pleased they’d not come to the door to deliver it and spoil any sense of surprise.

I shamefully didn’t go down on one knee, as I said nothing about the scenario really went quite as pictured but even in the circumstances I think it came across as sweet and more importantly came as a surprise to Haleigh who, even with my lengthy trash-taking outing, hadn’t anticipated a proposal was coming. I’m pleased to say the proposal was met with a yes so some good news to share with the world during these extraordinary times!

The next day we took a daytrip to Haleigh’s home town to share the news, and show off the ring, with some of the family. We did restrict who we visited because of the measures in place and made it as socially-distant a trip as we could. There was obviously nothing to do in Walla Walla either but it was still nice to briefly see the family and share the happy occasion in person. Breaking the news to family and friends back home went down equally well, although was obviously something we weren’t able to do in person. It rounded off our first socially-distanced week nicely though.

Week eight
Further sanctions were imposed going in to week eight. On Monday the UK government advised all nationals currently abroad to head home at the earliest possibility, which was somewhat ironic because on the same day the governor of Washington added further measures and placed a “Stay At Home” order on all of Washington’s inhabitants for the next two weeks.

With no mention of restrictions entering the UK, nor any sign of my flight being cancelled I’ve been a little reluctant to cut this trip short. Ultimately does it matter too much where I’m isolating? I’ve largely adopted a “wait and see” policy to this trip.

So this week kicked off as relatively normal as possible in the circumstances. We really needed supplies for the week. I think a week earlier we’d tried to do a meal plan for the week and found we couldn’t actually find half of the stuff we wanted so it was a bit of a redundant shopping trip. So going in to this week we decided we’d wing it and just shop dependent on what was available.

Surprisingly this was a rather successful shopping trip. It seemed the crazy had balanced out a little and we were able to actually get much of what we wanted. The most encouraging sign for us was seeing other shoppers with toilet rolls in their trolleys – “does that mean..?” – after weeks of looking we found a store with toilet roll in stock! Not much admittedly but enough that we even have a very limited choice of which brand of toilet roll we wanted. We grabbed a pack of 12 and rejoiced in a successful shopping trip!

Friday’s proposal was undoubtedly a highlight of my time here but perhaps, in the circumstances, this could be considered a close second! No need to find dodgy toilet-roll-sellers on the black market!

After shopping I Skyped with the parents for a bit to have a post Mother’s Day and post-engagement catch up. It was nice to have a proper chat.

The rest of week eight has been largely non-eventful – which was disappointing because it was probably set to be one of my more sociable weeks here. I’d agreed to co-host a little Twitter-based chat on Wednesday with a friend (Eric) based in nearby Union Gap.

We’d also agreed to meet up so he could show me the local area and some of the ‘sights’ so I was going to head over there on Tuesday. The aim of the chat is to spread and promote tourism, plus engage with other travelers and Twitter users, so it’s always fun and I was quite excited at the prospect of meeting up. Eric had even set up a radio chat for us on the Wednesday morning which was both exciting and nerve-wrecking haha.

Thursday was then going to be the opening day of the baseball season so myself, Maddie and Cassie were going to head over to Seattle to watch the Seattle Mariners. I figured I could spend Tuesday night in Union Gap, see some of Union Gap (and maybe Yakima), do the chat, spend Wednesday night in Ellensburg and then drive out to Seattle with Maddie and Cassie on Thursday.

Seattle34 — Home of the Seattle Mariners, September 2017

I already knew the baseball had been cancelled but then myself and Eric sensibly agreed to postpone meeting up, which was prior to the “stay at home” order which would have taken the decision out of our hands anyway. With nothing open it just didn’t seem worthwhile.

So Tuesday was uneventful before doing our little chat from our respective homes on Wednesday. It was quite fun and certainly kept me busy for a good hour or two in responding to all of the different people engaging on Twitter.

Not content with just one day of Twitter engagement, another friend (Ian from England), asked if I’d submit a little recording for his podcast. He was doing an episode on people who specifically traveled for sporting events and I, unsurprisingly, sprung to mind. We’d met up in England just shortly before my trip to Madrid in June so I was one of a few people that sprung to mind. It was only a short piece, one of several to contribute, but Ian’s episode went live over the weekend. For anyone interested in my podcast debut, you can listen here!

Then on Friday I’d also been invited to co-host another day-long Twitter chat which gets a hell of a lot more traffic than the one earlier in the week. It was also a lot of fun but rounded off a really blog and Twitter heavy week. Aside from being fun to engage with other travelers, one of the perks is it helps promote your own profile and it’s of no surprise that my Twitter and blog traffic soared this week.

You’d be forgiven for thinking I’ve spent all of my time on the internet and neglected Haleigh but I promise we’ve still been enjoying eachother’s company too haha. We’ve made small and early steps towards wedding planning, continued watching Disney movies and binge-watching Supernatural, read and just generally basked in all of the time together. The circumstances certainly aren’t ideal and we’re probably suffering a little cabin-fever but there’s nobody I’d rather spend this quarantine era with haha.

Month three?
Sadly it hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows. On Sunday Trump did a press conference which suggested these social-distancing and stay-at-home measures would be extended until April 30th which has made me a little more wary.

I was due to fly home on May 1st which felt just a little too close for my liking. I’d personally have no issue about staying here longer but I’m here on a 90 day visa and I’d pushed this trip to the limits. I think May 1st is something like 88 days in the country so a last minute flight cancellation would really cause some problems.

As I said, I’m not personally opposed to staying longer but unfortunately the USA don’t treat visa breaches with the same attitude. I’ve seen suggestions you can be banned from returning to the country for up to 10 years which would bring a host of new problems.

I planned on phoning the British embassy in San Francisco on Tuesday to see what my options were. Unfortunately they’d seemingly decided to close! I was on the phone with this automated message telling me what the opening hours are but they’d closed irrespective of those opening hours. On the 14th of March Trump banned all Brits from visiting the country so I don’t know if that played a part in the closure, perhaps they thought nobody would require assistance if nobody was visiting but it scuppered any hope I had of extending my visa a little longer.

It did make me chuckle somewhat though, it’s the first time I’ve ever felt the need to phone the British embassy on my travels and they weren’t available! That’s encouraging for the future!

I did a little further online research but nothing that suggested it’d be easy for me to stay any longer so I reluctantly phoned my airline (Virgin Atlantic) to see if they could change my flight for me. They were able to but they didn’t have a single direct flight for the entirety of April, I didn’t particularly fancy transiting anywhere, certainly if somewhere like New York City was going to be my best option.

Annoyingly Virgin weren’t able to offer me a refund either, I’m guessing I’ll have to wait and see if that flight is cancelled to claim a refund. They did suggest they’d be able to offer me flight credit so at worst I might take them up on that or move the flight to later in the year and re-use it as I’ll certainly be returning to Washington at some point.

