How to save money on your Alaska trip with Scott McMurren

Scott McMurren comes back to the pod to chat with Jennie about the Alaska TourSaver. We talk about the most popular offers in the book, how companies are chosen for the book and how to figure out how much money you can save based on your itinerary.

Music credits: Largo Montebello, by Domenico Mannelli, CC.

Jennie Flaming: 0:06

Welcome to the Alaska uncovered podcast with me, your host, Jennie Flaming, I bring you accurate, helpful and entertaining information about Alaska travel and life and Alaska. My occasional co host and full time husband, Jay and I are committed to keeping the Alaska uncovered podcast ad free. To do that we need your help. If you're enjoying the podcast, we invite you to contribute toward tip jar, which is the first link in the show notes. We are so grateful for our listeners, and we wouldn't be here without you. Thank you and enjoy the show. Are you looking to save money on your trip to Alaska? Because not that's what we're talking about today. My guest today is Scott McMurren. Scott has been on the podcast before, a whole year ago, we talked about hidden gems, and we talked a little bit about the tour saver, but we're gonna really focus on that today. Scott is a legend in Alaska for his vast expertise in Alaska travel. And Alaskan for more than four decades, Scott has published a weekly travel newsletter about travel and in the Alaska travel gram, and he's done that every week since 1999. He also writes a weekly travel column in the Anchorage Daily News and publishes the annual Alaska to receiver with his business partner Gary, which is celebrating its 25th year and that's what we're gonna focus on today. When Scott is not serving as a passionate evangelist for every corner of Alaska. He likes to explore with his family, including his wife, Christy, his adult sons and his dog Roo. Scott, welcome back to Alaska uncovered. Thanks for being here.

Unknown: 1:58

Well, I thought maybe you're gonna talk about our 25th anniversary of the tour. Sciver is there some cake involved? Oh, that

Jennie Flaming: 2:05

would have been awesome. Are you gonna have a cake? I feel like that's a great idea.

Unknown: 2:11

Well,

Jennie Flaming: 2:12

I love cake. Any excuse for cake. I'm here for Amen. Oh, love it. So I know that you answered this question before, but it has been a year on there's a good chance. There are people listening who did not listen to the last episode that you were here for? So can you briefly tell us how you got to Alaska?

Unknown: 2:36

So my Alaska origin story. It's pretty cool. I think. My senior year in college, some of my roommates were gonna drive up the elk. And then they had been coming up to Alaska for a while during the summer and paving driveways, working odd jobs, construction, things like that said, Hey, you should you should come on up. And I was getting ready to graduate from college. I was like, okay, so So I said, sure. I'll do it. And then then I ran into a friend of mine. Like a couple of days later at the bar, I mean, the library. It was a library for sure. Yeah, of course. And he's and I asked him if he was still running that fish plant. I knew he had a fish plant in Alaska. And he said, Yeah, it's an anchorage. And I said, Well, can I have a job? He said, Yeah, be there. June 12. Well, that was easy. I graduated June 11. So literally, the day after I got to college. I got on a Western Airlines jet, nonstop Portland Anchorage, with my bike and my backpack. And those are gonna be here for three months. And well, you know, three months came and went, and life was pretty good. I ended up getting a job at at the newspaper. At the time, it was the anchorage times. And I'm thinking, well, this is pretty good. I'm just gonna stay here. So it was 45 years ago.

Jennie Flaming: 4:20

That's amazing. Yeah.

Unknown: 4:23

There's a lot of stories like that. Yes, there

Jennie Flaming: 4:25

are Alaska. One of the reasons that I love asking this question is just people have such wonderful Alaska origin stories. It's so fun. Yeah. Okay, Scott. So, today we're talking about the tour saver, which is for folks who haven't heard of it, that's too bad. We're gonna fix that today. It is a coupon book or app that gives you lots and lots of deals on Alaska. And as you probably know, if you're listening to this podcast, Alaska is an expensive destination and the There aren't a lot of deals to be had. So I would love to know, Scott, how did you get this idea? How did the tour saver get started?

