Well, that was a phenomenal re-introduction to the Pacific Northwest, in just a week. Vancouver and Seattle are beautiful cities, if not extortionately priced. I loved my visit.
I'm especially grateful for the opportunity to see and spend time with my daughter, Alexandra Sandoval, who's working her leadership magic with Lee Cooper at the L'Abattoir Restaurant, a really special place, in Vancouver.
The 3-hour tasting menu, paired with glorious wines from local Okanagan producers and from as far afield as Corsica and Madeira, coupled with top-tier service from a deeply knowledgeable and passionate team, was the jewel in the crown of my stay. The product of that kitchen's hard work and precision is just outstanding.
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In Seattle, which hosted me for an all-too-brief 48 hours, I caught up with a small handful of family, friends and MeasureMatch investors. I really should have booked my stay for a little longer, but my time there was superbly meaningful and tremendously valuable.
The process of travelling is, I'll admit, not great. Ok, it's stupidly unpleasant. All of the friction that comes from health status, vaccine and identity data collection requirements (across multiple apps), the incremental time and costs, plus non-stop mask-wearing and, yes, the US still requires shoes to be removed when going through security, well, where's the fun in that?
But, nothing beats face-time with the family, friends, business partners, investors, and that gal (Ambika?) at Black Market Skates who was grinding out some heavy, heavy metal while superbly and so attentively helping me to find the right new wheels for my younger daughter's skateboard. Brilliant.
While it was glorious to be back in the Pacific Northwest, I'll board my British Airways flight to London in a couple of hours and I'll be even happier to be home in Hackney with my four-startup family (two kids, albeit still cost centres) and two startups between my partner, Valeria Leonardi, and me.
Thanks for reading. Enjoy the pics.
James
This was originally published to LinkedIn here.
Photos from iStock and my own snaps
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