The beauty of traveling is the lessons you learn. The benefit of returning to a favourite destination, is being able to draw on what you know works, what doesn't and what you want to explore that you couldn't fit in last time.
Our last Trip to Alaska was in 2006. We spent six weeks exploring, and our mode of travel was RV, Alaska State Ferries, Light Aircraft and Commercial Aircraft, and rental cars. Our accommodation was RV, Log Cabins, Berths on the Ferries and one or two motels.
Starting in Anchorage, we grabbed our RV from Great Alaskan Holiday's, followed the directions they provided to do the shopping and headed out of Anchorage. Camped first night on Nancy Lake, then:
Byers Lake
Cantwell
Denali National Park - Riley Camp Ground 3 nights.
Fairbanks - Rivers Edge RV Resort
Up on the Chena River to observe the Northern Lights
Back via North Pole and Santa Clause House - camped out along the Richardson H/way
In to Valdez (via Worthington Glacier - A big days drive) 2 nights - sailed on a tour out among the icebergs and Glacier in Prince William Sound - Awesome
Up out of Valdez and camped at Blueberry Lake - our daughter's 10th birthday and tried to get as high up the range as we could for snow, missed by 50m :) But the Ice on the RV was awesome.
Back along the Glenn Hwy, camped outside Anchorage
Into Anchorage for the Markets and down Sterling Hwy
Ninilchik to Homer 3 nights
Flew with Bald Mountain Air over to Brooks Lodge, Katmai NP to walk with the Grizzly Bears
Anchor Point for the night
Russian River - Camp Ground
Anchorage - return RV
Flight to Juneau - Motel
Ferry to Skagway, Log Cabin at Skagway Bungalows for 3 nights rented a wreck a Sourdough Car Rentals - a TBird. (loved it) Drove up to Carcross in the Yukon
Missed Ferry back to Juneau, so chartered a light plane up from Juneau, collected us at 5.30pm, and flew down the Inside Passage, the pilot was great with the kids, it was a 6 seater, he took us over Rainbow Glacier and a hanging glacier, saw some Bow head Whales bubbling/feeding, awesome.
Rental Car up to a Log Cabin - Alaskan Williwaws on Tee Harbour about 40min north of Juneau for 9 nights - very relaxing, went Ice skating in Juneau, Mendenhall Glacier, we drove to the end of all main roads in Juneau.
Overnight Ferry (had a lovely cabin, the Ferry had a Restauant, a lovely Bar and a Movie Theatre - why would you want to be on a cruise ship?), sailed down to Ketchikan - at Cape Fox Lodge wonderful accommodation.
Flight out to LA and home.
So, where too on this exploration, the planning commenced a long time ago.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
Planning Your Trip to Alaska
Booktopia - The Milepost: Alaska Travel Planner, Kris Valencia, 9781892154262
Planning your trip to Alaska is made easy with "The Milepost" a unique publication that provides a 'mile by mile' account of every highway in Alaska, that is detailing every look out, every business enroute, quality of the bitumen (or not), each twist and turn is accounted for as well as a detailed account of each town from beginning to end. This publication makes it very easy to gain a true insight to your possible travels, as it is updated every year. They have a team of writers that scour the countryside for edits to their publication. It's second to none. It is a large publication, but worth the weight in your travel luggage. Of course it's cost is offset by paid advertisements, but even they are welcome to the reader, as you gather information on tourist attractions, accommodation, and all those things to do on your travels. It helps you plan how long you could/should stay in an area, and how long to drive a leg with all the lookouts and sight-seeing along the way.
That's how we started, we grabbed our old raggy copy from our previous trip, looked at what we did last time, and planned what we wanted to see that was new and what we wanted re-visit. The Alaska Milepost also includes the Yukon Territories, so this publication will suffice for our expedition.
Journey's in Alaska seems to take on a challenge, of not wanting to travel the same road twice which can be an issue. The Kenai Peninsular to the south of Anchorage with destinations of either Homer (a great destination) or Seward with Exit Glacier, means a one road in, one road out. If visiting Denali National Park and maybe followed by a leg up to Fairbanks is in your sights, again, unless you then desire to head down to Valdez via Delta Junction (and possibly seeing the Bison Herds), it's a return trip along the same road. So, for RV'ing, planning to cover the most ground, with the least miles is the challenge.
The other part of planning is whether you want to build in 'flying' or 'sailing' as a method of travel. You can fly into remote Inuit Villages to see Polar Bears, fly to Katmai National Park to walk with Grizly Bears and of course, if the Alaskan Panhandle takes your fancy, then a flight to Juneau, Sitka or Ketchikan. If you want to build in an 'Alaska Marine Highway' leg or two, this is a great way to explore the Alaskan Panhandle or simply link Wittier to Valdez, without the cruise ship crowds. These Alaska Marine Highway Ferries are a fantastic way to explore the Alaskan coastal shores. The Ferries take vehicles, including trucks and RV's and some have a Cinema and Bar / Restaurant onboard, cabins that sleep up to 4 or more, comfortable seating with great views and on some Ferries, backpackers can set their tent up on the top deck under a roof structure that has gas heating, unbelievable.