Unknown: 5:10

So I wish I could claim that as my own idea. This is my business partner, Gary Blakely. It's really it was his idea. In fact, he, you know, we've been friends for a long time. And he chased me around to try and get me to do it. A travel book for a couple of years. And I said, No, no, no, I'm too busy making money for other people. And for Finally, he cornered me in this restaurant. And I just I gave up, I said, okay, okay, I'll do it. And it was kind of based on the model of this, this telemarketing coupon book that he worked on with another partner of his. And you know, so he kind of had a format down for a coupon book. And, you know, my job, because I'm in the travel business, my job is to go find people who are looking or looking to put, you know, butts and seats and heads and beds. And, basically, you know, Jenny, that's, that's what I do all day long, anyway. Yeah. So it's just, it's just one more. One more thing to do. You know, while I'm talking to people about how to market their travel, enterprise, you know, whatever, whatever it is, whether it's, you know, little air carrier tour company, hotel Lodge. I mean, these are the people I talk to all day all night anyway. Yep. Which is why, of course, Gary was asked for me to do this,

Jennie Flaming: 6:56

right, because you knew people and you knew how to get people to get in the coupon book. And then he knew how to do the coupon book, as I understand it, yes. Oh, kinda much. Pretty cool. That that's perfect. That's such a fun story. And by the way, um, Scott and Gary are both wonderful humans. And I've gotten to do a little bit of work with them. And they're, it. They're, it's great to just be part of this, because it's such a cool thing. So Scott, can you share also just a few details? Like, how much does the tour saver costs? What I mean, we'll talk about more specifics in a minute, but like, what are the type of coupons that are in there? Like, who is it a good fit for? Sure.

Unknown: 7:41

So, um, the coupon book costs 9995. And there's, there's kind of two iterations of the of the work one is the paper booklet that we put in the mail and send to you. And the other one is an electronic smartphone app. Yep. And so with the app, you can choose whether you want to just, you know, just want the Inside Passage. You know, like if you're a cruise passenger. Yep. Or, if you want, what we call south central Alaska along the rail bill. Yeah. Between Anchorage and Fairbanks. And basically the rest of the state. Yeah. Or you can get the whole, the whole banana. Yep. The one in southeast Alaska is 4999. The one in south central Alaska is 6999. And then to get the whole status 9999 was actually four cents more to get the app than it is. I don't know why that is. And

Jennie Flaming: 8:54

doesn't matter. Like, is there a reason why someone should get the paper book over the app or the app over the book? Or does it just really not matter? Whatever they feel like doing is better? Well,

Unknown: 9:06

you know, people who like apps on their phone, really like apps on their phone? That's true. It's like the whole world. In my pocket. Yeah. And they just want to do that. Yeah, and then there's old people like me, who, you know, I mean, I grew up around books, you know, it's like, I want it in my hand. Yeah. And I can, you know, thumb through it the way I'm used to learning and things like that. And so it's got the little perforated edge here, rip the coupon out and

Jennie Flaming: 9:42

it's kind of a good feeling.

Unknown: 9:44

Really, personal preference. But more people like the the other thing, the one of the reasons that we develop the the smartphone app is because because we will not I'd ship the book outside the US.

Jennie Flaming: 10:03

Ah, yeah, that makes sense.

Unknown: 10:05

I mean, we used to do that we used to ship and Australia and Germany and Israel, New Zealand, Spain, Italy. A lot, a lot, a lot of them to Canada. And you know, about a third of it never never get there. Yeah, another number. We will be delayed took so long. And the shipping was really expensive. Sometimes the shipping was as much as the book. Yeah. And that makes sense. Yeah. So we just don't do that. Yeah, that makes sense.

Jennie Flaming: 10:41

One thing I've got to say that I like about the app is that you can't lose it. Or forget it. Right? Because if you remember to bring your phone with you, then you're going to have the app.

