This year I had the opportunity to travel to Anchorage, Alaska for a conference at the very end of September. Because I was going all that way, I decided that I had to stay at least a few extra days to experience what Alaska has to offer. Now that my experience is over, I have to say that I think EVERYONE should go to Alaska at least once in their lifetime. It was one of the most relaxing and beautiful places that I have ever seen.
Before I begin, I'd like to share a little bit about my experience in planning this trip. Although many tourist destinations have travel seasons, Alaska's non-peak season really is a dramatic drop-off from its peak season, which runs from mid-May to mid-September. My two colleagues and I had difficulty finding activities that were operational after September 15th. For example, my colleague was interested in going to Denali National Park, and I thought it'd be fun to ride the train there (remember, Alaska is HUGE -- cities are pretty far away from each other). The train stopped running in mid-September, and a lot of the lodging around Denali also closed for the season. In addition to that, although Denali is open year-round, their shuttle service, which is the only way to get around since you can't drive a car beyond a certain point, stopped running too! So, this proved to be somewhat of a planning barrier. However, the upside is that prices are greatly reduced, sometimes up to 50 percent!
We also had an interesting experience in planning our flights. First of all, at the time, there were no direct flights from Honolulu, other than a charter flight operated by Hawaiian Airlines that is sold by an Alaska-based travel agency. The flight would have only been about 6 hours, but it only departed one day a week. Next, we looked at various flights on different airlines. Strangely, a lot of the flights depart Anchorage at 1 - 3 A.M.!! Yes, in the morning! The best flights we found were on Northwest Airlines (NWA). We departed Honolulu on a red eye to Seattle where we had about a 2 hour layover, and arrived in Anchorage at about 10:30 a.m. We departed Anchorage at about 10 a.m., again with about a 2 hour layover in Seattle, and arrived in Honolulu at about 8:30 p.m. Other flights either arrived or departed Anchorage at weird times, or we would've had a very lengthy layover. Not long after we made our arrangements, it was announced that Alaska Airlines would be flying to Hawaii, with some direct routes! However, those routes were not in operation during the time of our trip.
Another interesting note about our flight arrangements. Two of us booked the flight for about $800, I believe on Monday afternoon. The very next day, our other colleague booked his flight, the EXACT same flight, for $600! It turns out that NWA has a great policy that allows you to cancel and rebook within 24 hours of initially making the reservation, without penalty. So we canceled our first reservation, and rebooked at the lower price. We had to wait a few days for the first charge to be reversed from our credit cards, but we still saved $200!
The day we returned from Vegas was also the same day I was leaving for Anchorage. We did manage to squeeze in a nice lunch at Mandalay in Downtown, but the rest of the day I spent unpacking my shorts and t-shirts from my Vegas trip, and repacking my thermal underwear, beanie, scarf, and double-layer L.L. Bean jacket. It wasn't too hectic, but I will try to avoid these types of situations in the future!
I got to the airport a couple of hours in advance of the flight, as I usually do. This was the first time ever that I didn't have to walk all the way to the end of the terminal to get to my gate! The gate was the first one past security. Each of the planes we flew only had one aisle, with 3 seats on either side, but it worked out pretty well since there were 3 of us traveling together. This was my first time flying NWA, and I was pretty happy with the service, especially at the airport. It was nice having someone facilitating the flow of the line, rather than just being a free-for-all. Also, we were able to earn Continental miles, since it's not likely I will be using NWA frequently.
Arriving in Seattle was interesting. It was my first time flying there, and it was a bit bumpy on the way in. Also, very foggy! So foggy that I didn't even realize we landed until after we hit the ground! The Seattle airport is really a great place if you have a long layover. It's almost like being in a mall! The only slightly annoying part was the trains. We took 3 trains to get to the terminal we needed to be in, then found out that we could have just walked after the first train. Oh well, we got our exercise!
We had breakfast in a great food court with huge glass window. At one point, we couldn't see anything because of the fog and the darkness. It turns out that this airport was recently renovated, which explains it's new feel. More airports should be like this one, with lots of food court seating, and lots of great shops to browse through while you're waiting for a flight.
We took an Alaska Airlines plane to Anchorage. Again, good service. The flight from Seattle was only about 2 1/2 or 3 hours. About 1/2 hour before landing in Anchorage, I peeked out the window and saw what I've only seen in magazines or on television...huge snow-capped mountains, with no sign of civilization in sight! It was truly an amazing experience, just looking at giant mountains with all of that snow. It was quite a dramatic difference from the experience landing in Anchorage, which actually looked quite barren and a little swamp-like from the air! It was kind of overcast and the area around the airport was just kind of "blah", leaving me feeling a little like Alaska might not be quite what I was expecting, but that feeling wouldn't last very long.
