I live in Seattle. I agree it is not a world class city. The best description I've heard of Seattle is that "It's a very good place to live. A little bit of everything."

The benefit of loving a) FlyerTalk and b) Couchsurfing.com/Hostelling International is that I don't have to stay in my non-world-class city. I can go anywhere in the wide wonderful world, with cost barely an issue, and return home to my pleasant life in Seattle, a land of cool mornings, great running trails, good employment (MSFT, Boeing, the University of Washington) and no income tax.

New York City, Vancouver, London, Rome, Istanbul, Paris, and Tokyo are among the great cities of the world. They set the bar. Their volume is turned to "11". These places amaze me with their beauty and diversity. No shame that a parochial little place like Seattle, with Burgermaster and the Cinerama among the greatest of its wonders, cannot compete with these places. We shouldn't even try.

-KF