Seattle family travel rule No. 2: Take public transportation from the airport into town

Seattle Center Monorail provides easy access to the Space Needle.
Hop on at Westlake Center and ride directly to Seattle Center!
(Megan Ching / Seattle Monorail Services)

We landed at Sea-Tac airport at 4:30 p.m. Our next stop was the Best Western Plus Executive Inn in downtown Seattle.

But how to get there? If we rented a car or took a taxi we knew we'd hit the roads smack in the middle of rush hour. Seattle supposedly has some of the worst traffic in the United States.

We decided to take the Link light rail—a great decision. The clean, modern train whisked us downtown in 45 minutes and cost only $8 for our family of five (obviously the newborn was free).

Even on a Friday night we all got seats, and we were sitting among a group of 90-year-old vets who flew planes in World War II. A rapper from Los Angeles found the men remarkable. When he spotted their World War II jackets, he called out, "No way! You guys were in World War II. That's like way cool." And then he proceeded to rap off the top of his head. We were all howling with laughter and clapping.

The Link ends at the Westlake Station and then it's a short walk to the Monorail ($6.50 for our family of five). This elevated, aerodynamic train zips for one mile from downtown to Seattle Center and when we stepped on I thought we might see the Jetsons on board. Huge windows that rise from the ground to the ceiling offer big views of the skyline and the Space Needle. My sons eyes were the size of flying-saucers on this ride that he called "so awesome."

The Monorail dropped us at the foot of the Space Needle and then it less than a five minute walk to the Best Western Plus Executive Inn—although we took our time to get some photographs of Seattle's most iconic structure.

 Door to door, from the airport to our hotel, it took us about one hour and 15 minutes and we spent only $14.50.