RESFEBER has hit! Alaska here we come!
It’s time! For the past year I’ve been planning our next big adventure into the unknown (to us). WEDNESDAY the Rahns will be heading deep into Alaska for 15 days! I am definitely feeling RESFEBER. I am so excited and also anxious for the day to come.
I can't wait to embark on this journey and I have learned so much during my planning. Those who know me, know that planning for a vacation is almost as much fun as the vacation itself. I’ve recently thought about why that is and what makes planning so much fun.
So…step into my brain as I share my planning journey that is getting us to Anchorage, Alaska in 48 hours!
I always start with the big 5.
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
And then how?
I begin by thinking about:
Who is traveling?
What is the purpose of this vacation? What do we want to get out of this vacation? What are we hoping to see and/or learn? What are we celebrating? What is the intention of this vacation? What is the travel style of the “who?”
Where do we want to go to answer the “what” questions? I always think about the big where and then smaller wheres within the big where.
When do we want to go? When do we want to come back? When might be the best time to visit this place? When is everyone available?
Why do we want to go here? Why did we choose this place? Why are we traveling in general during this time?
After having conversations and dialogue with my family about the big questions and we settle on a destination, a time frame, travelers, our why for visiting, and our purpose for this vacation… then the fun begins.
So, let me fill you in on our current trip:
Who? Don, Laura, Carleigh and her girlfriend, Elisabeth
What? Carleigh’s graduation celebration trip. The trip needed to involve nature, national parks and being outdoors. All of us appreciate the outdoors and exploring new natural places. (Katie chose to sit this one out because her travel style is not an all outdoors vacation, and she didn't want to intrude on Carleigh's celebration)
Where? We started with California national parks and pivoted to Alaska. We chose Alaska and then started thinking about the smaller “wheres.” We will be visiting Anchorage, Denali, Homer, Glacier View, Seward, Kenai Fjord, and Summit Lake.
When? July…after Carleigh graduated…after Laura retired…after Don finished teaching for the year…and after Katie moved back home and was settled with her full-time internship.
Why? We chose Alaska because we took an inside passage cruise a few years ago and knew we wanted to go back to explore inside Alaska on our own. Also, a friend went a few years ago and shared her excitement and adventures with us. We love to “collect” national parks and we will be visiting three of the national parks in Alaska. My deeper why is family time and disconnecting from the daily world. I love to travel and get away from the daily grind and create memories that I can reflect back on.
We’ve got the big details figured out, now I start diving into the smaller details.
First for me is a preliminary itinerary and beginning to think about a budget. I then explore flights and hotels, while always thinking about the budget. I give myself time to research and learn about the destination. I browse TripAdvisor for highly recommended hotels/lodging and also restaurants and things to do in each destination. I also search for blogs, online itineraries and information from other travelers that I can learn from.
My family is a big part of the planning. When I find exciting things, I always share and get their feedback before making any big decisions. I may do the legwork, and every one traveling on the trip will have a voice in the planning.
So, it’s been a year of doing the above and we are about to leave for 15 days in Alaska. We’ve got our rental car reserved and we are ready!
Here is our high level itinerary and some of the highlights that we are looking forward to
Our last trip to Alaska was in 2011 on a Disney Cruise to the Inside Passage. We knew we had to return and see more!
When thinking about this trip, I began to wonder just how much of Alaska we were really going to see and I found this fun image. Basically, we will be driving around an area the size of the state of Virginia for 14 days.
I've tagged each location that we will be visiting sequentially. I can't wait to explore!!!
I have heard the internet is not as reliable and that cell service is spotty, so I am not sure how much I will be able to update. And my goal is to do some live blogging while on this adventure.
So, stay tuned for:
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