Canada & USA Summary - 2014

The wanderings we enjoyed throughout Canada’s British Columbia &Yukon then Alaska are over and beginning to become part of our travel quilt of memories slowly built up over the years.  

Now we can put the total map into perspective by way of the trip map below showing the total route we travelled irrespective of method of travel (red lines) and one which shows where we went on ferries alone (yellow lines).

map of entire trip (includes ferries, planes, Homer etc)

ferry routes taken during trip

We have found each trip presents learnings experienced either through the planning and/or doing stages.  Perhaps a few of these learnings may be useful to others, which is simply the reason for this final post of 2014.

The Planning Learnings
The planning phase for the latest trip kicked off in late October 2013 having decided on both the destinations and duration.  There we two core objectives we wanted to achieve during this trip:

1. drive the entire length of the Alaska Highway (ALCAN)
2. travel as much of the coast of Alaska and British Columbia by local ferries

Other destinations had to compliment the achievement of these goals, including the timing of ferry timetables especially.

ALL of the accommodation, ferry tickets, small boat tours, domestic airline tickets etc were booked online either well in advance due to seasonal realities, more on this later, or booked online whilst travelling.  We booked international flights through Flight Centre.
We did not experience a single issue with any of the bookings made.

For 1-2 hours most days until the planning was complete, we would scour the net with our PC hooked up to the TV to make it easier for both of us to see maps, pictures of accommodation, small tour details and to double check credit card details.  As a booking was made it was entered chronologically into a simple spreadsheet to capture key details like:

• Activity description
• date(s)
• confirmation number/detail
• contact details - name(s)/number/email
• costs - total/currency, deposit paid, balance payment method (c’card or cash)
• special requirements - waterproof gear required, lunch supplied etc

Later, selected columns of the spreadsheet were used to create an itinerary for our family, enabling them to know where/when we would be in most places and how to contact us.

Alaska, The Yukon and BC Canada have terrific publications we either viewed online, downloaded or had sent to us for free, to assist both our planning and selecting additional places to visit and/or things to do.  For this particular trip, we learned from friends to obtain ‘the bible’ if wandering up the Alaska Highway and ferry system called ‘The Milepost’, a truly invaluable publication.

We were obviously planning to drive the Alaska Highway one-way and our preference to do this in something like ‘Homer’ quickly fell into place after searching the net and learning there were a number of companies offering one-way rentals.  RV rental companies need extra vehicles waiting in Anchorage during summer due to the demand from people who take cruise ships from Seattle/Vancouver north up the inside passage and then want to drive back by RV.

Catherine, our daughter in-law, put us onto a credit card called ’28 Degrees’ (Mastercard by GE Money) which has no annual fees and only charges the currency rate at the time of any purchase compared to many other credit cards where you are charged additional transaction fees and/or currency conversion fees.  This card both worked everywhere and also proved invaluable.

Now for some specific learnings, in no particular order, out of the planning phase:

• for Alaska, make sure you book early.  Alaska has a short summer season and many things book out very quickly.
• Alaska Marine Highway:
• seemingly convoluted web site BUT persevere, it will make sense and gets easier.
• on some legs, ferries travel daily, others don’t’ so be careful if trying to link legs as we did working your way up/down the coast.
• if travelling overnight and you want a cabin, book early as they do fill very fast.
• you can take own food onto ferries and cook using supplied microwaves.
• Hotel and motel prices climb very steeply in Alaska when their summer arrives which is why we stayed in more B&Bs whose prices were more reasonable.
• Rental vehicle insurance.  In the USA especially, you must have some sort of insurance to cover the vehicle before they will let you take the vehicle.  They can use their personal car insurance to cover the vehicle in many cases.  We were always hit with some sort of LDW (Loss Damage Waiver) insurance so build that into your budget if renting.
• If planning to drive more remote roads in either Alaska or Yukon, check with specific rental firms whether they allow it.  Some do, others don’t.
• Timing.  If planning on heading into The Yukon or Alaska especially, get the timing right otherwise you may be slowed up by weather or things simply still being closed.  Going later in their summer however will increase costs.
• If visiting Denali National Park in high season and camping, book online early as this place is very busy.  Check specific Denali weather forecasts before you arrive and book park bus trip for best possible weather.
• Most accommodation will require a deposit using a credit card number before you will receive confirmation details.  You will need to decide how you will provide c’card details securely.
• It rains a fair bit in that part of the world so take wet weather gear.
• Plan clothing in layers to cope with changeable weather, blizzard one day, sunny the next.
• The mozzies in the Yukon and Alaska are numerous and big - be prepared.
• Additional RV rental costs.  Pay attention to extra costs when renting an RV.  Most have a daily mileage allowance, charge on an hourly basis when using the generator, charge extra if going on certain dirt roads eg. Top of the World Highway… cost like this.
• Communication.  Think about how you want to communicate whilst over there, for example we bought a pre-paid AT&T sim when we arrived to give us voice and data capability in the USA.  Whilst it would work in Canada, it would be at a much greater cost but cheaper than using Aust. sim. We also got a Canadian sim whilst in Canada because of  the amount of time we were there.  They call it ‘Cell’ not Mobile by the way.
• Weight.  Pay attention if using domestic airlines in any country, to the baggage allowances on each flight, because they are most likely to be different to those available on the international flights.  We almost got caught badly when flying down to Dutch Harbour on the small twin propellor plane.

The Doing Learnings
So once we got into the trip proper, again these are some learnings we had as our meanderings progressed:

• You can’t pay much attention to weather forecasts except for the big cities (Anchorage etc) because Alaska and the Yukon have ‘micro-climates’.  Micro-climates are caused by the mountain ranges prevalent everywhere.
  Layers and having wet wether gear was the right advice
• Internet.  Most but not all places had the internet BUT the internet away from the likes of the big cities could not always be relied on or there were download/upload restrictions.
  Our AT&T service didn’t always work in the more remote towns.
• Buying a cheap GPS when you get to the USA will save many arguments and make driving on their roads a lot easier and less stressful.
• Canadian and Alaska food prices were similar to Australia.
• Most supermarkets have very good salad bars with very good choices and is a cheaper way of buying some meals if you are getting tired of eating out.
• RV parks we thought, were relatively expensive when only staying a few nights for what you get.  If self sufficient (power, water etc), the State and National Parks were excellent.
• If contemplating wandering along the Alaska Highway, there were plenty of places to buy fuel.
• Except in the more remote locations, petrol (gas they call it) prices in both Alaska and Canada were cheaper than Australia.
• We’re not usually B&B people but the B&Bs we used were very good and a lot of fun.
• Crossing the borders between USA and Canada were generally uneventful but you will be asked lots of questions about whether you are carrying food, weapons, length of stay, reason for visit and so on.
• The coastal ferries were good fun as were the people on them.  Those people noy in cabins for overnight trips slept on floors, across seats, in tents on the top deck, anywhere they could stretch out and came prepared for this.
• Beware the cinnamon buns!

So that’s it for 2014 and we hope you have enjoyed some aspects of vicariously travelling along with us.  Will try hard to write less next time.

At this stage, our planning for 2015 is progressing well but will leave all this for next year, presuming nothing gets in the way for what we have in mind.

Thank you and keep having fun!