Getting here is the cheapest part of your trip. Alaska is a huge place with little infrastructure around to keep your travel costs down. There are shortcuts though, the local way of doing things. That can mean saving you a lot of money or do more with the money you have!
If you must use a hotel while you are here, get out of the main drag. Even then, they are high. It's best to minimize hotel stays if at all possible. If your destination is the bush, get to it asap. Oh, there's a money meter there too, but your not adding "insult to injury" by staying in hotels too long before OR after your flight to camp. Not to mention meals and such during those times in town. Sure you have to eat, but when you're out of the city, you have more financial control over your options. Name of the game when visiting Alaska on a limited budget!
Either way you won't be able to see all of Alaska in one trip. That takes a lifetime to do!
Here's some of Alaska's statistics. Where do you fit in? There's lots of room!
1/5 the size of the Continental United States
OVER 80% of all US Fish and Wildlife Lands
OVER 65% of all US National Park and Preserve Lands
OVER 33% of all US Bureau of Land Management Lands
TWO largest National Forests in the US
88% Of Alaska is public land
NEARLY 12% of Alaska is owned by native corporations, which either do or can allow sport hunting and fishing to occur
LESS than .14% of Alaska is privately owned
FOURTEEN species of big game, twenty species of sport fish, over twenty species of marine mammals, over four hundred species of birds and nineteen species of fur bearers.
NEARLY surrounded by two oceans and two seas.
FIFTY thousand miles of saltwater shoreline and over eighteen hundred islands.
OVER three million lakes, three thousand rivers, five thousand glaciers and eighty active volcanoes.
Thirty-nine mountain ranges
Over 130 million acres of forest and 190 million acres of rolling tundra covered mountains, plains, hills, and arctic.
LIKE I SAID. It takes years to see Alaska.
Decide your priority first; accomplish those economically on your first trip. While here you will find things of interest that will dictate the next trips priorities.
If you are planning to visit Alaska, let me know your plans, join in, and I'll get you the shortcuts! I arrived here over 30 years ago with two backpacks, duffel bag and $50. In my pocket-on a cold January night too! I know the shortcuts and have a special appreciation for people with dreams and empty pockets!