However my more immediate concern was getting a flight home with their competitor, British Airways, who still seemed to be offering direct flights. I succeeded so it’s with a heavy heart that there will be no post on month three in Washington.

Washington1 — Views of the West Coast from the sky!

I’ve made the difficult decision to fly back to England early and I fly home on Sunday evening. I wouldn’t change anything about the whole experience, I’m so pleased I came out here but of course I’m also sad that my trip has been shortened due to circumstances completely out of my control.

It wasn’t how this trip was supposed to end, I feel like I still have a bit of unfinished business here. I’m very much a laid-back individual with a “go-with-the-flow” attitude but this stings a bit. Yet that’s the unpredictable nature of travel I suppose, even as somewhat of an experienced traveler sometimes things don’t go as planned.

On a more positive note it will be nice to go home and see familiar faces from a socially acceptable distance. I’m also optimistic that my flight home will be largely empty, I’m crossing my fingers for an upgrade (are you reading BA?) given there will presumably be space on board!

Anyway, hopefully you enjoyed month two in spite of the difficult circumstances. Fortunately the coming posts will feature much more to talk about as I’ll be kicking off my big summer trip of 2018. If you want a little taster of what’s to come, here’s a pathetic summary of that trip.

I’ll be sharing a day by day telling of “The Big 3-0” trip to the USA. 30 days celebrating my 30th birthday in 2018. Next up is day one of that trip! Stay tuned!

Jason

Living in the USA: month one!

Welcome back folks! Last time out on the blog I promised you’d get a bonus post this week! As many of you will know, either from this post or elsewhere, I made the decision to spend three months living in the USA. I’ve spoken with a few of you already but naturally everyone wants to know how things are going, so what better way than a blog post, right?

Anyway I arrived in Washington on Monday the 3rd of Feb (one month ago) and in Moses Lake itself on Tuesday the 4th of Feb (four weeks ago). So it’s a good chunk of time for me to ramble about, update you on and just let you know how life in general is going. It’s just a bonus it’s fallen within my little Washington series. Last time out on the blog I said Moses Lake wasn’t somewhere you’d plan long term travel for (i.e a two week holiday) so being here for three months was certainly going to be interesting.

I’m not entirely sure how this post is going to go (it might be long) but I’ll break it up in to little sections I think and see how it goes. Here’s month one!

Arrival
First things first, get in the bloody country, right? Long-time readers might remember my ordeal of daring to visit the US in 2016. I was very fortunate to visit the US growing up on four occasions on family trips to Florida but in truth the parents took the lead on each of those occasions to ensure a smooth arrival.

I thought going to Georgia in February 2016 for romance was nerve-wrecking enough but I hadn’t at any point considered I might not even get in to the country. I was wrong and had to go through a thorough interrogation before US border control deemed myself worthy of visiting the delights of Atlanta.

“If you don’t pass this test you’ll be on the first plane back to London” – god forbid!

A few US trips later I was at least prepared for this fun and games with border control but I knew it was seemingly inevitable that I was going to run into trouble.

“How long are you here for, what do you do for a living?”
“Well, you see.. I’m here to stay with my girlfriend for 3 months after quitting my job of eight years.”
“Good luck mate, hope it all works out for you!”

Needless to say, it didn’t quite go as smoothly as that. I was fine for most of the flight to Seattle but the nerves hit me in the queue for the border control (“Come on, get a grip of yourself Jason”). I knew there was no real reason for my entry to be denied but it’s America, you know? Do they need a great reason to send you on the first flight home?

“This bloke blinked funny. Send him back to London!”

I knew the two above questions were the two big red flags that were going to raise suspicion, the plus side being that I was at least prepared for it. I figured if I was honest I’d have no problems, I had printed my return flight details so they could see I had intentions of going home but it was the unexpected third red flag that caused me problems.

I’d got through the fingerprint checks, the retinal scanner, the passport check and a couple of questions and then I was asked “Have you ever been arrested?” – “No..”

Great! Then shortly after I heard some officer at a desk behind me ask his arriving passenger “Have you ever been to the US?” and the overthinking kicked in. US.. Arrest.. that sounds awfully similar in the accent, did I mishear my guy earlier?

I’ve not been arrested, however I have been to the US so two very different answers. I didn’t want to cause any confusion or reason to deny my entry by giving false information so I figured I’d double check. “Sorry, did you ask..?”

That was a mistake! “Yeah.. why?.. Have you?”
No, no, no.. too late! I’d offered some doubt in my credibility as an arrival in to the country. I could instantly sense the change in mannerisms and tone. “What’s your social?”

My social what? I had no idea what he meant? Social security number that US residents have? I don’t have a social.. My confusion or non-compliant response didn’t help matters. Strike two!

He looked at my passport again and started tapping away at his computer, hoping to find some criminal record linked to my identity. He now appeared convinced that I was a criminal mastermind that was trying to escape the authorities!

The officer behind me chirped up again. I heard him ask “What do you do for a living?” and it seems my officer had heard it too as he immediately followed it up by asking me the same question. “Thanks mate, excellent question! I’d forgot to ask that one!”

That was it. Strike three. Three piss poor answers on the bounce. “Okay, follow me..” and I was quickly escorted off to some screening area for further interrogation. Much like in Atlanta I’d failed again.

Fortunately the woman handling my case was much friendlier. After waiting around for a while we had a little chat which ended along the lines of “I want to get you on your way..” which was a sign of encouragement. They inevitably phoned Haleigh to cross-check our responses and soon enough I was successfully allowed into the country! Hurrah!

BeThereSoon — Spotted this in Seattle after arriving, seemed quite apt

Week one!
After that point I was pretty relaxed. The worst part of this whole trip, this whole process, was over with. Whatever happened from here was at least largely in my own hands.

There was no guarantee that things would go well once I was here but I at least felt I had control over that situation. Having someone sat behind a desk determining the fate of your future, and potentially your relationship, is a horrible feeling. I don’t really know what I’d have done had I been refused entry – it completely ruins any plans for 2020 and the immediate future.

Whatever happened with me and Haleigh, at least I was definitely in the country now. If Haleigh threw me out after 3 days of living together then I’d cross that bridge when I came to it but I was here and ready for this experience.

The only plus side to the ordeal was that I had plenty of time to kill in Seattle. I’d be spending the bulk of the next three months in Moses Lake but Haleigh had to work on the Monday that I arrived and the public transportation and Greyhound schedule is pretty rubbish.

I landed in Seattle between 2 and 3pm. There are no afternoon buses to Moses Lake, the first bus I could catch was at about 11pm so I had hours ahead of me. By the time I got in to the actual city it was closer to 4pm so I still had a good 6-7 hours to find something to do.