To be continued...
Before I begin, I'd like to share a little bit about my experience in planning this trip. Although many tourist destinations have travel seasons, Alaska's non-peak season really is a dramatic drop-off from its peak season, which runs from mid-May to mid-September. My two colleagues and I had difficulty finding activities that were operational after September 15th. For example, my colleague was interested in going to Denali National Park, and I thought it'd be fun to ride the train there (remember, Alaska is HUGE -- cities are pretty far away from each other). The train stopped running in mid-September, and a lot of the lodging around Denali also closed for the season. In addition to that, although Denali is open year-round, their shuttle service, which is the only way to get around since you can't drive a car beyond a certain point, stopped running too! So, this proved to be somewhat of a planning barrier. However, the upside is that prices are greatly reduced, sometimes up to 50 percent!We also had an interesting experience in planning our flights. First of all, at the time, there were no direct flights from Honolulu, other than a charter flight operated by Hawaiian Airlines that is sold by an Alaska-based travel agency. The flight would have only been about 6 hours, but it only departed one day a week. Next, we looked at various flights on different airlines. Strangely, a lot of the flights depart Anchorage at 1 - 3 A.M.!! Yes, in the morning! The best flights we found were on Northwest Airlines (NWA). We departed Honolulu on a red eye to Seattle where we had about a 2 hour layover, and arrived in Anchorage at about 10:30 a.m. We departed Anchorage at about 10 a.m., again with about a 2 hour layover in Seattle, and arrived in Honolulu at about 8:30 p.m. Other flights either arrived or departed Anchorage at weird times, or we would've had a very lengthy layover. Not long after we made our arrangements, it was announced that Alaska Airlines would be flying to Hawaii, with some direct routes! However, those routes were not in operation during the time of our trip.
Another interesting note about our flight arrangements. Two of us booked the flight for about $800, I believe on Monday afternoon. The very next day, our other colleague booked his flight, the EXACT same flight, for $600! It turns out that NWA has a great policy that allows you to cancel and rebook within 24 hours of initially making the reservation, without penalty. So we canceled our first reservation, and rebooked at the lower price. We had to wait a few days for the first charge to be reversed from our credit cards, but we still saved $200!
The day we returned from Vegas was also the same day I was leaving for Anchorage. We did manage to squeeze in a nice lunch at Mandalay in Downtown, but the rest of the day I spent unpacking my shorts and t-shirts from my Vegas trip, and repacking my thermal underwear, beanie, scarf, and double-layer L.L. Bean jacket. It wasn't too hectic, but I will try to avoid these types of situations in the future!
I got to the airport a couple of hours in advance of the flight, as I usually do. This was the first time ever that I didn't have to walk all the way to the end of the terminal to get to my gate! The gate was the first one past security. Each of the planes we flew only had one aisle, with 3 seats on either side, but it worked out pretty well since there were 3 of us traveling together. This was my first time flying NWA, and I was pretty happy with the service, especially at the airport. It was nice having someone facilitating the flow of the line, rather than just being a free-for-all. Also, we were able to earn Continental miles, since it's not likely I will be using NWA frequently.
Arriving in Seattle was interesting. It was my first time flying there, and it was a bit bumpy on the way in. Also, very foggy! So foggy that I didn't even realize we landed until after we hit the ground! The Seattle airport is really a great place if you have a long layover. It's almost like being in a mall! The only slightly annoying part was the trains. We took 3 trains to get to the terminal we needed to be in, then found out that we could have just walked after the first train. Oh well, we got our exercise!
We had breakfast in a great food court with huge glass window. At one point, we couldn't see anything because of the fog and the darkness. It turns out that this airport was recently renovated, which explains it's new feel. More airports should be like this one, with lots of food court seating, and lots of great shops to browse through while you're waiting for a flight.
We took an Alaska Airlines plane to Anchorage. Again, good service. The flight from Seattle was only about 2 1/2 or 3 hours. About 1/2 hour before landing in Anchorage, I peeked out the window and saw what I've only seen in magazines or on television...huge snow-capped mountains, with no sign of civilization in sight! It was truly an amazing experience, just looking at giant mountains with all of that snow. It was quite a dramatic difference from the experience landing in Anchorage, which actually looked quite barren and a little swamp-like from the air! It was kind of overcast and the area around the airport was just kind of "blah", leaving me feeling a little like Alaska might not be quite what I was expecting, but that feeling wouldn't last very long.
To be continued...
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