Liz & Matt

Flying out of DTW
This is a flight we do all the time! There are 3 airlines that do direct flights. Alaska, Delta, and Spirit. These direct flights are almost always the best deal. We have flown all 3 and recommend Delta or Alaska if you can afford it, but Spirit with a good book is fine. Also, warning about Spirit, you usually have to pay for carry on bags.

The best flights out (we've found) are in early morning or late evening. It should be perfectly feasible to fly out Friday morning and make it to the church in time (that includes time to dress up). You could also do a late Thursday flight and not have to miss work!

The best flights back are debatable. If you are trying to maximize time in Seattle, you could do a red-eye home Saturday or Sunday night. If you enjoy sleep, you'll want to leave Seattle by the early afternoon.

Flights out of GRR
If you can swing it, we'd suggest trying to get flights out of DTW. Its almost always cheaper and direct! If not, you will most likely have at least one layover in either Chicago or St. Paul. Liz has flown into GRR a couple of times and it does have the perks of not having to drive across the state, a very short TSA line, and a Founders to kill time when you arrive early (see again VERY short TSA line). 

Flights out of SFO
Expect fog delays. #fogust #karl

Flights out of another random airport
Ummmm, sign up for TSA precheck and pray for no government shutdown?

There are many ways to get around Seattle. As car-less millennials, let us share the ridiculous amount of ways we commute. If you are bringing children or are planning on taking an excursion out of Seattle, we'd recommend a car. Otherwise, we think it will be easier, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly to use the forms of transportation listed below.

For specific transportation questions for each event, please see info directly on that event's page.

Ah, this is our bread and butter. If you can, we'd suggest taking the Link from the airport. This is a light rail that goes from the airport to downtown (and all the way to the University of Washington). It's quiet, clean, and according to Liz "has its moments".

Once in Seattle, you can take the light rail, buses, street cars, and ferries all around!
Google Maps is a great tool for finding your way around Seattle's Public Transit. Google Maps usually has the bus time tables correct, but don't trust its "Live Bus Reporting"! To get live bus times you need to use the app OneBusAway. In general, assume the Link and ferries are always on time, the buses are random during heavy traffic, and early during light traffic.

You can pay for public transit multiple ways. The first way is cash. Protip: The bus drivers don't carry change, so if you only have a $20.... The second option is by using an ORCA card. These are cards you can tap to get on public transit. You can buy them at any Link light rail station and load them with money using a credit card. An ORCA card itself is $5. If you want to look like a local, grab these. Lastly, you can use the Transit Go app. This is the easiest option for visitors. It allows you to use your phone as a public transit pass and purchase tickets using your credit card.

Shuttle Express is an airport only transportation option, but a good way to get to or from the airport if you have an early early flight (or don't like public transit). We'd suggest their shared van option to keep costs down. They even have an app to help with booking.

The most common way for people to get around town is using Lyft or Uber. We prefer Lyft (mostly because Matt's brother works there) but either option will be available to you at anytime of the day. If you've never used Lyft before, you can sign up here and get $5.00 off your first ride.

Lyft codes will also be available at the wedding to help pay for most of, if not all, your ride home for the evening.

Wait, wasn't there just a section on Lyft/Uber? Yep, but Car Sharing is different. Car sharing allows you to use your smartphone to find a parked car nearby, get in, drive it, and leave it street parked somewhere else in Seattle (or West Seattle). There are 2 companies doing this out here: Car2Go, and Lime. Our favorite company (ReachNow) shutdown recently.

This has a special place in Matt's heart and can be a very fun and cheap way to see Seattle. There two companies providing bike shares, Lime and Uber (called JUMP). Both Lime and Uber (JUMP) bikes are strewn all over the city. You unlock the bikes using your smartphone and use them for $1 + $0.15/min. Most of these bikes are e-bikes. While maybe not ideal to get to or from a wedding, they can be a good time to ride along Lake Union and out to Ballard, see the ocean, and stop at a brewery. Here is a referral link for Lime. It gives you $3 of free rides if you want to give them a try.

Seattle has many neighborhoods in which you can stay.

If you are looking at getting a hotel, we'd suggest staying in Downtown or South Lake Union. Downtown will be your best option for transportation logistics while South Lake Union will be a tiny bit cheaper. Downtown will book up quickly as you will be competing for rooms with Cruise Ship vacationers and people coming in for a Mariners (professional baseball) game on Friday. We have room blocks reserved at two hotels downtown. Please see the "Hotel" page for more info.

If you are looking at AirBnBs, we'd suggest looking in Capitol Hill, Central District, Madison Park, Montlake, and East Lake. Capitol Hill is where Matt lives and will be the most walkable for going to the ceremony and going out at night! If you find an AirBnB or VRBO you like and want to know more about its location, feel free to send it to us for more info.

Our reception is in West Seattle. There are no hotels there so AirBnB or VRBO would be your only options for lodging. You could end up with an awesome house on the beach if you look here! 

The hotels, AirBnBs and VRBOs will be decently expensive (Seattle is a major city). If you want to stay somewhere cheaper we would suggest a hotel south of the city (maybe even near the airport). It will make travel to and from the wedding a little more painful, but is definitely do-able!

Here is a compiled list of the apps we use to get around town.

Google Maps (iPhone) (Android) - Google Maps is great for driving directions, planning out public transit trips, and finding food/drinks in town. Liz and Matt have lived in Seattle for 4 years and still use it all the time.

Uber (iPhone) (Android) - Uber is great for getting around town via a ride share. Also, Liz and Matt's favorite feature is the Jump bikes which you reserve through the Uber app. Use invite code 1j90g for $3 off your first 3 rides.

Lyft (iPhone) (Android) - Lyft is another great ride share app to get around town. More importantly, it's the app you can use for a ride home from the reception! Use code LIZANDMATT for a discount on your first ride.

Car2Go (iPhone) (Android) - Car2Go is a car sharing app which you can use to drive Mercedes Benz around town. Liz and Matt use this to drive from one spot to another when the bus service is not ideal. Sign up can take a day or two, so if you are planning on using this, sign up before you come out here. Also, make sure to read about mileage limits before deciding to take the car out too far.

Lime (iPhone) (Android) - Lime is a bike share and car share! You can use the Lime app to rent Lime bikes by the minute or rent a small Fiat by the minute.

OneBusAway (iPhone) (Android) - While Google Maps does a good job at telling you which bus routes to take, their bus timing maybe a little off. OneBusAway will tell you (generally accurate to ~2 minutes) when the next bus is coming.

Other apps of note: ZipCar is good for daily car rentals, as with Car2Go, there is a mileage limit you'll want to look at if you are driving out of the city. GetAround is another car rental, with a very Seattle vibe. WIth GetAround, you rent other resident's of Seattle cars.