Seattle: I finally made it back

It had been too long.

SEATTLE — Natalie was not feeling my lodging.

“There’s a line between saving money and safety!!! Bruh!!!,” my big cousin texted on Sept. 7. “Are you safe there? Cuz I have a couch.”

While she fretted, I saw value. The spot was in a prime part of town, the people were welcoming and, at $51 a night, it felt like a steal.

That place was the Green Tortoise Hostel — its worn wooden floors creaked beneath rows of bunk beds humming with the quiet connections of strangers passing through.

Not exactly luxury, but it was an affordable place to lay my head during my long-awaited West Coast adventure.

The last time I was in Seattle, Kevin Durant was still a rookie. For 18 years, returning had been on my to-do list.

This visit, though, was just a quick pit stop.

The real reason for my trek to the Pacific Northwest last month was to visit a city I’d never been to: Vancouver. (More on that eye-opening experience Monday.)

In my 20 years covering the NBA, I heard almost everyone who came before me rave about Vancouver — and they still do. But the Grizzlies moved to Memphis four years before I became a traveling writer. So I needed to see it for myself.

Seattle was simply the waypoint, a somewhat familiar pause before stepping into the unknown.

Sleeping alongside strangers in cramped hostels, though? That was a first.

For years on the road chronicling the world’s best athletes, my loyalty belonged to Marriott. I knew the thread count. I loved the concierge lounge. I thrived on the predictability of it all.

But this solo trip was about stepping into unfamiliar spaces. About living a version of life I was never shown, and never quite dared to chase. About sampling the world in small, strange, beautiful ways I never imagined I would.

The view inside my shared room and top bunk at the Green Tortoise Hostel in Seattle, Wash., on Sept. 7, 2025.

That stuffy hostel is what made the trip possible. It let me stretch a few hundred dollars across two cities and still feel, in moments, like I was living large.

With a tight schedule and no time to waste, I had to scramble.

I flew into Seattle on a Sunday morning, caught the train to Vancouver early Monday, rode it back Tuesday evening and took a red-eye home to Chicago on Wednesday — just in time to clock into work Thursday morning and pick up Parker from school that afternoon.

Seattle became my pit stop because I used 21,500 Southwest points to book my flight. I only had to pay $11.20 in taxes.

The Green Tortoise served as my lodging on both legs of my Seattle stay. I paid $51.75 for the first night and $48.44 for the second night. They charged just $1 per towel.

My Amtrak ticket to Vancouver: $150.

I’d have been foolish not to go.

The Green Tortoise Hostel sits just across the street from Seattle’s iconic Pike Place Market — literally a stone’s throw away. With brand-name hotels starting at $250, I gladly took the more economical route.

With just 20 hours between my arrival at the Green Tortoise and my 8:30 a.m. train departure, time was tight.

My buddy James gave me a spectacular walking tour — through Pike Place Market, past the renovated Climate Pledge Arena, up close to the Space Needle, around Amazon’s corporate headquarters and even inside Shawn Kemp’s dispensary.

Later, despite my last-minute text, Natalie picked me up for dinner at Ray’s Boathouse. We enjoyed a stunning view of Shilshole Bay, with clear sights stretching to Port Madison Bay, as I scarfed down succulent salmon.

It wasn’t the thread count or the concierge lounge that made this stop special. It was the people, the place, the much-needed pause.

Seattle reminded me how good it feels to try something different. To make the most of what you’ve got and find joy anyway.

That quick stay set the tone for what came next.

And it was worth every creak, every scramble, every dollar.

But I can do without the top bunk.