What do the following references (Emerald City, Starbucks & Jimi Hendrix) have in common? No points if you got the answer right. But if you don't, for goodness sake, GOOGLE!

By sheer luck, I found myself travelling to Seattle (Washington) for business; this was just a year later after travelling to Cedar Rapids (Iowa) for my first overseas business trip. Things happened so fast and it seems like I was flying before I knew it. The plan was pretty straightforward; 24 hours of travelling including transit - Singapore, Seoul, San Francisco and Seattle. Don't know if this is plain coincidental, but all cities I pass through begins with the same alphabet; I call this the "S" trip.

When I first stepped out of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (or simply Sea-Tac), the weather was (or so I thought) unconventionally cold. But mind you, it's right in the middle of summer but the skies were grey and dull (at least for the first day). With all due respect to Londoners, it simply reminded me of the metropolis minus the pollution.

On paper, there wasn't time for leisure; I was travelling on business afterall. But then again, I managed to "stole" myself an evening and visited Seattle after work for the day was completed. When I thought I was all ready to roll after boarding Bus 150 (USD$1.25, 45mins) from my hotel, something went wrong. After 30mins, every passenger started alighting at some quiet town. And so I thought, this was Pike Place.

It obviously wasn't the case. I was in Kent, a southern suburb town in Seattle. The idiotic me had went off in the opposite direction. By the time I got to the real thing, it was already 8.30pm (though it was still pretty sunny due to summer). And in downtown Seattle, at that hour of the day, was probably worth no more than a couple of resturants/pubs, a closing (or closed) Pike Place Market and the wonderful sunset over the Waterfront. The wretched me might be wrong though.