Our family’s vacation spot for the summer this year is Alaska! None of us have been to Alaska before.
Day 0: 30 Hour Trip (Thursday)
Our travel from home to Alaska was long and tiring. It consisted of:
- Franklin, New Jersey –> New York, New York – 1.5 drive.
- New York, New York –> Portland, Oregon – 6 hour flight.
- Portland, Oregon –> Minneapolis, Minnesota – 3.5 hour flight.
- Minneapolis, Minnesota –> Anchorage, Alaska – 6 hour flight.
- Anchorage, Alaska –> Healy, Alaska – 5 hour drive.
Originally, we only planned to go to Portland, then straight to Anchorage. However, our flight from NYC to Portland was delayed too long, and so by the time we arrived in Portland, the flight to Anchorage, AK that night had already left, and the next available flight to Alaska wasn’t till the next night. It was important to get to Alaska on Friday early enough to drive up to Healy by Friday night, 5 hours north of the airport because we had reserved 7:15 AM tour bus tickets for Saturday morning.
After some searching and work with the Delta Airlines workers, we found a solution. We could get to Anchorage the next morning by flying a 12:30 AM flight to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and then go to Anchorage from there. As compensation, we were given food vouchers for use in the airports. Free food! 🙂
We left our house at around 2:00 PM EST Thursday afternoon. We arrived at our motel in Healy, Alaska at approx. 5:30 PM Alaska time (9:30 PM EST) Friday evening. Just about 30 hours.
As we approached Anchorage, AK on our third flight of the trip, the plane was at a low enough altitude to see the snowy mountains in the sea. We were able to see some nice views from the furthest back seat of the plane!
When we arrived, all I had to do was to look out the windows of the airport, and I could get a feel of what the views would be like in Alaska. Not a lot of buildings, and just miles of open space and mountains far away. Beautiful.
We received our rental car, and drove 5 hours north from Anchorage to Healy.
Finally, we arrived. We had an early morning coming up the next morning, a 7:15 AM bus ride at Denali National Park, not too far from our motel. There weren’t too many photos taken during travel, but it was a long one. Stay tuned! 🙂
Matthew Lau 