Thanks for the info. I am thinking about an Alaska trip from Texas in 2024 so I'm watching videos as much as I can. I have 2 big questions, and many smaller ones, such as did you need to make camping reservations and how often were you not able to use credit cards and need cash, and if so, how often did you need Canadian cash? Glad you enjoyed your trip. I will look for more of your videos to watch.
Thanks for watching! The only reservation we made beforehand was to camp in Denali. I think you can make that 6 months in advance and we randomly made it for the summer solstice. If you do want to camp in Denali, you will need reservations. The other place reservations may be needed we're in the Canadian Rockies in the parks, but we made those just a few days out. I think everything else in Canada and Alaska was FCFS. We did bring cash, but really didn't ever need it. Get Canadian money to pay for the Provencial Parks. It's great camping for a $20CD, otherwise everywhere took card. It's good to have cash as a backup, of course, if power or internet goes out in isolated area you may be stranded for a tank of gas until it goes back up. So, I guess I would say have at least enough for a tank of gas, but don't need to carry big bucks. Hope this helps.
Thank you for the “count down/up” of costs! It is our plan for the 2023 summer (yeah retirement!). We are driving from Qc province so all of your info is “very” timely! Thanks! Remi
Thank you very much for watching, Remi! We're glad that you found it useful. Retirement is vastly under-rated, it's much better than I expected. I hope that you have as good of a trip as we had and be safe out there! Cheers.
You can carry food but there are restrictions on certain things like fresh fruits, and in our case, eggs and chickens due to bird flu. Restrictions change and vary, so it's best to check before you cross.
We were in Alaska at the same time as you last year surprised our paths did not cross. Gas was killer. Don’t regret the money we spent would love to do it again.
Thanks for watching. Yes, we don't regret the money either. Was just happy to be able to get the experience. I hope we both get another shot at it one day!
Hi, thanks for the questions. There does seem to be plenty of medical care available if needed in Alaska, although more so in the larger towns. We fortunately managed to get through our trip without needing to be seen by medical professionals. We both refilled prescriptions while in Alaska. We had talked to our pharmacy before we left and got advice on how to do this. When we were in Palmer we went to a larger grocery store (Fred Meyer) that had a pharmacy and requested that they contact our pharmacy at home and transfer the prescriptions for a refill. They were happy to do this, no problem. There are also Walmarts in the Anchorage and Fairbanks areas, at least. So, it shouldn't be a problem. It was super easy, we were pleasantly surprised. Thanks for watching!
Hey🙋♀️❤️🇨🇦‼️ WHAT A TRIP!!! You did Great! I hope you included the high priced campground in Chaplin SK, that we met you at! $15/night got us power/water/and a dump station, plus the garbage/recycling/flush toilets! Heck of a deal!!! 👍🏼 we spent $8000 on a 101 day trip. 13,671miles, $1414 in hotel(had to go get our brand new custom built trailer)and campgrounds(average:$14/day- we got home and were shocked at how much we spent on gas, we got 14mpg, but back in 2019 - our 33 USA States Trip(13,000 miles) was only $2500 in gas! Currently, gas on Vancouver Island is: $6.50 us🤡🤷♀️🙊🙉🙈
Jane, it sounds like you guys did really good on your finances for that big trip. That was indeed a nice CG in Chaplin for a great price. We hope to get to the southwest this winter for 6 or 8 weeks, no definite plans yet. Maybe we'll meet again on the road sometime. Thanks for the nice comment!
Thanks for the breakdown of expenses. The total was a little shocking but when you break it down to the day it really wasn't bad. It's not like you were only on the road a week.
It was shocking at first, that's for sure! Groceries and gas sure aren't cheap anymore. But like you said, once we looked at it as a daily expense it wasn't so bad.
I was budgeting $20,000 for summer 2025; but from other people I’ve watched I was budgeting $50 a night camping. Your style of camping aligns with ours so I think I’ve got some room there. We only occasionally eat out, but sounds like my $2400 food might eek out groceries, but not any eating out. We were there in 2010 and paid $7 for a gallon of milk in Homer. What CG did you stay at in Valdez?
Yes, think about how much groceries have gone up since 2010. I bet they've doubled since then. We can't remember the name of the CG in Valdeze, but it was right downtown on the docks. We were ready for some hot showers and electric, or could have easily boondocked outside of town.
Hello Friends....Awesome recap of your Alaska Trip. Expensive trip but so worth it. We would agree The Alibi, Mexican Restaurant, was the best restaurant in Alaska. We had a great day together touring around Homer. Lots of laughs
Travels can be really expensive, I know from my own experience that even those hidden "small" costs, such as entrance fees, parking or coffee and snacks along the way, cost a lot.
