Safe Travels

I always enjoyed traveling; be it backpacking alone through Europe or going on a scuba-trip with the hubby, I enjoy seeing different parts of the world, taste the culture, bask in the new environment and experience the change in atmosphere. However, like most travelers, one thing that affects most of my journey is cost. Due to the 5hour distance that my husband and I have to endure through our pregnancy, we had to be proactive with keeping the relationship strong. After all, this is our first baby and it would be unfair to Caleb if I did it all by myself (not that I could've anyways!) 

We started off the commuting with the conventional driving - Caleb came south on one weekend, I went north on the alternate weekend. This only went on for about a month because my work schedule changed and my days off were no longer during the weekends. At that point, I have to be the one going north all the time because I worked a 4-ten schedule and had three days off. The challenge with going north all the time was driving long distance while pregnant is not very safe. With that, we started looking into public transportation. Even though we lost the flexibility of being able to commute on our own schedule, the big benefit of public transportation is fuel-efficiency. Caleb's truck only gets 18+mpg and my car does 30mpg, and with wear and tear to the vehicle after commuting so much, it is more beneficial to commute via public transportation.

The Amtrak train is a very comfortable way to commute. And since Caleb had a 10% Boeing discount, it made it all the more enjoyable, knowing that I got a deal with each ride. It was a 3.5hour ride each way and the cabs are usually half filled, which means I get both seats to myself to spread-out to nap. I will also bring along my laptop for a movie or this is one of the opportunities I have to catch up on my baby-book readings. Below is a picture of the train in the Seattle King St. Station, promoting the King Tut exhibit, which I am very excited to bring my mother to experience when she comes to assist with the delivery.

I also get to enjoy some beautiful scenery along the way, since the train track runs along the Columbia river as it heads north.

Of course, I am only sharing with you the pretty pictures of the commute, but those of us that have used public transportation knows that there is more to it that the well-engineered vehicle and the pretty scenery. What goes on behind the scene is the in-between busing I had to take to make it to the transit centers.

These are the buses I took while benefiting from the "pregnancy priority seating"

The bolt bus was an alternate way I used in replace of the Amtrak train that was a lot more economical. It was a one-way express from Seattle from Portland. I rarely used this option because it doesn't stop at Vancouver and I had difficulty getting home from their Portland pit stop.

I took the Sounder Transit frequently from Lynnwood to Seattle in the mornings as Caleb drops me off on his way to work. This bus is usually filled with white collar workers that are commuting into Seattle for work. I was blessed to have always made it to my train on time since this is bus travels directly into Seattle.

This third bus I took (also a direct express bus) is the C-Tran that brings me from Portland into Vancouver directly. Similar to the Sounder transit, it helps commuters to avoid the heavy traffic that builds up around business hours.

After all that's said and done, I think I can say that not too many pregnant mothers have to "travel" as much as I did, but I am thankful for having a way to stay in touch with the hubby. Thank you Jesus for public transportation! Violet's gonna be a world traveler some day!