Alaska Adventure: Backstory, Basics and Itinerary

If there was one place I needed to travel to last year, it was Alaska. I’m so glad I went because it ended up being one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited and one of the most memorable trips I have ever planned.

THE BACKSTORY

I guess you can’t really check something off someone else’s bucket list for them if they are no longer here, but going to Alaska was something I needed to do for my late father, more than for myself. My Dad loved to travel. He had an affinity for the Pacific Northwest and often talked about wanting to visit Alaska. Sadly, he passed away in 2013 from terminal brain cancer without ever getting to see the 49^th state. With the 10^th anniversary of his passing approaching, there was no time. like the present.

Most people I know have visited Alaska on a cruise. Being anchored to a boat didn’t excite me, so I opted to explore the interior of the Southcentral part of the state surrounding Anchorage. My Dad would have wanted to see Denali National Park, so I started by locking in a weekend stay at the amazing Camp Denali and then I built the rest of the trip around it. It all came together in less than 2 weeks and I got on the plane to Anchorage with no flight home booked and only half of my itinerary in place. Many people have told me it gives them anxiety when I share that piece of info, but I often do things like this, and spoiler alert – it always turns out fine!

I did have some help in my last-minute planning. The owners of Camp Denali and Outbound Heli Adventures offered me a lot of advice when it came to navigating the state and piecing together the Alaska itinerary of my dreams. Travel Alaska was also a huge help.

TIP: Don’t be shy. Reach out directly to tourism boards for help/advice and even to places you are staying. They are usually happy to assist you, plus they don’t charge!

GETTIng theRE & getting around

My trip was 12 days long. Ten days exploring and 2 days for travel. I flew in and out of Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage. Flights from NYC were not expensive to begin with, but I used points and was able to fly 1st class for 30K miles on American Airlines/Alaska Airlines connecting in Chicago (a steal!). I used Delta points for my return flight, which I booked from my Airbnb the day before I decided to come home. Talk about winging it! More on that later. FYI: Alaska Airlines is launched a new direct flight from JFK to Anchorage in June 2024.

It’s important to note that it’s not easy to get around Southcentral Alaska without a car. You can take the Alaska Railroad to get to many places, but it takes a long time and it’s not exactly cheap. I would have loved to do it all by train, but I just couldn’t get the logistics to work without a vehicle, so I had to rent a car. I LOVE a road trip – so did my Dad – and I really enjoyed most of the drives, even the long ones! The scenery along the roads in Alaska is so gorgeous that an hour in the car feels more like 20 minutes.

While the state may not be the easiest to get around, the airport is! The rental car offices are in the same building as the terminals at Ted Stevens Airport, so you don’t even have to go outside. They are a 5-minute walk from the main area and are open from very early to very late! I used Chase Sapphire points to rent a car from National. They always go the distance!

lodging & costs

Being that my trip was very last minute and came together in less than 2 weeks, a lot of lodging and hotels that I would have liked to stay at were not available. In Alaska, accommodations can be expensive. Since I didn’t have a huge budget to work with, I used as many credit card points as I could to help offset costs. Summer is their biggest tourist season for obvious reasons. They need to make all their money for the year in those 3 months and the cost of things reflects that. I was told that prices went up considerably there after the pandemic, since there was a surge in demand in travel to more remote destinations. Moral of the story: book early if you can! Here is a simple breakdown of my itinerary. Each links to a post with all the details of that day if you’re interested in reading more.

Below is an interactive map that you can save of all the places I visited including hotels, restaurants, and tours. I also included some extra options based on recommendations I got along the way!