I got the link as far as the ‘SoDo’ area of Seattle. It’s an area I’ve passed many times before on some mode of transport but never actually explored. With numerous walls covered in murals and street art I thought it’d be fun to look around for a little while. Unfortunately the pedestrianised walkway makes it difficult to get any decent photos of the artwork so although there were some impressive pieces it felt like a bit of a wasted detour.

I figured with my evening it best to find a bar or restaurant near to the bus station. Had I not been to Seattle before I might have ventured further in to the touristy areas of the city but over a few trips I’ve seen various parts of the city.

Unfortunately the area near to the bus station is Chinatown and I wasn’t particularly hungry for Asian cuisine so I wandered a little further (uphill, always uphill Seattle!) to find myself a bar that looked like a good spot for an evening.

I popped in to Seattle’s Flatstick Pub. It wasn’t somewhere I’d been before but is a new favourite of mine. There was a good range of beers to choose from, cool murals painted on the wall, a nice atmosphere and a bunch of games and things that provide further entertainment.

Sadly the food options were limited so I left after a couple of beers and moved on. I found food in one bar but the sole barman behind the bar seemed to actually spend little time at the bar. I eventually grabbed his attention to order a second beer but he either misheard me or decided I needed to bugger off as instead of a pint he brought me my bill – I took it as a sign to leave haha.

The last bar I popped in to seemed a little posher and I’m not sure would ever be a regular for me if I was a local in Seattle but it was quiet and the barman was really friendly. So much so that as they neared closing the guy said I could stick around for a bit if I wanted somewhere warm whilst waiting for my bus – I really appreciated that but didn’t overstay my welcome (although I was the last to leave) and made my way on to the greyhound bus station – surprisingly busy!

GoodBarSeattle — Good bar, great hosts! At Good Bar, Seattle

Four hours later I’d arrived to a freezing Moses Lake in the early hours of Tuesday morning with Haleigh waiting to pick me up. After a fun few hours in Seattle by myself, it was now real. I was living here for the next three months!

The first week in Moses Lake was largely about settling in and trying to get some sort of routine going. I thought it’d take me longer to feel like I was “living” here but I think unpacking on my first morning helped. For the first time I was visiting here living out of furniture opposed to a suitcase. It makes you feel a bit more like it’s home rather than just a holiday.

I think the question on many people’s lips over the last few weeks, from family and friends, is how it has been living so far from home. In all honesty, it doesn’t feel that different to being back in England. Perhaps that’s partly down to my comfort of being around Haleigh but I feel like it has just been naturally easy.

Shopping at Safeway – a blast to the past!

I think some of the bigger struggles have been simple things like shopping. What brands do you buy in a new place? I’ve spoken about my predictable nature on the blog before (Weetabix boy) but you become accustomed to buying the same things because you like those things at home.

One of the first things I did here was go shopping on Wednesday whilst Haleigh was at work, equipped with a list of things to buy for us to eat, and there’s just so much choice for everything (“oh, you bought the expensive butter..”). Where do you start in a brand new place? It’s a little weird.

There have been some other minor oddities to get accustomed to, such as having to use a kettle that isn’t electric. I’m back in the dark ages! Although the bigger surprise is probably that Haleigh even owns a kettle. For one, many American households don’t have one but Haleigh doesn’t drink tea or coffee either so seems even more bizarre in this instance. I genuinely thought I’d be rushing out to buy a “proper kettle” but it didn’t seem a necessary purchase so I’ve just got used to using it.

The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is largely unrelated to being here but just time. There’s a time difference of eight hours between here and England but as far as I can tell that eight hour time difference seems to be a thing called work.

Time just doesn’t move when you’re unemployed. You make breakfast at 8am and you’re jumping in the shower ten minutes later at 7:30am – how did that happen? The first few days I’d wake up early, eat breakfast, go shopping, go find a coffee shop to drink tea in, go to the museum, go home, do the chores and I’m still waiting around for Haleigh to come home for us to spend the next forty hours relaxing before bed.

You’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a criticism but it’s the complete opposite. Time feels like such a luxury at the moment. There have been countless times I’ve just been sat drinking tea at Mason’s Place (a coffee shop in town) without a care in the world – it’s bliss!

I don’t know how I’m ever supposed to go back to a working life when time goes this slowly and I can just enjoy my days walking by the lake or swigging on tea in this cosy little coffee shop. My days feel longer. The company helps of course in making me feel relaxed.

The highlight of my first week was probably our first date night of the trip. We ventured down to this brewery in town that has to be relatively new. I’d never heard of it on previous visits but it popped up in Facebook events with an open mic night so we went down and checked it out. It was a fun evening with good company, good drinks and a bit of Uno (I thrashed Haleigh!) before calling it a night.

SquirrelFightDateNight — Date night at Squirrel Fight Artisan Brewery

Week two!
After what felt like four weeks of not working I’d completed a full week in Washington State. Honestly, work felt like a distant memory. It was unbelievable to me I’d only been here a week. It’s still unbelievable to me I’ve only just reached four weeks in the US. I feel like I’ve been here for SO long (in a good way). My last memory of England feels really really distant.

One of the first things I did this week was get in touch with our friends Maddie and Cassie. We’ve arranged to go and watch the opening day of the Seattle Mariners baseball season in March but there was definitely a part of me that was concerned I’d fall in to this trap of assuming they’re nearby but never actually arranging to see eachother properly.

I didn’t want to be here for three months and only actually see eachother that one time for the baseball. So we arranged to meet up on Thursday this week which gave me a few days to kick off week two by pottering around Moses Lake.

MosesLake26 — Japanese gardens, September 2017

I’ve been trying to share ‘stories’ over Facebook and Instagram to offer some insight of what I’ve been up to whilst I’ve been here. Some of you will see I popped down to the Japanese Friendship Garden on the Tuesday (after another morning tea session at Mason’s Place). I’d visited here in September 2017 and it had been rather pretty but also really peaceful.

What I didn’t realise is that it’s actually closed for the season! I walked up to find the fence locked and consequently I was denied an opportunity to wander around. I am rather fond of this little town but there is a limited amount of things to do without the inconvenience of things also being closed seasonally! Haha.

A couple of days later we were off to Ellensburg to catch up with Maddie and Cassie. Maddie was performing at some (spoken word?) event so myself and Haleigh went and grabbed some food at some cute little diner first before having a little wander around Ellensburg.

EllensburgDiner — A small little diner in Ellensburg

We then drove over to hang out with Maddie, Cassie, one of their friends and the many four legged members of the house – Olivia being particularly excited by our visit! It was a lovely night catching up and one of the highlights of the week here.

February just so happened to coincide with Haleigh’s Winter Break (as a teacher) so she actually had a long weekend this week so on Friday we drove out to Haleigh’s hometown Walla Walla.

