Alaska Uncovered Podcast

What to pack for Alaska with Jennie

• Episode 25

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Jennie Flaming:

Are you confused or overwhelmed about what to pack for your trip to Alaska? Worried no more. That's what we're going to talk about today. Welcome to the Alaska uncovered podcast with me your host, Jennie Flaming my occasional co host and full time husband, Jay and I bring you accurate, helpful and entertaining information about Alaska travel, and life in Alaska. Today, I am doing a solo episode. This is my first solo episode, and I probably won't be doing it very often. But I am going to be sharing tips about packing for your trip to Alaska today. And as I am recording this, Jay and I are preparing for being on the road quite a bit. I am going to be doing some work as a tour director and Jay and I are going to be going together to do some road logging for the milepost. So this is going to be our last new episode until September 13. That will be the new one for the fall. So there's gonna be a little bit of a break while we're on the road. And before I finished this first season of Alaska uncovered, I really wanted to talk about packing a little bit. Because this is the number one question that I get from my readers, and from people who are on my email list is things about packing. And I started making videos for every trip that I take and putting them on YouTube. And there's a link to that in the show notes. So if you want to actually watch what I'm doing when I spend time in Alaska myself, then that is a great resource for you. So today, I am going to just share a little bit with you about packing. To start with I as you all know by now, I lived in Alaska for many years, I still spend several weeks a year there. And that means that I pack for Alaska more now than I did before because I don't live there now. And I go there in the winter, I go there in the summer, sometimes go during the shoulder season, Sue, I really do have a lot of experience with this. And I am also really obsessive about packing light, it just makes everything easier. So if you are not a light packer, just know that that's my philosophy. And of course, you should bring whatever you want. I'm just giving you my best advice. So let's hop into it. This in this episode, I'm going to start by sharing my five things that you have to have a trip to Alaska, any time of year, there's five things that you feel like you always need to have. So I'm going to talk about what those are. And then I'm going to talk about preparing for certain weather conditions and other things like that. After that, so to start off with five things. So if you don't bring anything else, you have these five things, you'll be okay, I promise. Um, the first one is a rain jacket. Now, if you're going to Alaska in the winter, then you need a warm jacket instead of a rain jacket but most people visit during the summer or the shoulder season, and you have to have a rain jacket. Um, not only will that help you if it's raining, obviously it's also really helpful for bug protection for wind protection if you're on a boat and or if it's just windy but especially on boat tours if you want to be out on the deck you're going to experience some wind and a rain jacket is super helpful for that even if it's not raining. And the reason I recommend a rain jacket instead of an umbrella is because of wind. So if you are walking around in town having an umbrella is fine but especially if you're doing any kind of boat tour and Umbrella doesn't really work on a boat. So unless it's docked or anchored, otherwise there's too much wind so that's why I recommend having a rain jacket. So number one rain jacket number two waterproof footwear. Or if it's winter and you're going to Fairbanks or anchorage then snow boots instead of waterproof footwear, but for the summer. You can have waterproof hiking boots so you can have waterproof shoes. You can have rubber boots, it doesn't really matter as long as it's comfortable and waterproof. And if you don't have waterproof footwear and don't want to buy it, then get bring lots of extra socks. Because if your feet are wet and you can change into dry socks, even if your shoes are wet, still pretty great. So that's a hack for that. Okay, number three is a backup charger for your cell phone. This is kind of a sleeper thing a lot of people don't think of, it's super important, you definitely want this, especially if you use your phone to take videos, then it's really important, because you will be in places in Alaska where there is not a cellphone signal, or maybe not an easy place to charge. And you're going to be taking lots of photos and videos and you don't want your phone to go dead. Along those lines, every person in your party needs their own charger, their own charging cable, and their own backup battery for their phone. Super important stuff. Number four, your ID. Or if you're taking a cruise, you need a passport. Even if it's a round trip cruise from Seattle, you still need a passport. Um, if you're not taking a cruise, then any ID is fine. But you're going to need ID. And then finally, number five, any medications that you take. You don't want to spend time on your trip trying to pick up prescriptions. So make sure you have those and make sure you're in there in your carry on bag. All of these five things. So once again, it's rain jacket, waterproof footwear, backup charger, for your phone, ID or passport, if you're taking a cruise, and medications, all five of those things must be in your carry on bag, you do not want to get separated from those. Don't put those in your check bag, no matter what with you all the time. Okay, so the reason I identify these five top things, is to simplify things for you, people can get really obsessed, and I see this a lot over having the perfect gloves, the perfect jacket, don't worry about that, just if you have these five things, you can wing it or buy there anything else that you need. Um, I would include with, with medications or prescriptions, anything that's hard to find away from home. So like, if you have a particular brand of sunscreen that you like, you might want to bring that with you so that you know that you have it, that sort of thing. But basically, if you have those five things, you can figure out the rest, and it's gonna be fine. All right. I'm sure at this point, you're like, Okay, that's great, Johnny, but like, obviously, I have to bring more than five things. Yes, probably true. Like, you probably want underwear and like other clothes and that kind of