Unknown: 10:53

Oh, that's true. Now, that being said, I know this will come as a shock. I lost my phone before. Yeah, I have to. You know, so. But But, but people are really attached to their phones. Yeah. It's like their keys. Yeah,

Jennie Flaming: 11:12

totally. Or their

Unknown: 11:13

wallet. You know, or their purse? Yep. People are really attached to their phones. And so you're right. You know, people don't lose it very often. Yeah.

Jennie Flaming: 11:24

Okay, so how do companies like tour operators or hotels or whatever? How do they get into the tour? Sabir? Do you just let anybody in? Who wants to come in? Or how do you? How do you choose them? Or how do they choose? You?

Unknown: 11:45

Know, we do not let anybody in? I mean, this is Jenny as part of the secret sauce. Really? Yeah. The people in the tour saver if this is a curated group? Yep. And so I've been in the travel business in Alaska for 40 years. And, and so not all operators are created equal. Yeah. So I have a very different view of you know, who their customers are, and the services they provide, and kind of their business philosophy. And so, you know, and then there's room Alaska is a big state, there's room for all that stuff. Yeah. But my time on Earth is limited. So, so I only want to work with people I want to work with. Yeah, yep. And so they gotta have a little like minded philosophy in terms of, you know, retailing a little bit. And so we offer a discount on their product. So, so there's, there's some people who, well, I'm not gonna offer a discount. That's fine. No problem. Yeah.

Jennie Flaming: 13:03

Yep. You know,

Unknown: 13:05

and so there there is just one part. You know, it's one scheme in terms of people getting business, you know, yep. It's advertising is what it is. Yep. Yep. Yeah. So, so yeah, it's a curated group. There are people that I like, there are people that I have confidence, because because Jenny, like a lot of love these outfits, they offer really, really good deals. Like, yeah, 2% off.

Jennie Flaming: 13:39

Yeah. Or two for one. I mean, those are really amazing. Yeah, yeah.

Unknown: 13:43

So so. So I want to make sure that if they say they're going to give that deal to travelers, that they do it. Yeah. And if I don't think that, you know, if I don't think that they're going to do it, or if I think they're, they're telling me a story, you know? Well, you know, I'm just not going to they're not going to be in the book.

Jennie Flaming: 14:05

Yep. Yep. And most people,

Unknown: 14:10

I mean, most people, it's fine. And, yeah, there's still people I'm talking with about about being booked next year that you can get around to getting them in this year. So you know, yep. It. You know, there are people that come in and go out every year. Yeah.

Jennie Flaming: 14:31

Yep. So I know there are some people who've been in there a really long time, but then there are also different things that, you know, turnover, kind of a couple of years and you've got you've got it all. Yeah, yeah. Cool. Yeah. Okay, cool. Yeah. Yeah. And I will just say one thing I wanted to just mention is that I'll put this in the show notes. But on the tour saver website, you can see what all the deals are. So it's not like you have to guess is this going to be worth it for me, you can be like, I want to you can go in there and then figure it out pretty easily like, Okay, if I can do a couple two for one coupons, that's totally going to be worth it. Um, and similarly, if you want to build your whole trip around what's in the tourist saver, then you can do that, too. So you can you can know ahead of time, exactly what the deals are on the website. And I'll put that in the show notes. So you can see that yeah,

Unknown: 15:30

and the stuff we put on the website is pretty granular. We're trying to get get the information out there. For example, you know, one of our more popular offers is, is 20% off on Alaska Airlines. It's a real popular coupon. Yeah. And it's good on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and Thursdays. And excuse me, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Yep. So it's not good on Fridays or Sundays. So I put that on there. Yeah. Make sure that people know that.