Google Earth, and GPS, what a paradigm shift in holiday planning. Each Saturday and Sunday morning we spend going over planned legs of routes looking for Boondocking spots. Boondocking is the term in North America for freedom camping, camping in public locations that don't cost anything. From Shopping Centre carparks to the shores of wild rivers.
Google Earth affords us the opportunity to look down those side roads that you'd never drive down usually, and explore if there's a great spot to camp or explore. We often find one or two RV's down these roads that lead to the shores of picturesque lakes, which confirms for us some sort of access. We then put the GPS Coordinates of the turn off into our Tom Tom navigation device as a favourite and put in our own description. Then sometimes we also put in the GPS Coordinates of the spot we suspected as being suitable, in case there are side tracks and the like.
So the independent traveler has a world of choices that cater for freedom, avoiding the crowds and avoiding being treated like cattle. Freedom to choose activities, freedom to choose which shops to use, freedom to spend your money. Many of the Cruise Ship Companies actually own the shops in the town they use as a port of call, for example, Skagway, and as such, take income out of the local community, and that's an ethical issue for us. As a further example, in Skagway, there is a lovely restaurant down on the pier, a family pizza restaurant in town, a pub or two and in the back of a electrical shop is a hotdog stand. That's it for eating. Skagway has 4-5 Cruise Ships per day during the summer months, unloading some 20,000 tourists per day. Why isn't there a huge number of food outlets?, because they all get their meals on the boat, so locals won't make any money out of food.
Planning, that's where the real joy is for us, researching what's possible, reading up what's interesting, learning the culture, understanding what's possible, all the facets you don't get when you book an organised tour. Being treated like cattle is not for us.
"Drawing on the last Trip", in the next Blog.
Planning your trip to Alaska is made easy with "The Milepost" a unique publication that provides a 'mile by mile' account of every highway in Alaska, that is detailing every look out, every business enroute, quality of the bitumen (or not), each twist and turn is accounted for as well as a detailed account of each town from beginning to end. This publication makes it very easy to gain a true insight to your possible travels, as it is updated every year. They have a team of writers that scour the countryside for edits to their publication. It's second to none. It is a large publication, but worth the weight in your travel luggage. Of course it's cost is offset by paid advertisements, but even they are welcome to the reader, as you gather information on tourist attractions, accommodation, and all those things to do on your travels. It helps you plan how long you could/should stay in an area, and how long to drive a leg with all the lookouts and sight-seeing along the way.
That's how we started, we grabbed our old raggy copy from our previous trip, looked at what we did last time, and planned what we wanted to see that was new and what we wanted re-visit. The Alaska Milepost also includes the Yukon Territories, so this publication will suffice for our expedition.
Journey's in Alaska seems to take on a challenge, of not wanting to travel the same road twice which can be an issue. The Kenai Peninsular to the south of Anchorage with destinations of either Homer (a great destination) or Seward with Exit Glacier, means a one road in, one road out. If visiting Denali National Park and maybe followed by a leg up to Fairbanks is in your sights, again, unless you then desire to head down to Valdez via Delta Junction (and possibly seeing the Bison Herds), it's a return trip along the same road. So, for RV'ing, planning to cover the most ground, with the least miles is the challenge.
The other part of planning is whether you want to build in 'flying' or 'sailing' as a method of travel. You can fly into remote Inuit Villages to see Polar Bears, fly to Katmai National Park to walk with Grizly Bears and of course, if the Alaskan Panhandle takes your fancy, then a flight to Juneau, Sitka or Ketchikan. If you want to build in an 'Alaska Marine Highway' leg or two, this is a great way to explore the Alaskan Panhandle or simply link Wittier to Valdez, without the cruise ship crowds. These Alaska Marine Highway Ferries are a fantastic way to explore the Alaskan coastal shores. The Ferries take vehicles, including trucks and RV's and some have a Cinema and Bar / Restaurant onboard, cabins that sleep up to 4 or more, comfortable seating with great views and on some Ferries, backpackers can set their tent up on the top deck under a roof structure that has gas heating, unbelievable.
Google Earth, and GPS, what a paradigm shift in holiday planning. Each Saturday and Sunday morning we spend going over planned legs of routes looking for Boondocking spots. Boondocking is the term in North America for freedom camping, camping in public locations that don't cost anything. From Shopping Centre carparks to the shores of wild rivers.
Google Earth affords us the opportunity to look down those side roads that you'd never drive down usually, and explore if there's a great spot to camp or explore. We often find one or two RV's down these roads that lead to the shores of picturesque lakes, which confirms for us some sort of access. We then put the GPS Coordinates of the turn off into our Tom Tom navigation device as a favourite and put in our own description. Then sometimes we also put in the GPS Coordinates of the spot we suspected as being suitable, in case there are side tracks and the like.