thing. But I'm trying to simplify it for you. So that this isn't totally overwhelming. All right, so we've talked about the most five things, or the the top five things. Um, we're gonna get into a little more detail. Now, about a few things, three things specifically that people in my experience, both as a travel writer, but also as a guide and, and being with guests in Alaska, three things that people are really concerned about and how to address those in your packing. So the first one is rain, the second is cold and the third is bugs. So we're going to talk about each of those. So and we've already addressed them in the top five things, but I'm going to talk about them in a little more detail starting with rain. So if you are visiting anywhere in Alaska between May and September, you need to be prepared for rain. Some places in Alaska are much Renier than others. For example, Ketchikan, Juneau, Sitka have a lot of rain. Fairbanks doesn't have a lot of rain. It's almost a desert, but it does have some rain in summer. So you really need to be prepared for this. Try not to worry about whether or not it's going to rain most of the activities you're going to do are going to be awesome even if it is raining. And that's why you want to be prepared with that rain jacket and waterproof footwear so that you can enjoy those amazing glacier and wildlife experiences or that kayaking trip or the riverboat tour. You want to be able to enjoy those even if there's rain and I promise you you will if you go into it with that mindset. I also recommend like I said, having extra socks if you're going to be wearing gloves. I don't normally wear gloves in the summer but if you are you might want to bring a few pairs because gloves do you sometimes get wet. Then you can let them dry. I have a dry pair. So that is really nice. So that is rain. Second one is Oh, before we finish up with rain one other thing I wanted to mention is if you are visiting Alaska during the winter, in Fairbanks, Denali tell Kena, Anchorage, you don't need to worry about rain in winter, it'll be snowing, if there's precipitation. If you're going to Southeast Alaska in the winter, it's very rainy. So just a note about that for people who are visiting in winter. Okay, speaking of winter, let's move on to cold. A lot of people are worried about being cold in Alaska, which I totally understand. So I want to address this. First of all, it's going to make a huge difference what part of the state you're in, and what time of year it is about what the temperature is going to be like. It also matters where you're coming from. So if you are coming from a place that is very hot in the summer, like Florida, or Texas or some most of the United States, it's probably going to be colder in Alaska than the summer temperatures that you're used to. Maybe not in Fairbanks, if it's July, or maybe June, but um, it probably will be colder, but it is not necessarily going to be cold cold, like winter cold. So, for example, in southeast Alaska, I'm talking about Ketchikan, Juneau, Sitka, Skagway, Haines, Glacier Bay National Park. In the summer, it's chilly and rainy a lot of the time, a lot of times the temperatures are in the 50s with clouds or maybe some rain, maybe the 60s. But there are at times hot days in southeast Alaska, it can be in the 70s or even in the 80s Occasionally, so be aware that it could You could still have warm days. You want to be prepared for colder weather, but you want to have some lighter layers also, because it is not necessarily cold all the time. I'm in Anchorage Denali National Park Fairbanks. Those places have different weather, but it is generally a bit drier and warmer than Southeast Alaska in June and July especially. Denali often has more rain or more clouds because it's in the mountains than Anchorage and Fairbanks. Fairbanks is the driest place that's on most people's itinerary in Alaska. Fairbanks can be quite hot in the summer, it can be in the 80s and 90s, especially in June and July. But it might not be it might be 60. So there's a lot of variability. In the summer, you're not going to experience like below freezing temperatures or snow, you might experience that in May, and you might experience it in September. But generally speaking June, July, August, that's not going to happen. Now, of course, if you are visiting Alaska, especially Fairbanks during the winter, there are some specific things you need to do to prepare for the extreme cold that you'll experience that's addressed in my packing article that's in the show notes. So you can read more detail about all of this down there. But for summer visitors, you'll probably experience temperatures cooler than what you're used to at home, but probably not cold, cold, especially in summer. So that is cold. So the final thing that people are worried about that, um, I want to address is bugs. So similar to the weather, you can't control the bugs, bugs are super unpredictable. They might be terrible in one place and no bugs the next day in the same location. So if you're asking something like Will the bugs be bad in this place on this date, there's really no way to know about that, unfortunately. And if you encounter really bad mosquitoes, that's just the way it is. So I want to tell you how you can prepare for it. I also want to tell you that if you are staying in a hotel, or a vacation rental, or you are taking a cruise and you're primarily doing tours, bugs aren't going to be too big of a concern. But if you're doing a lot of hiking or fishing, especially, you could encounter some pretty intense mosquitoes I'm especially in the UN in the Arctic is a whole nother thing if you're going to the Arctic that you will experience very bad bugs anytime in the summer. And when I say the Arctic I mean gates, the Arctic National Park, Kovac Valley National Park, anywhere north or west of Fairbanks. Fairbanks can have pretty pretty bad bugs to you. But if you're staying in town and doing townie things, it probably won't be too bad. So if you are going to be in situations where you might encounter bugs, especially hiking, fishing, camping, I in late May through the end of August, then you want to be prepared. And the best thing you can do to pre prepared is to have long pants that are loose fitting, and a long sleeve shirt that is loose fitting, the loose fitting thing is really important. Because if you're wearing leggings, for example, they don't really do anything for bugs because it's tight against your skin. And the bugs can bite right through. I've learned this the hard way more than one time. But