Visiting ‘The Emerald City’ on a budget

For this trip, I visited the great rainy city of Seattle. I made this a girls’ trip and took a friend from grade school for a much-needed getaway.

Flying to Seattle can be expensive, so for tickets I checked escapehouston.com a couple of times a day for about a week until I found the deal of $136 per person, round trip. This website posts new, low price flights leaving Houston and is a great place to find a deal when you are in need of a vacation.

Once we finally had our dates, I began the search for an affordable hotel in the heart of the city to save money on transportation. I decided on Ace Hotel, which I found through expedia.com. This hotel was only four blocks from Pike Place Market, very trendy and affordable since it is a mix of a hotel and hostel. The way it works is you get your own room, but restrooms are shared, which turned out to be more than fine and well worth the savings.

Best Part: It was only $99 a night total and the design provided an authentic Seattle experience.

To save money on a cab from the airport we took the light rail, which had access from inside the airport. It was easy to find, and the views you see on the ride made it worth it. The light rail is only $3 per person, and it dropped us off within a few blocks from the hotel.

Once we went to the mandatory Space Needle, we headed to a Savor Seattle Tour of Pike Place Market. I was unable to find any deals on this, and it was not cheap at $40 per person, but I am so glad we did it. The Pike Place Market tour takes you to the best stops and hidden places throughout the market. We followed our hilariously funny tour guide while he fed us and shared interesting stories about the history that makes up Pike Place. Not only does this tour let you sample all the famous foodie places that are a must stop at Pike Place, but it allows you to skip the lines that quickly formed.

Best Part: Savor Seattle gives everyone who does a tour a discount card for over 40 restaurants and attractions that Seattle has to offer. This card is valid for 5 days, so we ended up getting a lot of use out of it.

For the rest of our meals it was easy to realize Seattle is a city that supports the idea of happy hour. It was surprisingly easy to find half-price deals on food and drinks all over the city. For these finds I used Eater.com, a website that offers an easy way to figure out the must-go-to places when visiting a new city.

Best Part: They include a map of the highest-rated happy hours in the city along with times, locations, special deals and menus.

This website took us to Radiator Whiskey, a bar that is tucked away in Pike Place, that offered great views and an even better cocktail and beer menu. The bartenders knew exactly what they were doing and the atmosphere and prices were great. For the second happy hour we headed to renowned chef Tom Douglas’ upscale restaurant called Etta’s, located one block from Pike Place. During the “Crabby Hour,” you could get $3 beers and half price off an entire steamed crab. We split the crab – because when else can you do that? – and it was great!

Best Part: The view of the water and park was beautiful, and the traditional lobster bibs completed the experience.

For one of the nights, we decided to take an Uber to Capital Hill, about 20 minutes from downtown Seattle. We grabbed some delectable cappuccinos at Caffe Vita, where they also offer plenty of local newspapers for your viewing. This is one of my favorite things to do when visiting a city because not only does it give you a great idea of the people and things that make up the city, but they usually have plenty of articles telling you what is going on. We were lucky to find out that they were playing an independent movie starring Kristin Wig called “Nasty Baby” at Northwest Film Forum, a retro cinema and showcase for indie films. Since Seattle, especially Capitol Hill, is known for its support and large variety of arts and cultural entertainment, we figured it would be a fitting experience. The movie was weird to say the least, and not at all a comedy like we expected, but the experience was very unique.

Best Part: The theater only held about 15 people, so it has a completely different movie viewing experience, and they give out free popcorn to all viewers.

Though many people think of Seattle as an expensive trip, it is absolutely possible to see this city on a budget. It was a fantastic location for a girls’ trip, and offered more coffee shops than you could ever dream of, which was fantastic! I will be back!