How to get to Seattle

Report by Anja H.

If you want to go to Seattle and you also want to take the bus, you should take the Greyhound. This is the bus which everybody takes if you want to travel in Canada and the United States. They are cheap and they drive nearly everywhere in the country.

Take the Greyhound Bus

So I went to Seattle in March and I paid only 38 CAD to Seattle and back to Vancouver. You can also fly from Vancouver to Seattle (it is just a 30 minutes flight), but it is much more expensive than taking the Greyhound Bus. You don´t need an ESTA form if you travel by bus. Before you cross the border to the United States, they will give you a sheet and on there you have to write your name, your address etc. – and be careful: If you have any food with you, you HAVE TO write it on this sheet! Our bus driver told us, that he had one guest who forgot it and he had to pay 350 CAD for one apple at the border station. So I had three apples with me and – sure – I wrote it on the sheet but even so they put my apples away because they had no adhesive label on it.

What can you bring?

That was really annoying. So if you want to take apples or other fruits with you – make sure that they have adhesive label on it! You also have to pay a fee about 6 CAD if you take any luggage with you. So for example if you just have one backpack than you don´t have to pay anything. But if you have a backpack and a suit than you have to pay – and you can´t pay with Canadian dollars! So either you pay with American dollars or you have to pay with your credit card.

Sights to see in Seattle

If your Greyhound bus should leave town at 13.30, probably he will leave at 14.00 – so if you plan your journey, try to give some time just in case the bus has a delay. And also be careful with the time – don´t mix up “a.m.” and “p.m.” – that happens very easily! We thought our bus will leave at four o´clock in the morning – so that we get to class on Monday midday, but it was actually four o´clock in the afternoon… so we missed class and had one more day in Seattle. It was not that bad to be honest.
If you want visit some nice places in Seattle you have to go to the EMP Museum (there are different exhibitions throughout the whole year), visit the market place, the first Starbucks, eat a lot of cake in the cheesecake factory and if you want to see the city from a good viewpoint don´t pay so much money for the space needle – you can go to the “Columbia Center” and you pay just 9 USD instead of 20 USD!