So the independent traveler has a world of choices that cater for freedom, avoiding the crowds and avoiding being treated like cattle. Freedom to choose activities, freedom to choose which shops to use, freedom to spend your money. Many of the Cruise Ship Companies actually own the shops in the town they use as a port of call, for example, Skagway, and as such, take income out of the local community, and that's an ethical issue for us. As a further example, in Skagway, there is a lovely restaurant down on the pier, a family pizza restaurant in town, a pub or two and in the back of a electrical shop is a hotdog stand. That's it for eating. Skagway has 4-5 Cruise Ships per day during the summer months, unloading some 20,000 tourists per day. Why isn't there a huge number of food outlets?, because they all get their meals on the boat, so locals won't make any money out of food.
Planning, that's where the real joy is for us, researching what's possible, reading up what's interesting, learning the culture, understanding what's possible, all the facets you don't get when you book an organised tour. Being treated like cattle is not for us.
"Drawing on the last Trip", in the next Blog.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Getting Started
Choosing a reputable RV rental company, choosing when to go, choosing where to go all adds to the enjoyment of planning your own adventure. For us, Alaska is the ultimate destination for an adventure at our own design. No 'rent-a-crowd' from Cruise Ships or Tour Buses, no "must be in a town for a motel room by dark" and no "concrete jungles".
This is our second RV trip to Alaska. Our first trip in 2006 balanced exploring in an RV, sailing the Alaska Marine Highway on the Ferries and exploring the Pan-handle by rental car and staying in log cabins. We had 6 weeks in which to explore last time, this time we are limited to just 4 weeks and a tighter budget.
So our first plan was to watch the specials being offered by RV companies. Some seem to only provide RV's for Cruise Ship tourists that drop off at one point, and RV to a subsequent point where they get back on the Ship with the Crowd. One such firm refused to rent to us, since we weren't on a Cruise Ship. Other's seem to target the fishermen, and focus on shorter term rentals, and that wasn't us either. So thanks to a great special on offer at $109/day unlimited mileage and you can read all about the extras, like no cleaning on return, and all the gear inside is included, plus Insurance is included, we went with the same trusted business we used on our first trip, Great Alaskan Holiday's, yes a a strange name for an RV hire company. We couldn't fault them last time.
When to go? was chosen by our kids School holidays and adding extra time out of school, their exams and for Australian's, that meant September. So a deal was taken, September 2010 it is.
Next the Airfare. As they say, if it's not Boeing, we're not going. Webjet gave us our best indicators of how the airfare dollar was travelling, and after a few months of watching, saw a great deal, so armed with this price, we went to Flight Centre where a real person does all the work and they not only beat the deal, but improved all those extras, like food on the flight. Web specials and discount airlines offer great prices but at a few costs, firstly, the weight of the baggage you can carry (extra comes at a price), secondly, food, and lastly, times for the flights. We secured a great special flying on Air New Zealand (with food) but the timings will make this hop a little long, with some airport lounge wait times being up to three hours. On the up side, we had planned to fly into Anchorage on Alaska Airlines, (don't you think their logo on the Tail looks like Bob Marley) and Flight Centre were able to link our teenage kids discount specials on Air NZ with Alaska Airlines, saved us heaps. So we are flying Brisbane - Auckland - LA - Anchorage.
So, now it's where to go, and I'll save that for the next Blog.
This is our second RV trip to Alaska. Our first trip in 2006 balanced exploring in an RV, sailing the Alaska Marine Highway on the Ferries and exploring the Pan-handle by rental car and staying in log cabins. We had 6 weeks in which to explore last time, this time we are limited to just 4 weeks and a tighter budget.
So our first plan was to watch the specials being offered by RV companies. Some seem to only provide RV's for Cruise Ship tourists that drop off at one point, and RV to a subsequent point where they get back on the Ship with the Crowd. One such firm refused to rent to us, since we weren't on a Cruise Ship. Other's seem to target the fishermen, and focus on shorter term rentals, and that wasn't us either. So thanks to a great special on offer at $109/day unlimited mileage and you can read all about the extras, like no cleaning on return, and all the gear inside is included, plus Insurance is included, we went with the same trusted business we used on our first trip, Great Alaskan Holiday's, yes a a strange name for an RV hire company. We couldn't fault them last time.
When to go? was chosen by our kids School holidays and adding extra time out of school, their exams and for Australian's, that meant September. So a deal was taken, September 2010 it is.
Next the Airfare. As they say, if it's not Boeing, we're not going. Webjet gave us our best indicators of how the airfare dollar was travelling, and after a few months of watching, saw a great deal, so armed with this price, we went to Flight Centre where a real person does all the work and they not only beat the deal, but improved all those extras, like food on the flight. Web specials and discount airlines offer great prices but at a few costs, firstly, the weight of the baggage you can carry (extra comes at a price), secondly, food, and lastly, times for the flights. We secured a great special flying on Air New Zealand (with food) but the timings will make this hop a little long, with some airport lounge wait times being up to three hours. On the up side, we had planned to fly into Anchorage on Alaska Airlines, (don't you think their logo on the Tail looks like Bob Marley) and Flight Centre were able to link our teenage kids discount specials on Air NZ with Alaska Airlines, saved us heaps. So we are flying Brisbane - Auckland - LA - Anchorage.
So, now it's where to go, and I'll save that for the next Blog.
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