Jennie Flaming: 16:10

Yeah. So if you really want to use the Alaska Airlines coupon, but you absolutely have to fly on Saturdays, you'll know before you buy it, that you can't use it on Friday or Saturday work. Yes. I got Friday. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's awesome. It's great how clear it is. I love that. Okay, we're, we're going to take a short break. And when we come back, we're going to talk a little bit more about Alaska deals with Scott. Hi, everybody, Jennie here, I wanted to break in and let you know that I have a brand new workshop in my online shop. It's a video course it's 30 minutes long, and it's all about finding hidden gems on your trip to Alaska. It's pretty awesome. It's all the things that I Well, not all but many of the things that I share with my clients that we talked about, and I wanted to make it something everybody could get a hold of. So if you go to the shop, it's the second link in the show notes just below the tip jar, you'll find the link that'll take you right to it, along with all of my planners for Alaska and my done for you itineraries. So check it out. And of course, you can also find down there the link to book one of my one on one planning sessions, if you want more advice about your specific situation. Thanks so much. Now back to the show. We are back with Scott McMorran from Alaska tour saver. And we're talking about the Alaska tour saver, which is a coupon book that can save you a ton of money on your trip to Alaska. So we've been talking about how people get in there and how the deals that you can see and the story of how it started all of that. So Scott, I would love to know about some of the specifics. So of course, people can go to the website and see all the offers. But you talked a little bit about Alaska Airlines. What are some of the other ones that are, like really popular with travelers and get used a lot? Sure,

Unknown: 18:26

um, one of the ones that is really popular is the Alaska railroad. We have I don't know, there's anchors to Seward, there's anchors to the finale, there's anchors to tell kina there is the trip to Kenya called the hurricane turn. All of these offers are two for one than the Alaska railroad. There is even one in the winter of the rural winter train. It goes all the way from Anchorage to Fairbanks.

Jennie Flaming: 19:00

It's so cool. That's such a trope.

Unknown: 19:03

So all these offers are two for one. And you know, you work with the Alaska railroad pretty much since day one.

Jennie Flaming: 19:12

Yeah, that's a tourist ever.

Unknown: 19:14

So they've been in all 25 years. That's so cool. You know, that's, that's a really popular one.

Jennie Flaming: 19:23

Are there any other coupons that have been in there every single year the entire time besides the railroad? Or is that the only one?

Unknown: 19:33

There probably are, but I can't think of him.

Jennie Flaming: 19:35

Okay. I was just curious. You

Unknown: 19:38

know, there's defenders 100 offers in the book.

Jennie Flaming: 19:41

I know. You don't know them all right off the top of your head. be kidding.

Unknown: 19:44

Well, I'm looking at a book right now. It's like come on, maybe I can think of some

Jennie Flaming: 19:49

that's okay. Or

Unknown: 19:51

some that we're in for a while on it out. And yeah,

Jennie Flaming: 19:54

and then they're back. Yeah, I know. That happens. Yeah. Yeah, sorry.

Unknown: 20:00

So what what are the other ones is really popular is out of Seward. You can take the tour boat with major marine out into Kenai Fjords National Park. And there's a there's a coupon that's good for $40 off per person up to four people. You know, so that's, that's really popular and really great. There's another one for flightseeing It's how Kena with Katie aviation. Um, that's good for $63 off per person. That's really, really good deal.

Jennie Flaming: 20:49

Yeah, by the way, for those of you listening three weeks ago, we had an episode episode about this tour about flightseeing Denali with Ketu. So if that is exciting to you, then go back and listen to that episode because it was a good one. Okay, go ahead, Scott. By

Unknown: 21:07

the way, you asked me if there was another coupon that's been there since day one. Uh huh. And there is it's up in Fairbanks it's the riverboat discovered. Awesome.

Jennie Flaming: 21:18

Oh, that's another great tour. Yeah, it's along

Unknown: 21:21

the Chino river there in downtown Fairbanks. And, and that's a two for one offer. So you buy when you get the second one free. Awesome. And then there's also the goldridge there Sema, same outfit. Yep. Um, so those are two for one offers. Those are excellent. Yeah. And another two for one this year in Anchorage, is anchorage trolley tours. And it's a really fun fun tours of buses made up to look like a trolley. And they take you on a one hour trip around you Around Anchorage. Gonna show you the highlights. It's really popular.