Walla Walla is actually the next post in my Washington series so you’ll hear more about it on Thursday but it’s another city I’ve grown largely fond of, largely because of the connection to the people I associate with the city. We were once again kindly hosted by Haleigh’s grandparents which is always appreciated.

It was an opportunity to see some of Haleigh’s family once again, whilst also getting to meet a couple of family members I hadn’t yet met. Haleigh’s cousin (Michelle) drove up from Utah with her boyfriend (David), whilst another of Haleigh’s cousins (Kylie) drove down from Spokane with her little newborn.

The Friday was Valentine’s Day too so myself and Haleigh went out for wings and beers (I think I was the only one actually drinking but still.. haha) with Michelle and David on somewhat of a double date. It was a really fun evening getting to know eachother a bit better and cemented our spring break plans to go down and visit Utah in April! I’m pretty excited for that!

The weekend was really about visiting the family but we did squeeze in a short trip to the Tri-Cities too which is always fun to visit. We only had a little look around to do some shopping but it was fun. It was a bit of a spendier weekend than most will be whilst I’m here but worthwhile and a lot of fun, definitely one of the highlights thus far!

Week three!
We got back to Moses Lake on the Monday with Tuesday spent at home together relaxing before Haleigh’s return to work on Wednesday – which kicked off week three!

Tottenham were playing in the Champions League on Wednesday night back in England so I made a lunchtime trip down to my favourite bar in the city. I mentioned this in my recent post on Moses Lake but they’re always so friendly when I go in here. They even asked on this trip what beer I was drinking whilst I was here as they were planning to phase out my usual and wanted to ensure there was an alternative they had in for me – how sweet is that?

I assured them I’d drink whatever but I appreciated it nonetheless. Sadly the football was less positive as we succumbed to defeat by the Germans. On the plus side, this has been a shit-show of a season so I picked a good one to disappear for three months. I think we’ve lost the subsequent two fixtures since this one so I can’t pretend to be missing it too much haha.

Date night this week was spent visiting some steakhouse in town. I’ve had their steak before (and since) but I opted for fish and chips on this occasion and honestly, it’s one of the better (if not the best) fish and chips I’ve had in the US. The service was particularly good on this night too so it was a particularly lovely evening.

We had a pretty relaxed weekend after that. Other than plan out our meals for the week and go food shopping it was a pretty uneventful weekend. We’ve been binge-watching Supernatural (I’ve never really watched it until now) and playing the PS4 a bit but it has just been nice spending so much time together. The only disappointment of the weekend was that North London rubbish losing once again.

Week four!
Wow, I’ve now spent four whole weeks here. It has been a great experience up until now. In some respects this week wasn’t hugely eventful in comparison to some of the previous weeks, in another respect this week probably felt one where I’ve felt most acclimatised to my new surroundings.

Each week kicks off on a Tuesday for me as that’s the day I arrived in Moses Lake. So I kicked off week four by checking out this diner in town that I’d yet to visit. It’s laid out a bit like a train car which is pretty cool. I’d been meaning to visit for a while and pancake day seemed like the perfect excuse to check it out.

There are better pancakes in town but it’s a cool little place, I was surprised it wasn’t busier although I’d purposefully timed it to try and avoid the breakfast and lunch rush so maybe that was a factor.

MomandPopsDiner — The adorable Mom and Pops diner, Moses Lake

I also went back to the museum on Tuesday because I knew they’d brought in a new exhibit in the past few days so I figured it had changed since my recent visit. Oddly the exhibit hadn’t replaced the previous one on wine, the new exhibit was actually within the gift shop which seemed bizarre to me. Had I not known to look for it I probably wouldn’t have thought to check there.

Friday I popped in to town again during the day and this was probably one of my more sociable days here. As usual I kicked off my morning with a tea at Masons Place and the owner thanked me for giving it a shout out in my Instagram stories recently. I moved on over to Midway Pub and got chatting to a barman I’d yet to actually see in there so we were chatting for quite a while.

Strangely it’s the first time I’ve walked in there without having to ask them to put the football on, I walked in and the Norwich v Leicester game was already on which was refreshing.

I was going to head straight back to the apartment after the football but decided I’d quickly pop in to this art gallery that I’d passed a few times but yet to visit. I knew another opportunity would present itself very soon but I figured it’d be quieter today and so it proved. I had a good chat with the owner who seemed pleased to have a visitor from overseas.

Friday also brought another date night. We went back to the steakhouse for food (I got steak this time) and thought we could go do something after. I suggested bowling but as it was all the lanes were taken so we went to my favourite bar which had karaoke on Fridays. I’d yet to visit at anything other than lunchtime so I was interested to see how the atmosphere differed, I also think it was the first time Haleigh had ever been here.

It was certainly a lot livelier than any previous visit. One of the barmen I’d not seen for a while was working and seemed to remember me which was nice. I’m slowly making my face known in town!

Some of the karaoke acts were surprisingly good, it certainly wasn’t a drunken evening of terrible acts which was an upgrade from my last karaoke experience (watching some Spurs fans butcher Britney Spears in Brussels). Haleigh even plucked up the courage to get up and sing herself, I did not! Probably for the best! Haha.

The next day (Saturday) the town was hosting a festival called Brews and Tunes. Twelve locations in town were hosting a brewery each and some of those locations would also have live artists / bands playing.

It wasn’t the cheapest day out but it was something that would support the businesses and musicians in town so after debating whether or not to go I decided to go. Haleigh wasn’t as convinced so decided to give it a miss which gave us some rare free time to ourselves. Admittedly I’ve had plenty but Haleigh has either been at work or with me 24/7 so was probably pleased to get some space and alone time anyway haha.

The ticket for the event provided you with a little tasting glass for the breweries and 8 beer tickets to taste your way around the town. If you wanted to purchase more beer tickets you were able to for a fee.

It ended up being a really fun day out and another highlight of my time here. The first brewery of the day were in the same building as the registration hall so it seemed the best place to kick off the day accompanied with some local artist singing some of his own stuff.

LiveMusicMosesLake — LJ Polmateer II of One Solution performing at Brews and Tunes

The second brewery took me to a carpet store. Some of the locations were quite bizarre in truth but it was nice to see 12 businesses along this stretch all get involved. Location number three saw me return to the art gallery from the day before, the owner came and sat with me for a little while which was nice before attending to a spillage elsewhere (one of the strongest beers of the day too – what a beer to waste!).

BasaltCollectiveBrewsAndTunes — Beer number 3 at the Basalt Collective

The rest of the locations took me back past the first building. A couple of girls in the carpet store were already speculating about buying more beer tickets and it made a lot of sense. You started the day with 8 beer tickets but there were 12 breweries. You had the option to buy additional single tickets or a batch of 5 which would take my total up to 13 tickets in total. It made sense to taste one from each brewery and consequently check out each location so in passing I went and picked up a few more tickets.