Hello again ! Praying you are Both Safe and Healthy.. Dec 5, 2024 today.., catching up on all your Great Videos,, . Quick question, How many miles on the Van you pull the Wee Roll with ? Year of it ? I never really thought of a Van to pull the trailer,, Definitely smart with all the room it has. What size engine ? Would you buy it again? Sorry for all the questions but im trying to figure out how to do all this, 😀.. Have a Blessed Day. Peace 🙏 from Big Jim New Hampshire USA aka Boston Strong
The van is a 2019 3/4 ton with a 6L engine. It currently has 115,000 miles. As you can tell, we put some miles on it. The van is rock solid and I like that I can keep bikes and things in it. I only get about 12mpg while towing and 18 or 19 without. It's been a good decision for us. Thanks for the questions, and thanks for watching!
I never added up the total cost of our trip in 18. I was afraid to. Did mention to the wife that I've been watching people do the trip on TH-cam and she gleefully asked when we're going again. We did have a blast and met so many people that we like so much. My wife had a whole sheet of paper of people we met along the way and still keeps in touch with a few. The views though out the whole trip were exceptional, but way we were treated by the people we met, everywhere we went, was one of the biggest enjoyments of the trip. We're both hitting 70 next year so I we better start planning.
What kind of restrictions or problems did you encounter crossing both the USA and Canadian Borders? Was there any restrictions for food purchases done in the USA into Canada and Canada into the USA or anything else you encountered…your videos are very informative thanks…maybe this would require another video 😂
Hey Richard. We really didn't run into any major problems crossing into Canada. There is an app called ArriveCan that you have to fill out ahead of time and you preregister your passport and vaccine information. There are some food restrictions, such as fruit, and when we went through, poultry products. We did do a video when we crossed the border and you can hear the questions we were asked, if you didn't get to see it. th-cam.com/video/nDllk9tZcC8/w-d-xo.html
Great! thank you for sharing such a wonderful video
Thanks for watching!
Great stuff
Thanks Teddy. Hope all is well with you.
Thanks Chuck and Susan, that’s really good information. Like you said Susan, it was trip of a lifetime!
Thanks Jim!
how u doing?,Omg~ beautiful , 👋
It was amazing!
Thanks for the info. I am thinking about an Alaska trip from Texas in 2024 so I'm watching videos as much as I can. I have 2 big questions, and many smaller ones, such as did you need to make camping reservations and how often were you not able to use credit cards and need cash, and if so, how often did you need Canadian cash? Glad you enjoyed your trip. I will look for more of your videos to watch.
Thanks for watching! The only reservation we made beforehand was to camp in Denali. I think you can make that 6 months in advance and we randomly made it for the summer solstice. If you do want to camp in Denali, you will need reservations. The other place reservations may be needed we're in the Canadian Rockies in the parks, but we made those just a few days out. I think everything else in Canada and Alaska was FCFS.
We did bring cash, but really didn't ever need it. Get Canadian money to pay for the Provencial Parks. It's great camping for a $20CD, otherwise everywhere took card.
It's good to have cash as a backup, of course, if power or internet goes out in isolated area you may be stranded for a tank of gas until it goes back up.
So, I guess I would say have at least enough for a tank of gas, but don't need to carry big bucks. Hope this helps.
Thank you for the “count down/up” of costs! It is our plan for the 2023 summer (yeah retirement!). We are driving from Qc province so all of your info is “very” timely! Thanks! Remi
Thank you very much for watching, Remi! We're glad that you found it useful. Retirement is vastly under-rated, it's much better than I expected. I hope that you have as good of a trip as we had and be safe out there! Cheers.
Travellers should be allowed to carry food from/to USA while traveling fromm Canada to Alaska.
You can carry food but there are restrictions on certain things like fresh fruits, and in our case, eggs and chickens due to bird flu. Restrictions change and vary, so it's best to check before you cross.
I’ve enjoyed watching y’all’s travel to Alaska!
Thanks for watching!
We were in Alaska at the same time as you last year surprised our paths did not cross. Gas was killer. Don’t regret the money we spent would love to do it again.
Thanks for watching. Yes, we don't regret the money either. Was just happy to be able to get the experience. I hope we both get another shot at it one day!
Great videos of a dream trip! My question is about medical facilities and/or how you prepared for medical issues, prescriptions, etc? Thanks!
Hi, thanks for the questions. There does seem to be plenty of medical care available if needed in Alaska, although more so in the larger towns. We fortunately managed to get through our trip without needing to be seen by medical professionals.
We both refilled prescriptions while in Alaska. We had talked to our pharmacy before we left and got advice on how to do this. When we were in Palmer we went to a larger grocery store (Fred Meyer) that had a pharmacy and requested that they contact our pharmacy at home and transfer the prescriptions for a refill. They were happy to do this, no problem. There are also Walmarts in the Anchorage and Fairbanks areas, at least. So, it shouldn't be a problem.
It was super easy, we were pleasantly surprised.
Thanks for watching!
