We are up early with bags packed and ready to go to the airport. Richard goes down to the lobby area to get a cart for our bags. When he returns he says that a bellman will take them down for us. Our taxi is waiting. Our voucher from Holland America works fine and I give him a tip also. On our way to the Vancouver International Airport. Part of me is sad that our Alaska adventure is over but I'm ready to go home and sleep in my own bed. Sandra helps us with the check in process. Air Canada Flight #AC548-departure 9:00 am. Cost for our flight home Vancouver-Newark-Buffalo is $552.70 for the both of us. We are able to both get aisle seats across from each other. This is nice as it's going to be a long flight from Vancouver to Newark. At the airport I buy some snacks for the plane and spot a Starbucks for a quick/light breakfast. I have a muffin and coffee. Bill $5 CAD. Richard doesn't care for Starbucks coffee so he finds another place to get his coffee and a bagel. Bill $4.81 CAD There are plenty of tables where you can sit down and eat. All too soon it's time for boarding. The plane is pretty full. Our flight is uneventful and after several movies we are landing at Newark Liberty International Airport. We have a 5 hour layover here. We check out the place. It is a good sized airport. We decide to have dinner here as it will be very late when we arrive in Buffalo. We opt for Mexican food-burritos and drinks. Bill around $20 Fast food is cheap! Our flight to Buffalo is United #8576 or #5377-departure 10:29 pm. We take the Air Train to the terminal for our flight. This is a short flight. We arrive in Buffalo at 11:56 pm. I have booked a rental car for us through Alamo because it's too late to have family pick us up. Cost for 1 day rental $41.06. Gas $6.50 This is much cheaper than staying overnight in a hotel near the airport and then having family pick us up in the morning. Renting the car was a better option for us.
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| Our taxi voucher |
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| Vancouver International Airport |
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| We are on flight AC548 |
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| Air Canada plane will take us to Newark |
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| We are on flight 8576 |
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| Now we are on flight 5377 |
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REFLECTIONS
Loved Alaska. The scenery and wildlife exceeded my expectations. All the people were great-the drivers, guides, servers at restaurants, hotel staff........ My husband and I loved every single excursion/activity we booked or planned. Some were pricey, some were free. Lovely memories.
The hotels I picked for our self drive portion of our trip were great and I would stay at them again-maybe not the Marriott Springhill Suites University Lake Anchorage. I picked that hotel specifically for the indoor pool for my husband which he never used due to the problems I mentioned.
The food we had in Alaska was superb. Even something simple like a pizza. And the seafood-WOW!!
We had a wonderful experience with Hertz car rental. Price was reasonable I thought. The cars were new. Roomy enough for us and all our luggage. Got good gas mileage which was nice because the price of gas in Alaska was a shock-about $1 more per gallon than back home.
The weather was fine. I didn't have a clue as to what to expect. Some days were warm and sunny. Some days were dreary/overcast. Some days just a light rain. Snow on our Arctic Circle overnight excursion! Rough seas on the cruise for 2 days.
All the excursions I booked before leaving home were ones we would do again. It's hard to pick one that we liked most but the dog sledding in Seward and the Denali flight with landing were my favorites. Richard said the halibut fishing in Homer, white water rafting in Denali, and his ATV adventure in Denali were his favorites.
Things we would do different:
I wouldn't have packed all the clothes that I did for the cruise. I knew we had to have more formal outfits for the 2 gala evenings but I thought that you had to also have nicer clothes for the other dinners on the cruise. Not so. I could have worn the clothes that I had packed for our 2 week self drive. I could have eliminated 1 suitcase! We had never been on a true cruise before so didn't know what to expect. Now I know. When you read that you should dress in layers in Alaska that is so true.
I definitely would have taken motion sickness medication with me. It would have been great if I had known earlier that I could have gotten pills from the front desk of the ship. When Holland America e-mailed us a survey to complete about our cruise I mentioned that.
I would have brought more memory cards with me for my camera. I ended up buying 2 in Alaska at higher prices than if I had bought them at home.
Richard would have done a salmon fishing trip. He would have bought an additional poke at the Gold Dredge #8 in Fairbanks!
I think for the most part my advance planning really helped. We are not spur of the moment folks at this stage in our lives. Having those July and August calendar pages with my day to day planning worked for us. Did we follow every day to the letter? Of course not, but for the most part we did. Some things we didn't have the time to do. You never know how long some activity is going to take until you do it. The tours didn't fall into this category. I'm talking about the museums, hikes. Most were so enjoyable that we spent much more time than I figured we would. And of course because I misread signs our short hike at Exit Glacier turned into one several hours longer!
Alaska is definitely a place we would revisit. There is so much more we would like to see-the Yukon, Matanuska Glacier. More time in Juneau, Ketchikan. Time in Haines. An overnight bear trip. Explore/visit more of the Arctic region.
Thanks again to everyone who answered all my questions on Trip Advisor forum. You all were a big help and your advice/tips were greatly appreciated.
Several days after being home we receive a surprise gift. A welcome home gift of crackers, cheeses......from our AAA travel agent Katie. She helped us book our land/cruise trip with Holland America.
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