I then moved on to location number four – a real estate firm with a blues band playing outside. The music was good and ‘Lake City Blues’ were the highlight of the three acts I’d seen thus far.

However this was then bettered as the next step on my tour featured a band called ‘Free Beer Nuts’ who were probably the best act of the day, playing in a cosy little room. I would happily have stayed there a bit longer but it was only a four hour event and I was only five out of twelve breweries in.

Reaching the halfway point was probably the oddest part of the day. I arrived to a packed jewelery store! I think it was just the timing of things that had made this a halfway point at which ever end you started the event so this was by far the busiest place I visited all day. There was quite a lengthy queue for the beer which I didn’t experience at any other point in the day. I might have been better placed coming back here but I waited it out with this older couple providing entertainment via some country music.

MillersFineJewelers — Miller’s Fine Jewelers hosting Brews and Tunes

On to the second half of the breweries! Oddly I bumped in to a familiar face at my 7th location. We’d made a friend on our first date night at Squirrel Fight who spent most of the night singing at Open Mic night. He recognised me and came and had a chat, it was a bit of a surprise but he was such a character I’d obviously remembered who he was too. We chatted for a few minutes before heading our seperate ways.

The next few locations were odd ones. A couple of stores, a skin care company and then a yoga studio which was actually probably one of the best locations of the day for live music with a guitarist (Rylei Franks) set up nicely in the corner of this backroom. It was also here where I was again recognised by the guy who runs one of the breweries (Squirrel Fight) in town who thanked me for coming out!

RyleiFranks — Rylei Franks performing at the O2! O2 Yoga Studio that is..

The last location (Michael’s Bistro) was the only one not on this road, admittedly it was only around the corner but it meant walking up a block to tick off my last location! 11 beers and one cider to complete the 12! Of course, that left me with one remaining beer ticket which I used at the place Free Beer Nuts were playing so I could see a little more of their act before calling it a day. Twelve locations, twelve beers, one cider!

All in all, it was a fun day. A little more expensive of a weekend than I’d anticipated as I tipped a few of the musicians along the way but thoroughly enjoyable and one that really makes me appreciate the beauty in enjoying some live music.

Afterwards I walked back the few miles to the apartment and spent the evening with Haleigh, including a quick gym visit (had to work off all that beer somehow!) as there’s one on the apartment complex here which is handy! Sunday and Monday were both relatively lazy days and here we are! Four weeks done!

HomeSweetHome — Snow at the beginning of the four weeks!

Overall verdict!
Overall it has been a really nice experience so far, I haven’t missed England as much as I thought I might. Although of course there are certain things I’ve missed, I’ve been craving a proper meat pie recently and Greggs have yet to bring a bakery to Moses Lake for me to munch on some sausage rolls. My friend Jenny also reminded me of the goodness of Custard Creams recently which might now require a thorough look down the ‘cookie’ aisles here to find something that isn’t an actual cookie or oreos.

There are other things I’ve missed (like watching football 24/7) but the people more than anything – the family in particular.

All that said, there’s a lot of good about being here too. For starters I’m enjoying my time with Haleigh which made the whole decision to come here worthwhile. We’ve yet to annoy eachother (or Haleigh’s yet to annoy me anyway) which is positive. The winter has been pretty mild too which is nice, aside from one day of snow it’s been sunny most days. There have been a few days where I’ve even left the house without a jacket which is so strange for this time of year.

Additionally the people in general here have been pretty welcoming and I do feel like this is becoming somewhat of a second home. It’ll never be my or Haleigh’s long term base but whilst I’m here I’m certainly going to enjoy it and I think I’ll always have a little fondness for Moses Lake.

Anyway I appreciate this ended up being a little wordy but hopefully offers some insight as to how things are going. I’ll continue putting stories up on Facebook and Instagram so keep following along there!

I’ll do another update in a month’s time but next time on the blog (Thursday) I’ll be rounding off my February 2018 trip to Washington! Stay tuned!

Jason

Moses Lake – February 2018!

Welcome back to this little Washington series! Those of you following along since last time out will remember I’d spent a night in Seattle, largely due to the irregularity of the Greyhound buses.

I’d enjoyed getting to spend an evening in Seattle but this trip was all about spending a proper amount of time with Haleigh, who lived on the East side of the mountains, in the small town of Moses Lake.

Let me say, from a relationship point of view this was a big step forward and was going to offer a better indication as to how suited we were to eachother. The best part of two weeks in eachother’s company, some of that period Haleigh would be working and some of it we’d be in close confinements 24/7. As an introvert and someone who likes their own space that was a daunting prospect.

Ignoring the relationship viewpoint, from a tourist viewpoint I also had the other problem of what I was going to do in Moses Lake to entertain myself for multiple days whilst Haleigh was working. I consider myself a ‘Londoner’, London born and bred, and I’m very much a person that feels most at home in a big city.

Moses Lake is not a big city, it’s not even a big town – its population is about 20,000! It’s a place I’d largely seen most of in just a day a year prior to this trip. Without being harsh, it’s not a place you’d ordinarily plan long term travel for and it’s not a place (or country) that is particularly focused on public transport. So much so that when you arrive by bus in Moses Lake you need a car to get anywhere – as I joked about in my previous post on Moses Lake here!

Nevertheless I am an optimist so I was positive I’d avoid boredom over the next couple of weeks. I arrived in to Moses Lake on the Tuesday afternoon which was pretty chilled, hanging out with Haleigh after work and getting some good sleep after a long day in Seattle.

The next morning I decided to go out and explore and see what else I could find that I hadn’t seen first time around. Greeting me outside was snow! I talked about the need for a car to get anywhere in the US but the beauty of that is that when it does snow, so much of it is untouched snow. No footprints on the “sidewalk” – just beautiful untouched white stuff – it’s pretty to see!

MosesLakeChapel — Clear roads, untouched snow! America in a picture!

I find it particularly pretty because we don’t get huge amounts of snow in England. This was a rare snow day for me so nice to wander through and nice to see the contrast from my previous end-of-summer trip. I wandered the few miles in to downtown and popped in to my favourite little independent coffee shop to grab some tea and watch the world go by.

After warming up with a good cuppa, I ventured over towards the lake. It’s always pretty quiet by the lake, you get the occasional dogwalkers or runners but it’s pretty peaceful and probably moreso on days when you’ve got snow and ice on the ground. It was nice to have a wander before hunting for some lunch.

A good option seemed to be the Midway Pub along Broadway which has become a bit of a favourite on my visits. This was my first visit but has since become a bit of a regular. The atmosphere is nice and they’re always happy to put the football on for me, Tottenham had played the day before so I settled for watching the Liverpool game.

I like this bar because it’s usually pretty quiet at lunchtime. Americans seem to live by the “it’s 5 o clock somewhere..” mantra so, unlike the English, seem reluctant to pop in somewhere for a pub lunch as it’s considered unacceptable culturally before 5 I guess.

