Getting Some Information

Before we begin, let me say that we have been talking about this vacation for several years, and began serious planning about 7 months before the trip.  Remember, we were self-directed, and made all the arrangements ourselves.  It was really nice taking all of that time.  By reading the information that we gathered, we became very familiar with the area before our vacation even began.  So - if you're thinking it is too early to plan your Alaska trip, it's not!

The Alaska tourist season is short - from mid-May to mid-September, so resorts, businesses, regions, and communities are quite agressive in publicizing their opportunities for tourists.  Most chambers of commerce have excellent web-sites and magazine-style tourism guides that they send quickly.

I went to the web-sites below, and requested the guides.  They all came within 2 or 3 weeks.  Be aware the the chambers of commerce and visitors bureaus share your information with their member businesses.  You can expect to get letters from hotel managers, flyers and brochures from tour operators, and even DVDs from fishing and tour charter services.  Just take it all in-stride -- you can't blame them for trying to make a living.  Read what you like, and trash what you don't.

• Travel Alaska - Official State of Alaska Vacation and Travel Information
• Kenai Peninsula Tourism Marketing Council
• Seward Chamber of Commerce
• Visit Soldotna
• Homer Chamber of Commerce
• Anchorage Convention and Visitors Bureau

Kenai Peninsula Visitors Guide - 2011 edition

Make contact, and check your mailbox.  It will soon be overflowing with Alaska information!

Reserving a Rental Car

Because we were setting our own itinerary and exploring a reasonably large area, we needed a rental car.  With three adults (and 5 pieces of luggage) we needed at least a full-sized car.

I was a bit shocked when I checked the rental car prices online.  For our 12-day trip, a full-sized car would cost around $1500, with taxes and airport fees.  Of course, this wasn't going to "sink" our trip, but the bargain-hunter in me knew there had to be a better deal out there.  I checked prices for two or three weeks.  The prices weren't getting any higher, so I just decided to wait it out.

Readers, I did get a better deal, and a bigger vehicle, too!  Let me tell you how I did it.

My first strategy was to check Hotwire and Priceline.  I was able to find something for around $1,000 so I felt that I had a small victory.  I noticed that a few hundred dollars were going to airport fees.  So, I expanded my Hotwire search to include all locations in the area.  I was able to rent a full-sized vehicle from the downtown Hertz location for $498 for the 12-day period.  A few days later, the price was almost twice that.  But, I confirmed my rate using the Hertz 800 number.  They were happy and I was happy.

Only one problem - the downtown Hertz location would be closed on Sunday evening when we were to return the car.  I called Hertz again, and the customer representative changed the return location to the Anchorage airport.  Would that incur the tax?  No.  The tax applies to where the car is rented, not returned.

Wow!

So, I had a sweet deal.  We stayed in downtown Anchorage our first night in Alaska (took a free airport shuttle to the hotel) and the next morning I walked 5 blocks to the downtown Hertz location.  There was one person in front of me, and he wasn't very nice to the clerk.  He wasn't mean, just difficult.  She was glad to get him out of the office.  When he left, the clerk apologized for the delay, and I smiled and assured her everything was okay.  Then she offered me a free upgrade to a small SUV.  And the price was lowered another $10.  So, I rented a Ford SUV for 12 days for about $485, including tax.

My rental car tips for you...

• Check Hotwire and Priceline daily to establish baselines.
• Be willing to accept a downtown location.  Even if you have to pay cab fare, you'll probably save money.
• If you see the price go down, jump on it!
• See if your rental company will change the return location to the airport with no additional charge.
• Be super-nice, and you might get an upgrade.

The Flight to Alaska, Our Night in Anchorage, and Cell Phone Problems

Okay, I'll try to keep this section from being as boring as the flight!  It took us about 12 clock hours to get from Florida to Alaska.  If you think about it, that's pretty remarkable.  However, it is a long time for someone (especially me) to sit still.

As I wrote earlier, we had three plane rides (home airport to Atlanta, Atlanta to Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Minneapolis-St. Paul to Anchorage) on our itinerary.  All of the flights were packed to 100% or near.  And a few of the flights were oversold.

Here's my only tip for this section... if you're flying to Alaska, and they attempt to "bump" you to a later flight, make sure the airline is aware that you have another flight to connect to, and that your destination is Alaska (which the airlines consider an "international" location.)  When the airline attempted to "bump" us, I informed them of our final destination, and they quickly withdrew their request.  I don't know if it was because they were being nice, or they realized that it would cause a ripple-effect with the schedule.  But, it worked.

