I just began a new internship where the office happened to be located on Vashon Island, which is only accessible via ferry.

So each day I have been getting up super early to make a 7:35am ferry from Downtown Seattle headed to the Island. On most days I’d catch an express bus a block from my house, but I was able to bike there too which was funner. On the boat since it was in the reverse direction there were at most 7 people in the morning compared to the 100+ coming to Seattle. The boat was kinda loud, but had nice seats and tables where I got a lot of work done on my new laptop. Unfortunately that boat wasn’t wifi-equipped like all the other ferries.

Once I got to Vashon Island, a bus would be waiting for us passengers making the transfer really convenient. All in all I’d probably leave home at 6:50am and get to the office at about 8:30am, which could be the equivalent time that it would take to drive to the Fauntleroy ferry terminal and all.

On the way back the bus would always get there early and more people (sometimes as many as 20) would go back to Seattle. The scenery was amazing on this commute as I would see downtown Seattle from Elliott Bay each day, and all the other vessels from huge container ships to small sailboats and even a submarine one afternoon.

I’ll miss this commute, however I won’t miss the cost. Each ferry ride was about $7.50 round-trip and then I’d have to pay extra for the buses too. Starting next week, our company is moving their office to Tacoma, so I’ll have the option now to take the commuter train, although it is also really expensive ($4.75 each way) and leaves way too early in the morning from Seattle at 6:10am.