Additionally to it being quiet, the staff are always friendly – I only popped in once on this trip but they still remembered me six months later when I returned which was nice.

After a convincing Liverpool win, some good food and a couple of beers I moved on and decided to give the museum a visit. I’d been before but long enough had passed that I figured maybe the exhibit had changed and so it proved. It’s only a small museum but killed a bit more time before heading back to the apartment in time for Haleigh getting home and us spending the evening together – Valentine’s Day infact!

We decided to stay in, opposed to going out, and made our own pizzas! A joint effort which was definitely one of the perks in getting to spend a bit more time together and being able to do things such as this. Better yet, the pizzas actually turned out really well! What do you reckon? Not bad for a first joint cooking effort, right? It was a nice first Valentine’s together too!

ValentinesDayPizza — Pineapple belongs on pizza!

One of the big reasons for making this trip in February was that it happened to coincide with Haleigh’s spring break (as a teacher), so it meant I could visit whilst she actually had some time off from school! The next morning we had a bit of a lay in before deciding to visit the nearby, and even smaller, town of Ephrata (population 8,000ish).

There was two reasons we thought a trip to Ephrata would be nice. The book addict (Haleigh) wanted to check out a book store in town, secondly there was the Grant County Historical Museum (which Google Maps will advise you opens at 10am) which looked like worth checking out.

We grabbed some breakfast in town before heading on over to Ephrata. The book store in town wasn’t actually open for some reason with a sign in the window / door suggesting to come back in the afternoon. Fortunately further along the street was another cute little bookstore so we settled for visiting here instead and Haleigh still managed to find a book to satisfy her need for more books!

Further along what I’m assuming was Main Street (every American town has a main street, right?) was the museum. We decided to just leave the car and walk up and after half a dozen blocks we’d reached what felt like the end of the town – there was very little activity, nor business around and it felt like there was very little to this tiny town.

Worse yet, the museum was closed for the season! If you look on Google today you’ll still see it’s supposedly open today too but once you go to their website you’ll see they’re only open between May and September! Worth noting if you’re ever in the area (not recommended!). Our two sole reasons to visit were both a bust so after the disappointment of finding a closed museum we decided to head back to the car.

On route we did at least spot this pretty cool mural on the side of a theatre / cinema! It’s one of the very few highlights of Ephrata but had otherwise been a wasted adventure. We made our way back in to Moses Lake for the rest of the day and chilled out, before packing for the weekend’s adventures in Walla Walla. That was a fun weekend but you’ll have to wait until next week to hear more on that.

After a few days in Walla Walla we came back to Moses Lake, in time for Haleigh’s return to work, which again left me to explore the town solo during the daytime. It’s a town I’ve grown fond of, perhaps because it’s familiar and does have that small town feel to it. You continually see the same faces and even if unfamiliar to you, you know someone else knows that person. You go in to certain establishments and know it’s full of regulars.

I’ve quickly established my favourites in Moses Lake but with each passing visit try and seek out a new place to grab lunch at or have a quick beer. The rest of this trip was pretty relaxed, embracing the company more than anything and it assured me that any length of time spent together on my big summer trip would be fine.

That just about wraps up this part of the trip. Next up on the blog? Well, I’m actually planning to squeeze in a bonus post next week so you’ll have two coming very shortly! I hinted at one of those above (Walla Walla) but you’ll have to wait to see what the bonus post is! Stay tuned!

Jason

Moses Lake – Sep 2017

Those of you that have been following my Washington series will know that last time out on the blog I rounded off my time in the city of Spokane. After one night solo in Spokane it was time for me to move on and visit another new place: Moses Lake!

“Oh my god, at last!”

Alright readers, calm down! I suppose one of the downsides to not blogging “in the moment” and doing so two years after the trip (oops), particularly in a series such as this, is some of my ‘audience’ tend to know what the story is building towards. Last week I had one binge-reader (hi mum) unhappy with the one-post-a-week schedule as she was keen to read the next chapter because, of course, awaiting me in Moses Lake was none other than Haleigh!

“Who?”

Oh come on! For those unfamiliar with the story (“get with the times!”) you can catch up here but long story short, Haleigh’s my girlfriend and this particular portion of the trip was the first time we’d ever really spent any time together. We’d briefly met on Sunday but the bulk of that was spent on a car journey, alongside our friends Maddie and Cassie. We’d been apart since then so consequently I was excited to be leaving Spokane on Wednesday but also a bit nervous about how things were going to go.

I don’t know if spoiler is the right word given it’s obvious how things panned out, particularly given I even wrote this piece announcing I’d be living in Moses Lake for 3 months in 2020 but still; here’s how that nerve-wrecking first encounter went and similarly what I did on my first visit to Moses Lake.

I say first visit, I had actually passed through it on my journey from Ellensburg to Spokane. Perhaps fortunately so because it left me somewhat prepared for the reality that Moses Lake’s Greyhound “bus station” is in the middle of nowhere.

Seriously, it might not surprise the American readers as much but for my fellow Europeans used to a relatively good standard of public transport I suppose I’d liken it to being dropped off at a service station. “You want a bus to London? Cool, our London bus stop is somewhere on the A1 – enjoy!”

Essentially if you’re getting a Greyhound bus to Moses Lake, you’re going to want a car when you arrive.

“A car? After getting off a bus? If you had access to a car would you not just drive there yourself?”

Thank you friends! The logic was lost on me too. Being completely realistic you need to either have someone picking you up or you’re going to want to order a taxi as soon as you arrive. The downtown area of this, fairly small town, is around 3 miles away from the bus stop, which is ultimately just a petrol station car park.

Haleigh was working when I arrived so I personally had two options. My first was actually to walk rather than take a taxi. It was a nice day, I had time to kill and it was “only” 3 miles. Why pay for a taxi?

Alternatively I could just wait it out, I think I got in to Moses Lake around 2 and Haleigh would be home around 4 and be able to pick me up on the way. The one perk to the ludicrous location / service type feel is that it’s at least located next to plenty of restaurants / fast food places. It’s a pretty popular spot for truckers who want somewhere convenient to stop along the i90 and on this occasion was convenient for me to grab a late lunch. I decided I’d eat at Denny’s.

Unfortunately it was actually pretty mediocre, I think this was my first Denny’s experience since childhood trips to Florida and I’ve clearly romanticised them a bit too much. I’m convinced they were brilliant when I was younger, perhaps this was an off day, but it spoilt this magical opinion I held of Denny’s from my youth.

I think I finished up eating just before three which left me in that limbo position where it felt a bit too long to just hang out in Denny’s but barely long enough to justify walking in to Moses Lake. Whether I waited or walked I was probably still going to get in to town around the same time. In the end I took the less awkward option, not wanting to loiter in Denny’s I decided to walk.