if you're wearing something thicker, like jeans, or loose or pants, like hiking pants, or sweat pants or something like that, then it's much harder for the bugs to bite through. Same for shirts. So having a loose fitting long sleeve shirt, what I usually wear for that if it's cold enough to wear a hoodie, that's a great solution. If it's too warm for that, then I'll often wear like a button up shirts, I usually leave it on buttons and wear another shirt underneath. But that is a really great thing to help with bug protection. It's a good idea to also have bug spray. But what I want you to know is if the bugs are really intense, the bug spray is not enough, you have to have long pants, long sleeve shirt and a hat. Um, you can also use bug spray, but just trust me that if the bugs are really bad, putting bug spray all over you is not going to be enough. So make sure you also have the long sleeves, and long pants and shoes that are not sandals, like boots or something like that, that you can put on. Having a hat that you can wear a head net over is great. I have a small head net, it weighs nothing. It's about the size of half of my fist. I always bring it with me. I rarely use it, I have used it. But rarely, and definitely not on tours or in town or anything like that. But that's something you can bring with you. You can also buy that in Alaska, you can also buy bug spray in Alaska. So that is what I recommend for bugs. Also, if bugs are really intense rain gear is a great protection against bugs. It's tough if it's not cold enough to wear rain gear that it can be really rough on a hot day to wear ringer. But that is another way to deal with it. All right. Before I wrap up this episode, I wanted to talk about a couple things that people generally are not worried about with their packing, but probably should be. So I've talked about my top five things, which is rain jacket, waterproof footwear, backup charger for your phone ID and medications. And then I talked a little more about rain and cold and bugs, which are things people are worried about. There's a few things that people tend to not worry about, but probably should. So I wanted to address those. The first one is sun and heat. So yes, it may be rainy a lot on your trip. But you also might experience really intense sun. And in Alaska in the summer, the sun is up most of the time. And it's very intense. So just because it may be colder or it might be raining sometimes I don't want you to completely ignore dealing with sun protection. And with heat by having lighter layers. Those things are really important to you. Another thing is phone charging and bandwidth and Wi Fi. So hotels in Alaska often have Wi Fi but it's not good enough for things like streaming. Sometimes it's not even good enough for emailing or texting photos. So typically, you can send an email if there's Wi Fi or you can text or make a phone call, but data you may not have where you're staying and you definitely won't have it if you're on the road between places you might have a couple bars but it's not going to be enough for streaming. Um similarly if you're using your phone a lot for video for charging, I talked about this at the beginning. You really need to have a backup battery because you may not be able to charge everywhere. So, I just want to encourage you to think about managing the battery on your phone, and downloading anything that you would normally stream. Because streaming is not, don't count on streaming being an option. Um, and one more tip about that this isn't a packing thing, but just a tip, put your phone in airplane mode, if you're on a tour, or you're in a place with a limited signal that will help the battery last much longer. So that's the second thing. And then the final thing people often aren't thinking about, but should be is bringing cash for tips for guides and guidance in Alaska are fantastic. They work really hard. And it's a tough job. And they really show up and give everything to for you every day to help you have an amazing experience. So bringing a tip for your guide is really important. Customary is between 10 and 20% of the cost of the tour. Some of that is up to your discretion. And of course, you can give people a bigger tip if they do a really fantastic job. But what I always do is I always get cash for tips and bring that specifically before I leave home. And I would really encourage you to do that as well. It's not that you can't get cash while you're there. But it's a nice thing to prepare for before you go. So that brings me to the end of my most important Alaska packing advice. Like I mentioned before, down in the show notes, I have a link to my article that has lots of detail and includes some specific products that I use when I travel in Alaska. I also have my YouTube videos that actually show me packing for Alaska, if you want to check that out. Um, and that is it for packing, I want you to take away that it's going to be okay, try not to obsess over this, do the best you can. And then have a great time. Thank you for joining me for this episode of Alaska uncovered. This is Episode 25, which is hard to believe. And we've come so far in such a short time. And the podcast has been doing really well as far as downloads. And it has been so fun for Jay and I to do this and have you listening and be along on our journey. So thank you for making this possible. We are taking a break for about a month. So our next new podcast will be on Wednesday, September 13. And spoiler alert, that one is going to be about how to see the northern lights. So that is going to be a really great way to start our next set of podcasts. But we are taking a break I mentioned before I am going to be working on the road as a tour director for a lot of the month of August. And in early September Jay and I will be doing some road logging for the milepost and we're really looking forward to sharing about our road trip when we get back. So yeah, well take a break for about five weeks. And until then I want to just encourage you to sign up for my weekly Alaska emails. Those will not be taking a break. So you'll still get one of those every Thursday the link for that as in the show notes. And make sure to subscribe. So on September 13, you see our new episode about the Aurora. Thank you so much for making this podcast possible and being on the journey. And I look forward to being back in your earbuds in September. Bye for now

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Jennie Thwing Flaming

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Jay Flaming

Co-host