SEATTLE DO NICELY

Nigel Thompson makes the most of his time in a dynamic city

When you’re flying all the way to the USA’S Pacific Northwest to join a cruise to Alaska, you may as well make the most of it. Here’s how adding an extra night to your holiday can give you 48 hours to discover Seattle, the beating heart of Washington State.

PRE-CRUISE Time travel 1

It’s not possible to get from Britain to the Emerald City – named for all its forests – on the same day to join a cruise, so you require a one-night pre-sailing hotel stay.

If you catch the 9.40am British Airways flight from

Heathrow, you’ll be in downtown Seattle by around 1pm local time (it’s a -8hr time change) ready to power through the jetlag on an afternoon’s sightseeing, have an evening meal and crash out.

Then, if you add on one night in a hotel at the end of the voyage (you will disembark early morning), there’s a full day to enjoy, plus part of the following day before catching the flight back home.

I got the 7.15pm flight back, which meant I did not have to arrive at the airport till 4.15pm.

Arrive and thrive

Hitting the deck running, I was out of my hotel – the venerable Mayflower Park, which dates from 1927 – and on

Needle LOTS TO SEATTLE There’s more to it than coffee and tech HIGH THERE Nigel at the Space