Jennie Flaming: 22:06

Yeah. And it's a great overview of Anchorage. Yeah.

Unknown: 22:11

Which is cool. Yeah. And then then there's some really, really, really oddball offers. I mean, we have a two for one offer. It's St. Paul Island, which is in the middle of the Bering Sea. is a three day two night naturalist tour. People go out there and see the birds and the first seals and all the other wildlife that it's out there. It's an amazing tour. It's two for one. That's so cool. Yeah. So I know, Scott, I

Jennie Flaming: 22:46

know you went out to St. Paul Island because I remember you telling me about it. Like how so starting from Anchorage. How long did it take you to get out there?

Unknown: 22:59

Um, couple hours. Okay. Yeah. We flew in a sub 340 miles an hour. And it's about 750. So I took that bet the airspeed is about 250. Okay, so that's about 750 miles. Okay, I guess that's about three hours. Three hours. It didn't take us.

Jennie Flaming: 23:28

Okay, well, I think maybe you had a tailwind or something? Could be

Unknown: 23:31

I think they actually fly faster anyway. Now that they fly out there in a dash eight, so it's a little slower and sometimes if they get a headwind that's it you're stopping King Salman and get some gas.

Jennie Flaming: 23:50

Oh, that's so cool. I mean, that is a great for someone who really wants to get off the beaten track. That would be a great. Oh, yes. You are to take an A to Yeah, take advantage of

Unknown: 24:04

Yeah. And you know, people really are fascinated by the bears. Jimmy. Yeah. They really like to see the bears and so we have a we have a coupon in there with Alaska bear trips there. They have a hanger out there on on Lake hood, right next to the Aviation Museum. And they have I think, probably the most souped up Cessna 208 on floats. Oh, that I've ever seen. Is a very, very fancy airplane. And so they will tell you if you get on board there and fly directly to Brooks Falls. Yep. That takes about three hours. So our coupons, you buy one at the regular price. And you get the second one half off.

Jennie Flaming: 24:56

And it's pretty awesome because bear viewing bear Fly in bear viewing as it's really expensive. It's like$1,000 usually. Yeah, yeah, actually, yeah. Or more even.

Unknown: 25:09

Yeah, right now, right now. So I talked with Isaac Stern. He's the guy who wrote Alaska pair trips. Uh huh. And it's $1,280 per person. Okay. So the second one, the second person lives for $640. Yeah,

Jennie Flaming: 25:30

that's amazing. I mean, that's obviously still a lot of money. But I mean, it's a huge, it's a screaming deal for for bigger trips to work. Brook falls. That's awesome. Yeah. And that one is fairly new, isn't it? Scott, that coupon is new in the last couple

Unknown: 25:46

years? Yeah, that's a new coupon. We're pretty proud of it.

Jennie Flaming: 25:50

Yeah. Love it. Okay. Are there any other specific offers that you want? Again, you know, we're not going to talk through all of them, because there's like 100 in there. But are there any others that you want to call out? Specifically that are that are particularly popular, or? Well,

Unknown: 26:10

I'm a big fan of rango say last national

Jennie Flaming: 26:14

park? Yeah. Yep. It's

Unknown: 26:17

our country's largest national park. And so, by the way, I think this is another coupon. It's been in since day one. Kennicott glacier lunch.

Jennie Flaming: 26:31

Cool. And

Unknown: 26:34

so basically, the, the offer $100 off for your tonight stay. And, and that's good. The logic is great. It's well situated in the historic Kennecott district there about five miles upstream from McCarthy. Um, but then we're always trying to get some extra things to do when you're back there. So. So we have a discount on rankled on their on their flight scene. I think it's $50 off per person. And it goes see go deep in the park and really check it out. That's a really fun trip.

Jennie Flaming: 27:18

Yeah. And

Unknown: 27:20

then and then the Nick over McCarthy river guys are MacArthur river tours, excuse me, offers $95 off a private glacier hike. Because you can actually walk from the lodge out to the route glacier and get out there up on the ice. Yeah, those are things that we love to do every time we go.

