Independent travelers can make their own travel arrangements easily for just about any place on earth. They can do it for Alaska, too, but a trip to the 49th state involves more detailed planning due to the vastness of the largest state in the United States.
Here’s where the Alaska Travel Planning Guide can help you. The new book was written by Judy Shuler, a 45-year resident of the state who operated Alaska Up Close, a tour company she ran for 18 of the years she lived in Juneau. Shuler’s tour business began with offering short tours of Juneau to cruise-ship passengers when boats docked at Juneau. Tourists liked her personalized service, and soon she was putting together detailed itineraries for travelers who wanted to see more than just the Alaska offered on summer cruises.
Guide Offers Pages of Tips
Alaska Travel Planning Guide is a compilation of everything she learned while operating her tour company. The ebook delves into the nitty-gritty details that a successful trip to Alaska involves. Travelers who follow her suggestions probably aren’t going to be blind-sided when bad weather forces a change in plans.
Weather considerations are paramount when it comes to planning your trip to Alaska, Shuler says. This is especially important to consider if remote locations are on your itinerary. If weather goes bad while traveling in the Lower 48 states, travelers have other options to get from Point A to Point B: car, bus, train or plane. But in Alaska the only way to travel in the Bush, as remote areas are called, is by plane.
“Many communities and remote lodges are accessible only by light aircraft. If mountains vanish into clouds so low you’d swear you were in Florida, and you were planning to fly out to another destination, you may as well prepare to settle in for the night,” Shuler writes.
Because of this, Shuler recommends allowing an extra day before and after planned flights so your schedule won’t be messed up if the weather turns nasty. If nothing goes wrong, you’ve got an extra day to see the sights at your sandwich destinations.
Guide Notes Value of Planning Ahead
Shuler, a former newspaper journalist who now lives in western New York, notes planning early is essential, particularly for travelers who will be seeing Alaska from the air. Light aircraft, seating less than 10 people, may be used to get to some remote destinations, so reservations are essential.
Most travelers visit Alaska in the summer, but winter offers many activities, too, such as Fur Rendezvous in Anchorage in February, or visiting the eagle feeding grounds at Haines in November. Shuler suggests visitors who are keen on seeing wildlife to time their visits according to the animal’s calendar. Summer time is a good time to see bear that will be gobbling up salmon returning to spawn. While eagles inhabit the Chilkat Valley near Haines year ‘round, they’re especially plentiful from October through December, she says.
Shuler’s guide also provides tips on how to take photographs of wildlife. It also contains links to government agencies and other websites where travelers can find more in-depth information about a particular segment of their trip.
Alaska Travel Planning Guide Available Online
The guide is especially helpful for travelers planning their first visit to the state, but even previous visitors will find many things they can use. Alaska Travel Planning Guider: Help for the Independent Traveler is available as an ebook through the Amazon Kindle Store. It retails for $2.99.
Cheryl Probst - Cheryl Probst is an award-winning photojournalist who specializes in writing about motorcycles, China and the Pacific Northwest.
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