Seattle Layovers With My Brother: How to Turn 18 Hours Into a Full Summer Vacation

Almost every year, usually on my way to or from Hawaii, I try to stop in Seattle to visit my brother Sean. The layovers range from 6 hours to 18 hours and occasionally 24.

This most recent stop was 18 hours, bookended by a redeye from Hawaii to Seattle and another redeye from Seattle back home.

We walked roughly eight miles, grabbed scooters and e-bikes whenever it made sense, wandered through neighborhoods, stopped at coffee shops, ate tacos from food trucks, sampled beer, looked at art, checked out the water, and and ate some wild blackberries.

Eight Miles, Tacos, Coffee, and Beer

My Seattle layovers tend to follow a pretty consistent formula:

• Start moving immediately.

• Find coffee.

• Walk until one of us sees something worth stopping for.

• Eat something local.

• Sample beer.

• Repeat until it is time to get back to the airport.

This time included local coffee shops, food-truck tacos, a nearby beach, and a marina filled with sailboats. Seattle has that rare ability to make you feel like you are in a busy city and a coastal escape at the same time.

One minute you are walking through a lively neighborhood with people everywhere. The next, you are looking out at boats, water, and mountains in the distance.

The Best Part Was Not on the Itinerary

The food was excellent. The scenery was perfect. The walking, scooters, e-bikes, and random stops made the day feel like a small adventure instead of a layover.

We saw a local art installation called "Junk Castle"

We had conversations that only seems to happen when you are walking somewhere with no particular deadline. I was working through a deal that had been giving me trouble, and we talked it out in between stops.

That is one of the underrated things about being active with someone you know well. You do not have to schedule a formal conversation, sit in a conference room, or announce that it is time to “work through an issue.” You just walk, ride, talk, stop for a beer, walk some more, and at some point the thing that you have been working through starts making more sense.

Or at least it gets enough fresh air that it stops feeling like a problem.

There is a reason people say they think better while walking.

Walrus, Carpenter, Oysters, Caviar, and Unreasonable Bread

We ended the day at a magical little spot called The Walrus and the Carpenter is one of Seattle’s most iconic and celebrated seafood bars, where we had crab, oysters, caviar, and some genuinely unbelievable bread.

The seafood was exactly what you want from a Seattle meal: fresh, simple, and good enough to make you want to come back.

to cap it off, we went in a vintage thrift shop and found his favorite shirt from his childhood.

A Reminder to Use the Layover

I have come to believe that a layover does not have to be wasted time.

Obviously, there are limits. If you have 45 minutes between gates, that doesn't count.

But if you are going through a cool city and you have a little wiggle room, take 6, 12, or 18 hours in a place you'd like to stop. Get out of the airport. Walk around. Eat somewhere local. Find a neighborhood.

Seattle in the summer makes that very easy.

And Sean and I will probably do it again next year—assuming I can keep finding flights to Hawaii with layovers that are just long enough to be dangerous.