Hey🙋♀️❤️🇨🇦‼️ WHAT A TRIP!!! You did Great! I hope you included the high priced campground in Chaplin SK, that we met you at! $15/night got us power/water/and a dump station, plus the garbage/recycling/flush toilets! Heck of a deal!!! 👍🏼 we spent $8000 on a 101 day trip. 13,671miles, $1414 in hotel(had to go get our brand new custom built trailer)and campgrounds(average:$14/day- we got home and were shocked at how much we spent on gas, we got 14mpg, but back in 2019 - our 33 USA States Trip(13,000 miles) was only $2500 in gas! Currently, gas on Vancouver Island is: $6.50 us🤡🤷♀️🙊🙉🙈
Jane, it sounds like you guys did really good on your finances for that big trip. That was indeed a nice CG in Chaplin for a great price. We hope to get to the southwest this winter for 6 or 8 weeks, no definite plans yet. Maybe we'll meet again on the road sometime. Thanks for the nice comment!
Thanks for the breakdown of expenses. The total was a little shocking but when you break it down to the day it really wasn't bad. It's not like you were only on the road a week.
It was shocking at first, that's for sure! Groceries and gas sure aren't cheap anymore. But like you said, once we looked at it as a daily expense it wasn't so bad.
I was budgeting $20,000 for summer 2025; but from other people I’ve watched I was budgeting $50 a night camping. Your style of camping aligns with ours so I think I’ve got some room there. We only occasionally eat out, but sounds like my $2400 food might eek out groceries, but not any eating out.
We were there in 2010 and paid $7 for a gallon of milk in Homer.
What CG did you stay at in Valdez?
Yes, think about how much groceries have gone up since 2010. I bet they've doubled since then.
We can't remember the name of the CG in Valdeze, but it was right downtown on the docks.
We were ready for some hot showers and electric, or could have easily boondocked outside of town.
Hello Friends....Awesome recap of your Alaska Trip. Expensive trip but so worth it. We would agree The Alibi, Mexican Restaurant, was the best restaurant in Alaska. We had a great day together touring around Homer. Lots of laughs
Thanks M & J, we did have a great time hanging with you and hope to see you again soon! Happy travels!
Travels can be really expensive, I know from my own experience that even those hidden "small" costs, such as entrance fees, parking or coffee and snacks along the way, cost a lot.
They really do add up.
Hello again ! Praying you are Both Safe and Healthy.. Dec 5, 2024 today.., catching up on all your Great Videos,, . Quick question, How many miles on the Van you pull the Wee Roll with ? Year of it ? I never really thought of a Van to pull the trailer,, Definitely smart with all the room it has. What size engine ? Would you buy it again?
Sorry for all the questions but im trying to figure out how to do all this, 😀.. Have a Blessed Day. Peace 🙏 from Big Jim New Hampshire USA aka Boston Strong
The van is a 2019 3/4 ton with a 6L engine.
It currently has 115,000 miles. As you can tell, we put some miles on it. The van is rock solid and I like that I can keep bikes and things in it.
I only get about 12mpg while towing and 18 or 19 without.
It's been a good decision for us.
Thanks for the questions, and thanks for watching!
I never added up the total cost of our trip in 18. I was afraid to. Did mention to the wife that I've been watching people do the trip on TH-cam and she gleefully asked when we're going again. We did have a blast and met so many people that we like so much. My wife had a whole sheet of paper of people we met along the way and still keeps in touch with a few. The views though out the whole trip were exceptional, but way we were treated by the people we met, everywhere we went, was one of the biggest enjoyments of the trip. We're both hitting 70 next year so I we better start planning.
Yes indeed, the people we met were the best part of the trip. I do hope you guys get to go again.
DO IT!!!!
Do you have a list, or map of your trip?
I'm planning my own and would love to see it!
Thanks!
No, sorry we don't. But that is something I should work on. Thanks so much for watching, we really appreciate it!
What kind of restrictions or problems did you encounter crossing both the USA and Canadian Borders? Was there any restrictions for food purchases done in the USA into Canada and Canada into the USA or anything else you encountered…your videos are very informative thanks…maybe this would require another video 😂
Hey Richard. We really didn't run into any major problems crossing into Canada. There is an app called ArriveCan that you have to fill out ahead of time and you preregister your passport and vaccine information. There are some food restrictions, such as fruit, and when we went through, poultry products. We did do a video when we crossed the border and you can hear the questions we were asked, if you didn't get to see it.
th-cam.com/video/nDllk9tZcC8/w-d-xo.html
Great summary. What about repairs for the wheel? Counted in miscellaneous? Your channel is doing great!
Repairs were not included in costs. I guess maybe they should have been. Thanks for the encouragement!
Did you boondock much?
Yes, but surprisingly not near as much as we thought we would. Thanks for watching.
Did you use Canadian money or us?
These amounts are figured in US dollars.
Thanks for watching.