Jennie Flaming: 27:46

Yeah. Yes. Yeah. You know, those. A Scott Wrangell St. Elias National Park is one of my favorite kind of hidden gems in Alaska, because even though it's a national park, you know, it's like, so much less visited than some of the others. And it's just such a cool experience. I know. Both you and I have talked about how great of a place that is, and and all Alaskans who've been there love it. I mean, like, there's nobody who says, Oh, that was an amazing. Yeah, even people who live in Alaska. Yeah,

Unknown: 28:23

it's a you know, it's just a little dip more difficult to get to.

Jennie Flaming: 28:28

Yes, yes. It's a five hour

Unknown: 28:31

drive from Anchorage to Chyna, which is on the shores of the Copper River there. And usually we get a ring around there to fly us last 60 miles. Yeah. Across the the Edgard to the highway. It was 35 mile an hour winds. Yes. But we've driven it several times. Yeah, you can drive the state maintains it. Then make it back here to the town of McCarthy. And you park on one side of the river and you walk across the bridge into another world? Yeah.

Jennie Flaming: 29:08

Yeah, it's incredible. Yeah,

Unknown: 29:10

yeah. Okay. It's really it's really cool. Yeah. So

Jennie Flaming: 29:14

while we're kind of on that subject of super cool places that you can get to, I would love to know, Scott, if I know that this is going to be a long list, but um, I'm wondering if you could share a favorite memory that you have of like a tour or an experience that is in the tour sabre. And I can share one to you. I've been to a lot of them also. Okay. So

Unknown: 29:43

first of all, with the riverboat discovery in Fairbanks. I really shied away from that for a long time, because I thought it was just a tourist. Yeah. But finally, I took the and at this point, the kids were little so maybe Maybe four and six. Okay, finally took the train all the way to Fairbanks had a great time. Alaska gorgeous Korean and went on the boat and it was fabulous. We had a great time we cruised by Susan butcher's candle. Yeah. Guy take off and land under the Bush plan. We got a long way to go see the Athabaskan village. I mean, it was so cool. We had a great time. Yep. So one time, not the time that we were there. But another time. The guy who the guy who owns the, you know, wants to place John pink. He was used by a bush playing you for Bush playing demo. And we took the plane over on landing the nose and flopped over you know, on the head had the wrong side

Jennie Flaming: 31:12

up. Yeah. In front of me

Unknown: 31:16

to to the kids and like Wade Binkley his son. Yeah. And one of his daughters job off story of the boat and swam to shore. And by this time John had been out you dust it off a little bit and you look around your room and your cell phones. Yeah. Oh, that's so funny. He was mad at him for ruining their cell phones.

Jennie Flaming: 31:46

Yeah, by the way. It for those listening. Way back at the beginning of the podcast, I believe it was episode seven. So like March last March a year ago. We also had an episode with Wade who Scott was just talking about with Wade Binkley. And we talked all about the river boat but also about like, what it was like to grow up on the river and like, all kinds of cool stuff. So go back and listen to that one too. Okay, go ahead, Scott.

Unknown: 32:16

These guys are total river rats. You know, more than I think this there. They got five generations. Yeah. So as John's dad Jenna was the guy he brought. He did his first riverboat sternwheeler operation and wrangle up the Sikkim River. Yep. And we finally made it up to Yukon to to to to Fairbanks. And then now John. And John is there and his kids weighed and Ryan. And I think that some of the grandkids are in honor too. But they're total river rats. I mean, yeah, I get right on. I thought he said, You know, I can only talk for a few minutes because I'm doing this during the speedboat race down, but down to Canada. And it's like to get this river but that's like the 10 or 200 years. Yeah. And it's like they're taller river rats. But that's that's life in the

Jennie Flaming: 33:23

interior. It is. Yep.

Unknown: 33:25

What do you do? I'm living in Alaska if you don't have a boat.

Jennie Flaming: 33:28

Yeah. Right. Yeah. Especially in Yeah. Yeah.