The last hurdle to overcome with this ridiculous location was that a good chunk of the route isn’t actually pedestrianised. Where’s your “sidewalk” America? It’s bad enough your only car-free option from the bus stop is to walk three miles but you then have nowhere to actually walk. I ended up having to walk along gravel on the side of the highway whilst dragging my suitcase along behind me.

“Why’s that guy dragging a suitcase along the A1?” – it was a tad ridiculous.

On the plus side, it is a pretty straight walk at least. Although I suppose the A1 is too for the most part and I’m not proposing walking that any time soon. Anyway, eventually I reached a “sidewalk” and it’s a pretty smooth walk from there – a lot of it downhill infact.

About a mile from town I got a message from Haleigh and realised I’d actually walked too far, obviously after the point the walk had started heading downhill which meant I had to turn back and walk uphill. I’d almost reached Haleigh’s apartment when she pulled over and picked me up which saved me a few hundred yards.

After dropping my things off at her place we headed out so I could get my first proper glimpse of Moses Lake. Haleigh had only recently (Aug) moved here infact so it was a good chance for us both to have a bit of a look around the downtown area, I think Haleigh had driven through plenty of times but never really parked up and looked around.

The downtown area was small but a little cute too, it definitely had that small town feel to it which I haven’t really experienced much of when visiting the US. We popped our head in a few shops before closing, mostly independent little businesses rather than big chains. One of which had a cool little area where you could actually pay to do artwork/pottery and similar stuff which Haleigh’s been back to since a few times. There was also a couple of cool murals and statues throughout the downtown area which I was fond of.

MosesLake6

Having appeased our curiosity we made our way over to dinner and visited Moses Lake favourite ‘Rock Top. It has become a regular place for us to eat out but this was essentially our “first date” I suppose. It was quite a nice day and they had a few outside tables so we decided we’d eat outside rather than inside, seemingly the only people in a busy restaurant to do so which was nice and that little more romantic being just the two of us.

However it was also rather cold! It might have been a nice warm day with the sun bearing down on you but under a bit of shade it felt rather breezy and it quickly became clear why nobody else wanted to eat outside haha.

We made the most of it though. It was a little more intimate which is an added bonus on a first date. I can only speak for myself but I was nervous going in to dinner. We’d spent a little time together by this point but that had still either been with Maddie or Cassie, or even in exploring Moses Lake earlier we had something to distract us or catch our eye. “Hey! Look at that cool mural!”

Dinner was different because it’d just be us, literally given the setting, and that meant a focus on entertaining or engaging the other person. Conversational skills or social situations aren’t my biggest strength and there was definitely that fear that I’d bore Haleigh or that things just wouldn’t go well. It opens up the possibility of an awkward or uncomfortable end to the trip. You can get to know people to an extent online but it’s no substitute for actually spending time together in person and you always hope that step in a friendship or relationship or whatever goes smoothly.

Any fears or nervousness quickly disappeared. It instantly felt like I was having dinner with someone I’d known for years. It was easy and effortless and I think as far as first dates go, it was really enjoyable. I found Haleigh incredibly easy to spend time with and there was a natural chemistry there rather than having to force it. I definitely left dinner thinking there was a future for us and it set the mood for the rest of the evening. After eating we were able to just relax back at the apartment and watch a bit of Netflix before bed.

Sadly Haleigh still had to work on Thursday so the next day I was left to explore Moses Lake solo. I looked online for a little inspiration or ideas on how to spend my day but there seemingly isn’t much in Moses Lake, I’d arguably seen most of it already.

I made the first stop of my day at one of the standout points of interest – the Japanese peace gardens in the city. They were so peaceful infact that I think I startled the man cutting the grass. There was nobody else here which made it nice to wander around, it’s only a small gardened area and isn’t somewhere that’s worth going out of your way to visit but it’s a nice little addition to Moses Lake. Plus it’s free so it was definitely worth having a look and I grabbed a handful of photos before moving on.

My next stop was at “Mason’s Place” – a small independent owned coffee place downtown. This has also become a bit of a regular haunt for me as it’s cosy and it’s also nice to support a local business in the process. I grabbed myself a tea and a seat at the window to “people watch”.

It turns out people-watching isn’t actually much fun in America. Everyone drives everywhere, they have drive-thru’s for literally everything. I’m not sure I saw a person outside of the coffee shop infact, plenty of parked cars but I don’t know where all the people who own those cars were. Bizarre and also quite boring – stick to people watching in Europe haha.

Having had my fix of tea I wandered down towards the lake which the town inevitably gets its name from. The water looked incredibly enticing and I can recall, at the time, uploading a photo to social media proclaiming its beauty and my temptation to jump in. Here’s said photo! Not bad right?

Ironically I saw an article quite recently advising people to avoid swimming in the lake as it’s toxic! I don’t think this was the case when I took this photo but probably just as well I didn’t jump in! Maybe settle for just walking alongside the lake and admiring the view instead which is what I ended up doing.

I wandered up towards a restaurant called “Michael’s on the Lake” which as you might guess is a restaurant offering lakeside views. It’s quite a nice restaurant, it was only after sitting down and looking at the menu that I realised they were part of the same company who own Rock Top. Purely coincidental in terms of me coming here but interesting given I’d visited Rock Top the evening before.

For the purpose of this coming story I’m going to actually name my waiter ‘Michael’, fitting with the restaurant’s name. Maybe Michael Jr would be better actually. ‘Michael’s’ service has stuck with me for the last two years and it’s a difficult one to try and fairly describe but the way I continually think of it is he essentially wasn’t a waiter.

He was this young guy, friendly, helpful but he lacked all of the typical waiting mannerisms. Don’t get me wrong, he was completely professional but I can only think he must have been relatively new at the job because he just didn’t come across as a waiter. Not in the sense that he didn’t know what he was doing, it was a good service, but he didn’t seem to have picked up those waiting traits or habits I suppose. I can recall a few occasions which are hard to describe but tickled me in a way.

As I said though it was actually a really good service, a little more personable I guess and I held out the hope I’d come back and see a different ‘Michael’ somewhere down the line. I’ve been back to the restaurant twice and not seen him, I hope if he has left that he’s gone on to better things!

Following on from a long lunch (I really did enjoy the service and stuck around for an extra beer or two), I made my way back towards Haleigh’s apartment, leaving time for one last detour. There’s a small (and free) museum in Moses Lake so I thought I’d go and check it out. One of the main pieces was some local artist’s work which was quite cool to see, it was a good way to pass some time too.

Back at the apartment I chilled out for a bit until Haleigh made it home. On Friday we were getting the whole “gang” together, joining Maddie and Cassie and spending the weekend in Seattle. So we had the option of either driving to Ellensburg in the morning or heading there Thursday night. We wanted to make an early start towards Seattle so decided to drive over to Maddie and Cassie’s that evening and stay at theirs overnight.