Finally, let me tell you that we were not prepared for the absolute beauty that we would encounter as we approached Alaska by air.  I've included a brief video clip, so you can judge for yourself.

As soon as we got off the plane, I turned my cell phone on.  I got the dreaded "No Service."  So did my wife.  My daughter got a full row of bars.  This is something that I need to take care of.  More on that in a later post.

We had a reservation for one night at the Quality Suites Near Convention Center in downtown Anchorage.  (My TripAdvisor review of this hotel.)  We called their airport shuttle, and were in the hotel room within the hour.  Our room rate was about $220, which was comparable with other downtown hotels.  The room had two double beds and a sofa-bed, which met our needs. 
At this time, it was around 7:30 PM, and it was still broad daylight.  This is something that we had to get used to -- sunset was at about 10:40 PM, and it didn't really get dark until well after midnight.  Really, it seemed like it never really got DARK, just dusk.  The sun was up by 3:30 AM each day.

Anchorage was clean and relatively quiet.  We walked a few blocks and found a little restaurant that served sandwiches and Asian food.  It was a good meal.  We were tired, went back to the hotel, and went to sleep.  The thick window-shades helped a lot!

I went to sleep with the cell phone problem on my mind.

Before You Leave Anchorage...

As the title of this blog indicates, Anchorage was not our final destination on this vacation.  So we were eager to travel to the less-populated areas and begin our adventures.  However, Anchorage certainly has its place in any Alaska vacation.

Shopping Opportunities
If you're heading south into the Kenai Peninsula region, Anchorage represents you last best opportunity to shop for about 150 miles.  So - if you want to buy some snacks, fresh fruit, forgot your cell phone charger, or just want to pick-up a new paperback book for the trip, Anchorage is the place to do it.  Anchorage is a pretty big city - about 300,00 people (40% of the Alaska population.)  They have most of the major chain stores: Wal-mart, Target, Sam's Club, Best Buy.  You won't find many of these shopping opportunities in the Kenai Peninsula.

If you have a car on your trip, it's also a good idea to put together a "possibles" box of non-refrigerated food items.  "Possibles" include: peanut butter, crackers, a loaf of bread, nuts, raisins, granola bars, apples, bagels, chips, juice boxes, etc.  You may also want a few cans of soup or chili and some microwave popcorn for the hotel room.  These "possibles" can go a long way in maximizing your fun, and minimizing a time-consuming search for food.  In Alaska, the nearest convenience store could be 30 or 40 miles away.  Let's say it's 11 AM, and you just got finished with your first hike or activity of the day.  Your second activity is about 5 miles down the road, but you need a little nutrition.  With no restaurants in a half-hour drive, you can simply fix a bagel with peanut butter and raisins, and follow it with a granola bar and some apple juice.  That should hold you over until later in the afternoon.

You also want to fill-up your vehicle's gas tank before you leave Anchorage.  My recommendation: you never want to let your gas tank get below half-full in Alaska.  (Yes, it's true - one day we all begin to sound like our parents!)

So - if you need some extra socks, or a scarf, or you want some grapes, bananas, and peanut butter on-hand, take care of that in Anchorage.

Using Gift Cards Instead of Cash
An additional item - a bit too small for a post of its own, but worth mentioning - so, I'll include it in a section that features shopping.  For this trip, I carried enough cash to take care of small purchases, and most of our spending money in gift cards.  I got two separate VISA gift cards, and one American Express gift card.  I bought these gift cards at my local Walgreens (the cashier was thrilled because she met her sales quota in one transaction!)

I did this in case my wallet was lost or stolen during the trip.  If phoned-in immediately, the gift cards can be replaced with no fee or penalty.  I photocopied the front and back of each gift card, and kept those copies in a different location.  You can also check your gift card balances online or via their 800 phone number.   Almost every location takes VISA and/or American Express these days.  The cards were never turned-down during our trip.  The only downside to this was that I had to pay a $5 fee for each of the two gift cards when I bought them (not when I used them.)  I considered this a form of "travel insurance" and I would certainly do that again.  Even if you have a balance left on your gift cards at the end of your vacation, you can spend them when you get home.

Time for us to top-off the tank, and head south.