Alaska travel tips

[Jeff]

Jeff,

25 below, they must have been having a heat wave.  What took so long to move the commander, chipping the tires out of the ice?

Digging it out of a snowbank.

 

[Alaskansnowbirds]

I'm very interested in this thread...  my hubby wanted to go this Nov/Dec (DUH!)...  I think I've convinced him it's not a good idea to go in the winter months.  I think we'll plan a trip for Apr/May 2007.  I need to be back home by late May because I run a seasonal business.

Looking forward to more tips, experience and advice....  Gail

Gail,

There are two major tourist companies that bring tourists into Alaska. Princess and Holland America (there others but those are the two major ones). I worked for Holland America for 12 years in their Fairbanks division. Tourist "season" is May 15th through Sept. 15th.

You will find that most "tourist" type attractions schedule their opening and closing dates around the large tour company schedules. Some will be open about May 1st. but most of them don't open until May 15th. The same for closing. Some start closing as early as Sept. 1st and everything is shut down by Sept. 15th.

Weather is a crap shoot. I've seen lakes completely iced over as late as Memorial Day. Yet other years the snow and ice is gone by late April. In the Fairbanks area we had snow as early as Labor Day and other years it's November before we had snow. As with anything weather related, it's anybodies guess.

Your question on "clock-wise or counter clock-wise". Once you enter Alaska the first town you come to is Tok and next is Delta Junction. From Delta Junction you can continue on to Fairbanks, down to Denali, on to Anchorage, to the Kenai peninsula (Seward, Homer, Kenai), back to Anchorage, to Valdez back up to Delta Junction. That is the "counter clock-wise" route. You would just do the opposite for the "clock-wise" route. Starting at Delta Junction go to Valdez first and then on around. I agree with Terry. If you're going early in the season go clock-wise. That will get you into the more temperate areas first and give the interior time to warm up.

 

[Ned]

The attached PDF is the cost summary for our Alaska trip covering the 99 days we were either in Canada or Alaska.

 

[Jeff]

Ned:

There goes the budget on gifts again!

Kidding aside your expenses are but one more example of how fuel is a small part of the cost of traveling. If the price had been a dollar a gallon less you would not have saved 10%.

 

[Ned]

Our experience over 9+ years is that fuel is about 25% of our total RVing expenses and this summer was no exception.

 

[Wendy]

The attached PDF is the cost summary for our Alaska trip covering the 99 days we were either in Canada or Alaska.

Hmmm, if Mike gives up Coke and I give up wine, we might just be able to do an Alaska trip. I know we can survive on less than $32 a day eating.