It was a pretty drive back to Ellensburg with the sun setting. I think every car ride or bus journey has been the same whenever I’ve visited Washington, I just have my face glued to the window and try and resist the temptation to take 1,000 photos. It’s such a pretty state.

Soon enough we’d reached Ellensburg. As I explained in my Ellensburg post here, Ellensburg is a college town and at the time Maddie and Cassie were both working on campus. Consequently we took a little trip over to Central Washington University (CWU).

It was an opportunity for me to have a little glimpse in to ‘college life’ in America. It was interesting to look around and seemed like a good size college. Haleigh gave me a little tour of the grounds before we checked in on a couple of Haleigh’s old friends from college which also helped kill a bit of time.

Having spent a little time looking around we wandered back to Maddie and Cassie’s and chilled out for the evening. We agreed a time to kick off the morning trip to Seattle and got ourselves a good night’s sleep. More on Seattle to come next!

Stay tuned!

Jason

Washington State – An introduction – Sep 2017

As promised last time out on the blog, my next few posts are going to be dedicated to various cities and towns throughout the state of Washington but first I want to give you a little background.

Without doubt one of the greatest things about the internet are the connections it allows us to make to people all over the world. A simple conversation online can lead to friendships or relationships that last a lifetime. At 31 years old I’ve spent over half of my life online and in that time I’ve crossed paths with an incredible number of people online, some of which I’ve known a good 10-15+ years!

As someone with a real interest in traveling it’s quite a luxury to have friends all over the world but one country in particular stands out on that front: the USA! I reckon I could probably go to any state in the country and know someone in some capacity.

In 2017 I made an effort to go and visit some of those lovely people across the pond. The first trip took me to Washington DC, Nashville and Dallas which gave me a great chance to finally see some of my favourite people! It was long overdue!

However not content with just one Washington visit, I was soon booking flights to visit Washington State on the opposite coast to see a few more of my favourites: Maddie, Cassie and Haleigh!

Myself and Maddie had met online a number of years earlier and it was always in my mind to go and visit Seattle/Washington at some point. Eventually that opportunity presented itself, Maddie sent a proposition my way in early 2016 which went something along the lines of “Hey.. would two years be enough notice for you to come to my wedding?”

I was honoured! Of course I’d be there! I’d like to think I’d have gone irrespective of how much notice I’d been given but two years was plenty! I stuck a little pin in the calendar for August 2018 and was excited at making what would presumably be my first trip (ha!) to the USA’s West coast!

Poulsbo61

With wedding plans progressing, later in the year (2016) Maddie introduced me to Cassie (the bride) and also their friend Haleigh. It was great! I now had three lovely people to visit in Washington!

“So that’s how you met!”

Alright, you got me! This story might have been a bit more suspenseful had some of you not read about Haleigh previously or in some cases even met Haleigh here in England. However it’s safe to say it’s a “friendship” that clicked pretty instantly.

I wasn’t really thinking about anything long-distance but I was excited to have another friend at the wedding outside of the happy couple. However as time went on and we continued talking regularly it seemed there was clearly a spark between myself and Haleigh.

Whether that spark was enough to lead to anything more was another matter. I wasn’t dead set against long distance but inevitably I had my doubts, not helped by the fact this was yet again further from home as if Germany or Georgia hadn’t been far enough away.

“Seriously Jason, could you not just fall for a nice local girl?”
“Obviously not..”

There were a number of factors to consider so we just kept things at a “see how it goes” basis but it got to a point where I figured I’d just be better off knowing where we stood. Whilst we were both single and not looking elsewhere, the spark online doesn’t always necessarily translate when spending time in person. The wedding was still over a year away and did either of us really want to wait that long to see how compatible we were? It’s a long time to put your life on hold for a maybe. It could also have been a really awkward wedding day and I didn’t want to spoil it in anyway.

Rather than wait until August 2018, instead I booked flights and decided to visit a year earlier – heading for Washington State come September 2017. Therefore I was visiting the US for the second time in 2017 and this time getting to experience “the other Washington” – not to be confused with Washington DC on the East coast.

Obviously it’ll be no surprise to hear things went well! There have been multiple trips to Washington since then, including for the wedding of the year (2018) but you’ll have to wait to hear about those adventures until another day. This particular series will be focusing on that very first trip to the West coast, seeing three wonderful people and exploring Ellensburg, Spokane, Moses Lake and Seattle.

Next up on the blog? The start of that trip in Ellensburg! Stay tuned!

Jason

Big news, big changes!

Here’s a little bonus post for you this week because last time out on the blog (here) I promised that my next post would be revealing my plans for 2020!

I always like to kick off any post with a bit of an introduction and I’ve rewritten this several different ways to try and achieve that. However I think that actually I’m going to keep this post relatively short and sweet and just break the news to you!

I’m leaving!

Fear not beloved readers, Jason Likes To Travel as a blog is going nowhere so your “favourite blogger” will still be around, however I am leaving! As some of you will already know, I’ve made plans to leave my job of 8 years, leave my home and go and ‘live’ out in Washington State for three months.

It is of course only temporary, I will be coming back to England! I fly out to Washington on February 3rd and I’ll be flying back to England on May 1st. It’s also currently ‘unofficial’ as far as work are concerned, I don’t plan on officially handing my notice in until December so for any work folk reading please keep that in mind. They are aware of my plans but I’d rather you didn’t go shouting about it through the office just yet (Thanks!).

So there you go! That’s my big reveal! Some big news and big changes are coming in the New Year! Whilst it is only temporary, it’s also going to be a completely new experience. It’s exciting but equally nerve-wrecking to be doing something completely out of my comfort zone.

I don’t really know what 2020 has in store for me beyond those three months and that’s quite weird, that unstable and spontaneous lifestyle isn’t really who I am. I’m ‘Weetabix boy’ who has two Weetabix every day for 31 years (few exceptions). I’ve spent the bulk of this past decade living in the same house and working in the same office such is the predictability of my life. Of course I’ve traveled a lot over that decade but the reality is I’m boring, safe, predictable, comfortable and live the easy life. A life of routine you might say.

In 2020 I’m signing up for the opposite of all of that! Will things go well in Washington or will they go horrifically? Will I struggle being away from England for that long? Will I easily find a job when I come back? What state will my finances be in after 12 weeks of unemployment?

I haven’t got a bloody clue! That should perhaps terrify me, and admittedly for clarity I do have the luxury of a roof over my head when I come back, but it doesn’t scare me! I’m embracing the uncertainty. I’m going in to this with a feeling of “no regrets” and feeling ready for it! The reality is that change is coming but I’m optimistic that its positive change that is coming! I guess time will tell!

Anyway, thanks for reading!

Next up on the blog? A trip to Hamburg! Stay tuned!

Jason