Hi Everyone,
I wrote up a nice trip report but first:
There wasn't a ton of info on Alaska in this forum when SomethingFishy and I started planning our trips so I took some time to write up some technical notes about my trip. These are for people who want to or are planning to go to Alaska. I hope they help and feel free to ask me about things I may have missed. For the trip report, just skip the intro.
A very important note about the cost of this trip:Soon after deciding on Alaska as a destination, we discovered one relevant factoid: Alaska is a VERY expensive trip to make. The airfare is (or can be) expensive, the hotels are expensive, the food is expensive, the rental cars are VERY expensive, the activities are expensive. Since places are very spread out the cost of gas (which is expensive) can quickly add up.
However, I had booked tickets a year ago during which I did my best to cut costs wherever possible. Here is what the different things ended up costing me:
$880 for two tickets - PHL-SEA-ANC via the icelandair/Alaska air deal.
35,000 SPG points for six nights at the Sheraton Anchorage. This would have cost us $1500.
sheratonanchorage.com$400 for a one week car rental (Toyota Highlander) at Avis. I played around with the Avis website a lot and the cheapest was picking up the car in downtown Anchorage and then dropping it off at the airport.
$130 for a room at the Hotel Seward -
hotelsewardalaska.com.
$110 for a room at the Denali Mountain Morning Hostel --
denalihostel.com.
For activities, DDFer SomethingFishy and I split the Toursaver coupon book ($99
toursaver.com). I used two coupons.
$50 for the Toursaver coupon book.
$150 for a buy one get one free Prince William Sound cruise
majormarine.com).
$300 for a buy one get one free Summit Tour of Mt. McKinley from talkeetna aero services (
talkeetnaaero.com) (reg $600 for 2).
$258 for ice climbing on the Matanuska glacier for two with MICA guides
micaguides.comapp. $90 for two seats on the 11 hour Wonder Lake bus into Denali National Park.
--- We saved $400 using the toursaver coupon book. ---
App $300 for gas - though I think it was even more.
$150 for night and day meals for two at the Chabad in Anchorage -
lubavitch.com/centers/detail.html?id=389.
Plus some money for random drinks/food/souvenirs/clothes/supplies and gear for the trip.
Total about $2,800 plus 35,000 points. Wow. Writing it up now, it just seems like a ton of money. And we tried to be frugal. The part that made it easier was buying the airfare a year in advance.
My wife and I love travelling and we trade off a lot of other things to be able to support it. I guess some couples might feel lost without a nice bedroom set, but we'd rather spend the money exploring the world.
A note about food:The idea of bringing la-briut meals sounded less than tempting so instead my wife made several meat meals, and froze them together with their side dishes. We brought along a stick free pan and a single burner. This meant that after a long day we could come back to our room and cook up a hot homemade meat dinner. It was amazing although making sure that the food stayed frozen was an effort. She also made a big bag of homemade granola which we ate as cereal with almond milk that we purchased there. Of course the huge beautiful Safeway/Carrs supermarkets in Alaska with plenty of kosher food meant that we would never go very hungry.
A note about the pictures:A few months ago, per SomethingFishy's recommendation, I purchased a Panasonic Lumix GX-1 along with an 14-45 wide angle lens. I almost went with just that but thankfully, in the end I rented a 45-200 zoom lens from
atsrentals.com for $44. I was very happy with their service. My only regret is not ordering an even longer lens. I really needed the zoom lens, I wouldn't have gotten all my most amazing pictures without it.
A note for people going to Alaska and considering going by cruise ship:I had a conversation with a woman recently, who had gone on a cruise to Alaska and she felt being on the cruise she had missed out on the best parts. I didn't take the cruise so I can't compare, but let's just say that I don't feel the way she did. Perhaps the only thing I regret about going was coming back
If you decide to go to Alaska, think very long and hard about taking this once in a lifetime trip stuck on a floating carnival casino with a bunch of city slickers. The boat will take you on shore to the same tourist traps that exist in every touristy destination in the world. The real Alaska is beyond the shores in the rugged wilderness far outside the bubble of a floating hotel. So grab that mothballed backpack from deep in your coat closet, shake it out and strap it on. Alaska awaits.
I did it, and so can you.
And now...
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