May 9

May 9 Travelling to Seattle from Vancouver - Bus vs. Plane

As travel restarts, most trips tend to be to destinations close by, although this has been hampered by the recent reintroduction of COVID-19 tests for travel. The US only imposes COVID-19 tests for air travel - after all, it’s not likely at all a bus with several dozen people sitting there is a problem (/s). Now to be honest, I wasn’t too excited about busing over to Seattle given that flights to Seattle take only about an hour long, and both the Seattle and Vancouver Airports are well connected by transit. Oh was I wrong.

Bus

My journey began in earnest at the Pacific Central Station in Vancouver. Note Alex’s haven’t quite figured out panoramic photos, so this is what you’re going to get.

I had booked an afforable Amtrak ticket for $45 - however, given current restrictions, all methods of entry into the US were through buses. I have heard good things about the view from the train though, and look forward to one day seeing it as well.

As expected on a Monday morning, the train terminal was relatively empty. I was greeted by a (manned) security guard checkpoint.

As it got closer to departure time, people started to trickle in. Note while tickets assert to come to the station at least an hour early, with the advent of buses there is no need to: just come 20 minutes beforehand. This is because processing for entry into the US is now done at the border.

The bus itself was quite comfortable, with the exception of 1 thing: the cold. The bus took at least an hour to properly warm up!

There were quite a few travelers with luggage - while this isn’t an issue for the bus, note that at the border it can be quite cumbersome to offload and have the guards processes it.

Outside of a stop at the border, the journey was uneventful. While the bus billed itself as a 3.5 hour trip, it ended up being 4.5 hours given delays due to snow. Regardless, I would tell anyone asking that the bus is the best way to traverse between Seattle / Vancouver for now. Not because the bus is so great, but more because the airlines are not the most reliable now.

The Plane

With 30 minutes of air time and 30 minutes of buffer time, the plane seemed like the logical way to return back to Canada. But first, let’s explore the airport.

Seattle Airport

Getting to the airport was easy: Seattle recently built up a Link Light Rail from downtown Seattle, which takes about 35 minutes. Concurrently, there are also buses that service both the outlying districts of Seattle and Bellevue (560W) which are affordable and don’t overcharge (cough Paris cough).

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) is, in my opinion, one of the better laid out airports in the US - all of it’s various terminals are connected behind security, allowing you to shop or lounge however you please.

As you can see, the airport’s high ceilings, generally natural light, and wide array of shopping / dining facilities make this a great place for a quick layover.

But what makes the airport experience even better is lounges! The Club at SEA is the resident Priority Pass Lounge, although there are also lounges for Alaska, Delta, American Express (RIP those of us who are banned).

Be warned though, the Club is located in Concourse A, which may be a ways walk from whichever concourse your flight is departing from. Entering into the lounge, I was greeted by a few drink and coffee machines, and was concerned this was the extend of the refreshments.

Fortunately, this was allayed quickly by the arrival of…actual food, which consisted of a tasty chicken stew / rice, as well as cold vegetables, fruits and cheeses.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), the drink situation was back to normal, with a bartender serving alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.

The lounge itself is split into a main area (which lacks electrical plugs) and the business center, which has such plugs and working tables.

Finally, there was a flight display board that I monitored anxiously. There were significant flight cancellations, mainly due to the unusually chilly weather and staffing shortages.

2 hours before my flight, I got my first dose of bad news: flight was delayed by an hour due to weather. As expected, given my previous experience travelling during busy times, or my friend’s experience as well.

On the bright side, this gave me more time to enjoy the food and drink in the lounge, and research places for me to stay upon my return to Toronto.

Until...yet another delay after delay hit. A flight that was supposed to take off at…7:35PM, with an hour stuck on the tarmac.

One thing to note: Don’t be mad at the flight attendants and pilots, as they typically get paid only while the plane is in motion, not while at work. And, for a 1 hour flight, a delay for 5 hours I can imagine is equally as bad on them. Another quirk: the check in at this aircraft did not accept my digital QR code boarding pass, and needed to print a physical one out for me after I showed them my negative COVID-19 test, vaccine card and passport. Weird.

With that note, look at this small plane (a Dash-8). Yes, I’m getting lazy with the descriptions, but there’s not that much to a Dash-8 lol.

The seats were adequate, and the flight attendants made sure to distribute water, snacks and of course the clean care plus kits while we waited.

Thankfully, landing in Vancouver was quite trouble free, and off back home I went. I did try to reach out to Air Canada for some compensations - alas, as this was a legitimate weather delay, I was unable to get anything.

The Point

As travel “normalizes”, there is undoubtedly and understandably strain on various systems. Nevertheless, there is almost no excuse for airlines not to plan for this: after all, there have been staffing shortages before, and modern weather forecasting techniques exist. For the traveler, that means having backup plans and knowing your rights: trip insurance or backup hotel bookings can mean the difference between out of pocket for many hundreds of dollars or just a minor inconvenience. Concurrently, reading blogs like our own to know what airlines need to give you for both compensation and in actually getting you to your destination. And while travel might not always be fun, at least the views of the destination will never change!