Unknown: 33:36

He's Interesting, interesting guy. And now I've gotten to know the kids too, right and way particularly. And so the other the other thing that we did when we were visiting when we did that touristy thing called the river with discovery, yes, we also went to the Goldbridge head. Jenny had a great time.

Jennie Flaming: 34:05

It's gold panning is so fun.

Unknown: 34:08

We all got gold fever. Yeah. Christy and particularly particular got I mean, she got a nugget and then when God was like, good size little nugget. Yeah. Yep. Anyway, yeah, fun stuff.

Jennie Flaming: 34:30

You know, I gotta say, Scott, both the gold dredge and the riverboat discovery are places that I've been to you. Like, I'm not sure how many times but a lot with guests. And everybody. Everybody has a great time on both of those tours. Like even sometimes people are like, I'm not sure about this, you know, I don't know. And I'm like, no, just just go for it. You're gonna have a great time and then yes, do so fun.

Unknown: 34:57

Yeah, it's

Jennie Flaming: 34:58

a lot of fun. Yeah. Well, is there anything else Scott about the tour saver that we haven't talked about yet that we should before I asked you the last wrap up question.

Unknown: 35:11

Well, I mean, the thing that we, again, this is a curated list that's on tour. It's crazy. Yeah. Out there in the middle of the Bering Sea. Yep. That Alaska bear trips takes you into the heart of Katmai National Park. Crazy.

Jennie Flaming: 35:27

Yeah.

Unknown: 35:29

You know,

Jennie Flaming: 35:31

it's super cool experience

Unknown: 35:32

discounts on halibut fishing and flooding down the river fishing for salmon on the Kenai River. And I mean, I feel bad, Jenny, because a lot of times I just can't see the forest from the trees. I mean, I'm immersed in this stuff. Yeah. Do we have fishing? Yeah. Do we have? Do we have flightseeing? Yes. Do we have cruises? Yes. All the cool things you want to do? Yeah, that's all in the book. Yeah.

Jennie Flaming: 36:07

Yep. Totally. And I just want to go back, like, because you mentioned this, and I think I mentioned it in the intro. But you have been working in Alaska travel for 40. That's for zero years. So when we're talking about curated, we're talking about some I mean, there's nobody who knows more about Alaska travel than Scott and that's just one of the reasons why it's so fun to like, talk to you about this stuff and and partner with you on things because you just

Unknown: 36:41

I mean, in fairness, okay. There are people who I can name the film, you know, two hands here know, a lot more travel than me. One of the areas that I really drilled down on is is how to help people find a good deal to get here. Yeah, yep. And so that's a little different. That's that's that's my wheelhouse. Yeah, yep. You know, it's fine a good deal on an air ticket or cruise deal or something like that. To get up here because for a lot of people for a lot of people that's just a deal breaker. Yeah, they go online and or go to Expedia or something like that. It's like 1200 bucks will forget when you go to Europe for them

Jennie Flaming: 37:33

Yeah. Yeah. Yep.

Unknown: 37:37

So so that's what I that's what I do. That's a little different supplements the stuff that I do in Alaska. Yeah. And the other stuff I like Dumanis is stuff that's where you're talking about as well. Yeah. So I mentioned to you tomorrow we're going to Fairbanks and up to Coldfoot

Jennie Flaming: 38:00

I think that was before we started the recording. Um, yeah. So before I asked you the wrap up question about Anchorage. I would love to hear you say what you're doing because I think people might be interested in that. So you're going up but and how

Unknown: 38:17

is the International Ice karting championship up there in Fairbanks goes on every year? And so and so people used to bug me 25 years ago? Oh, you need to go up and check in I said Yeah, right. Go to Fairbanks in the winter. Yeah, Brian. Oh,

Jennie Flaming: 38:34

it's so awesome.

