Alaskan Vacation
In just 4 days (3 if you don’t count the 2 hours left of today), Brian and I will be headed to Vancouver to start our Alaskan vacation. We’ll be in Vancouver for a few days before we board the ship (on the 19th) for Alaska. This is our first cruise ever, and while, so far, all of our communications with the cruise company (Carnival Spirit) have been excellent, I’m still not convinced that cruising is my cup of tea. I’m willing to wait until after our trip to make a decision. So far, the plans are to fly to Vancouver on the 16th, arrive about noon, and explore Vancouver until we have to board the ship about 2pm on the 19th. Then we’ll be on the ship with no plans until the 22nd when we go hiking on a glacier (Hiking on a glacier on my 31st birthday sounds like a great idea, don’t you think?). On the 23rd, we’re going for a kayaking adventure in the Yukon, and a dog mushing camp excursion. Other than that, we’re flying by the seat of our pants.
I’m quite the independent traveler. I enjoy getting dumped into a foreign city and finding my way around. We’re using public transportation in Vancouver (but we’re arriving one day before the train between the airport and downtown opens 
), but renting a car in Anchorage. With the cruise, we’re spending more money than I’ve ever spent on a vacation before (work trips don’t count) , including a whole month in Europe. Apparently, all of our food is taken care of, except alcohol and soft drinks, but still, I’ve been to Paris for cheaper. I prefer to stay in hostels, but Brian doesn’t, so that tends to raise prices somewhat, but not that much. Neither Brian nor I enjoy clubs, I don’t generally like casinos because of the smoking, but this ship is apparently smoke free, so we’ll see. I like to dance, and so do two of the friends we’re going with, so I might get to dance. I don’t like dressing up however, and well, there are two nights with “formal” dress (although, we can go to other dining options). The problem is that we’ve scheduled a “fancy” dinner in the reservations only steakhouse for my birthday. I’d rather eat my steak in jeans and a t-shirt than in a “formal” uniform thanks.
There are two days where we’re not docking, and I have no idea what I’m going to do with myself. I have several books loaded onto my kindle, and I plan on using the Gym, but they kind of worry me.
Brian’s taking his laptop, and I’m taking my iPhone (with international roaming enabled, but off most of the time), but other than that, we’re off the grid. I have distant family (2nd cousins) in Anchorage, AK, and we’re meeting up with them for lunch and dinner one night we’re in Anchorage. I’m looking forward to that. I know the woman’s sister, but not the actual family member. But so far, on the phone, she’s been excellent to talk to and recommending hikes outside of Denali (300 miles from Anchorage). She’s going to take one day off of work to take us tourists around.
Possibly Related
As you know we quite enjoy cruising, but I know it’s not for everyone. As for stuff to do on sea days, we have it on good authotity that cruising Alaksa provides fantastic views. So take a good book, or perhaps a travel board game or pack of cards and park yourselves by a window. If it’s not too cold you may be able to park yourselves up on deck, but it will be windy. There are often small seating areas on the both ends of the cabin levels of ships. They are unlikely to be crowded. We like to participate in Bingo, but you may not like that. In any case, have a fantastic trip, we are very jealous. Cant’ wait to hear all about it when you return!