Thank you to Tawny Clark of Captain & Clark for contributing as the April 30th Travel Instigator. Stay tuned for a new feature on the 15th and 30th of each month from a new adventurous traveler.

We recently realized that while we have videos from various nooks and crannies of the world, we have little on our beautiful and diverse hometown of Seattle, Washington. Being the birthplace of Starbucks, Seattle is notorious for its coffee culture. Take a peek as we step inside the world’s first Starbucks, the legendary Pikes Place Market, and stand under one of the state’s largest erections. We’re talking about the Space Needle… obviously.

We hope you enjoy our small virtual tour of one of the greatest cities in the world. Trust us, we’re not biased.

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A big thanks to Rachel Tavel of  Travel with Tavel for contributing the following post as the April 15th Travel Instigator. Stay tuned for a feature post and Q and A from a new adventurous female traveler the 15th and 30th of every month.

It started when the flight attendants sprayed the overhead compartments on the airplane. I knew we were going somewhere different, somewhere delicate, somewhere barely touched… They sprayed our luggage to make sure we wouldn’t bring any foreign species onto the islands, which began to seem more like a fragile sick person than a beaming cluster of endemic life. I could tell this wasn’t going to be like other trips I had been on. Spending five days and four nights on a luxury catamaran in the Galapagos Islands was going to be special. That, I knew.

The Galapagos Islands

In the months leading up to this trip, it seemed like everyone who traveled to the Galapagos Islands had taken some sort of vow of secrecy. Friends who had gone would give me short responses when asked to describe the experience. They’d say, in one quick shot, “It was AMAZING,” or “You have to try and go before you leave.” My six-month stint working as a travel writer in Quito, Ecuador was coming to an end, and I was beginning to realize that this might be my only chance to ever visit the Galapagos. Despite hearing from several coworkers who had visited, and the author of the Galapagos guidebook, which I was copyediting, I couldn’t get a grasp of what visiting the islands was really like.

Photo taken by Rachel Tavel

I had seen photos here and there, but nobody wanted to give anything away. My French friend Clemence refused to show me any photographs before I left. She told me, “I don’t want to ruin it; you have to go and find out what it’s like for yourself.” I was running out of time in Ecuador and my strategy to wait for a last-minute deal wasn’t working, so I began to make moves to ensure a trip would happen. Even if I ended up paying over a thousand dollars (standard) for only three days on a shitty boat, and puking my brains out from seasickness, I wanted to know what the secret was; I wanted to be a part of the less than 160,000 people who are permitted on the island annually, and I wanted to understand what it was about the Galapagos Islands that nobody seemed to be able to describe. But the deal I was waiting for never seemed to come.

I began trying to accept that maybe this final adventure in Ecuador wouldn’t pan out. Yet, a part of me was unconvinced. I had to go. During my lunch break on the last day at my job, I headed to a travel agency as a last resort. I walked in, credit card in hand, ready to reserve my place on a four day, three night cruise. The ship was given two out of five stars and looked like a red tug-boat just waiting to retire. It didn’t feel right, but the islands were calling me… I had to get to the Galapagos anyway that I could.

Photo by Rachel Tavel: The Nina on the Galapagos Islands

As I sat at the travel agent’s desk, holding the cruise pamphlet, clinging to my credit card, something in my gut told me not to pull the trigger. It was 1pm, and the cruise was leaving the next day, so the agent told me I had to make a decision by 6 pm to get onto the 10am flight. I told him I would wait out the afternoon and see if the deal I was desperately waiting for cropped up. If it didn’t, I’d come back after work and book the trip.

At 4:30 pm, thirty minutes before I was to purchase tickets for the crappy cruise, I got the email I had been waiting an entire month for: there was a spot on The Nina — the #1, nicest, most luxurious boat in the Galapagos Islands — and I was going to be able to get on the 5 day, 4 night cruise, which usually costs $2,700, for less pennies in exchange for writing/translating sales brochure’s for the company upon my return. It was unbelievable, unreal… This was the best of the best. I was going!

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A big thanks to Elaine Thatcher of Runawaybrit.com for contributing the following post as the November 30th Travel Instigator. Stay tuned for a feature post and Q and A from a new adventurous female traveler the 15th and 30th of every month.

People often tell me that I am brave when they read about my travels so before I start this post let me tell you a few things about myself. I am not brave. Not in the least. I am scared of flying, spiders and fish—not a great start for somebody who wants to travel the world. I am also a girl’s girl. I do not leave the house without make-up, I prefer to wear skirts and dresses rather than trousers or jeans, heels are my best friend, and I think I would die without my GHD hair straighteners (which are safely stowed in my backpack as I travel South America). There are many eight-legged reasons why I have not yet visited Australia; I’m still trying to summon the courage to go!

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A big thanks to Audrey Bergner for contributing the following post as the November 15th Travel Instigator. Stay tuned for a feature post and Q and A from a new adventurous female traveler the 15th and 30th of every month.

Some days I crave excitement and adventure, others I’m content with driving down desolate roads, stopping off in sleepy towns, and simply enjoying the beauty of my surroundings. I left the busyness of Buenos Aires hoping to find the latter, and the northern provinces of Salta and Jujuy did not disappoint.

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