I’m sitting here at Sea-Tac, looking over at gate S9 for an aircraft that is not there. If things had gone according to schedule, I would have been in the air already for a good 30 minutes, on my way back to the Netherlands. However, when there is no inbound aircraft, you’re kind of going to have to just accept that the only seat you will be in for the moment is the one bolted to the floor in the universally uncomfortable airport seating.

In this digital age, we tend to expect that everything can be electronic. The state of Washington seems to be the exception to that rule and I had to come back to pick some important documents that they would only issue on paper and mail. I arrived late Saturday (as in two days ago) and stayed 5 blocks from my old house in someone’s garage Air BNB.

Since this trip was already costing me enough money, I made the resolution to get around only via public transit. Bargain wise, definitely a good thing. I spent a grand total of $18.75 getting around. Of course, I also gave up hours to do this. This morning, it was 55 minutes to go 6 miles with the bus. If I had walked it, it would have taken me the same amount of time. I have a new found appreciation for the investment that European countries make in their public transit infrastructure. I had the luxury of spending the time because I didn’t have to go to work or pickup my kids or any other serious task.

Not wanting to be an extravagant transit spender, I also did a lot of foot travel. I wanted to see and experience Seattle from the pavement. I also wanted to test my European daily habits and see if they worked in Seattle. The results were mixed. Daily grocery shopping would be a nightmare here as stores are enormous. Besides if you are going everywhere on foot, there’s a limit to how much you can carry. My bike would have been an excellent option here.

I noticed how people rate dogs. The first time I passed a group of people doing it, I thought it was unique to their circumstances. Then as I was navigating the crowds in the Sunday Farmer’s Market, I noticed lots of people were doing it. The conversation references certain dogs that are walking around, compares their traits and appearance to dogs seen earlier and then there is an evaluation if that’s one they should put on the list to get. I had heard the statistic that there are more dogs than school age children in Seattle. If I had dogs, I would think twice about leaving them alone. I mean, Henry and George had an exceptionally high attraction factor and they were also really nice dogs. They could have been grabbed in a heartbeat. While there are many dogs here, they also seem to be very reactive. Their owners are attentive but the dogs themselves react to other dogs. Perhaps that is due to isolation from the COVID time? I know in the Netherlands it is a problem for dogs that people got during that time. They are undersocialized.

I was also struck by how chilly Seattle is. I think I have gotten used to the extravagant extroversion of the Dutch. When you are walking on the sidewalk, people to do not walk past you, they cross to the other side. Or they don’t make eye contact. Super weird. The whole social power dynamic seems out of balance. What is with ending all your sentences on an uplift like you are uncertain of what you are saying?

I don’t know if I will stay in the Netherlands for the rest of my life. I don’t know that Seattle would be somewhere I could return to and do well living there. I think I might have a little too much raw energy for the mellow Pacific Northwest. 😉

Apparently they found an aircraft and we are going to start boarding. Next stop, the land of Dutch directness.