Unknown: 38:36

Well, I finally did No, I can't get it up. Yeah, yeah. It a lot of love that credit goes to Bernie Karl runs Chino hot springs. Because he's done a great job. He has an ice ice Museum. Hotel, but he can't can't call Hotel. Yes, guys museum out there with a life size jousters you know, made of ice. They've got an ice bar.

Jennie Flaming: 39:04

You can have teeny, teeny Yeah, that ice glass. It's so fun.

Unknown: 39:12

Yeah, you can eat now. Because they filter the water. Fine. Yes. You know, if you want to eat the glass, you can eat the glass. Yes, but But anyway, so we're gonna put the ice cream to go see the ice carving championships and then the following day. We're flying from their north to koldfront which is half basically halfway between Fairbanks and the North Slope. Yep. Is where the Northern Lights were born. So the guy Brett and Matt, the people who run out there. Yep. They say it's under the Oba of the Northern Lights, which I'm not exactly sure it sounds like a like an unfertilized egg to me or something. But anyway Oh, that's where that's where the Northern Lights are born. So since it's clear, you're gonna see the lights. So they got all programmed they take you from Coldfoot up to Wiseman about 14 miles away and the sky this their chat re coffees, kind of I think he's like the mayor, the mayor of Wiseman, because I mean, his family makes up the majority of the town. And, you know, we're just gonna be staying up late. And watching the Northern Lights. That's gonna be so awesome.

Jennie Flaming: 40:34

You know,

Unknown: 40:34

then the next day we're gonna come

Jennie Flaming: 40:37

on. And by the way, we had an episode about well, not about Wiseman, but with Molly from Arctic hive, which is in Wiseman, and that was back in October. So you should check that one out to you, Scott, you're giving me a chance to like talk about a ton of cool previous episodes. It's kind of fun. Not something we play. Because

Unknown: 41:00

you're out there doing the work. Yeah.

Jennie Flaming: 41:04

Cool. Well, I can't wait to hear about your trip and about your adventures looking for the Aurora when it's 30 below. Yeah, that'd be fun. Looking

Unknown: 41:15

forward to it. Yeah. Thankfully, there gonna be a roaring fire going in the, in the cabin, where you can hang out there and drink hot chocolate or tea and trying to stay awake until the alarm goes off.

Jennie Flaming: 41:30

Yes, exactly. Um, by the way, I'll also put this in the show notes. But Scott also has a website called Alaska travel gram. And that's also the name of his email newsletter. And Alaska. Travel gram is a great place to like hear more stories like this because Scott always rates you know, you always have these great trip reports about all of your trips that you publish there. And then sometimes other people like I've done that a few times written reports and serve other people. So there's a lot of data for the Dempster highway. I did it for the Dempster highway and I did it for my my campaign with bears adventure and Oh, man. Oh boy. Is is good, but it was like it was a lot. Camping was wet to it. It was really wet and lots of bears. Wet bears. That was like I could do this for three days. I got a bear. Oh, man. All right. So Scott, before I let you go, you live in Anchorage? You've lived in Anchorage for 45 years. What is a place in Anchorage that like people visitors wouldn't normally know about that you think or maybe they would but like a place that you think as a local longterm, Anchorage eight is a really awesome place to go in Anchorage.

Unknown: 43:02

Well, you know, I mean, whether it's in the winter, I like to go skiing. With my new knees. I'm learning how to ski again. Yes. Summer in the summer and on the black. So I spent a lot of time on I think that one of the one of the gems of Anchorage is is trail network. Yeah. To me, the one you may read about and travel blogs and trip reports is the Tony Knowles coastal coastal Trail, which goes from the airport to downtown. It actually goes keeps going beyond the airport to Kincaid Park. And that is I mean, that's a wonderful park. For hiking for views for just just you know, I mean, you'll probably see more than one Louis.

Jennie Flaming: 43:56

Yes. Yes. Um,

Unknown: 44:00

but I love our trail system. And then and then that's, that's on the coast. up in the hills around the hilltops here. Yeah. Yeah. Further north, much Centennial Park. And there's just a bunch of trails there for biking for hiking. And, and it's just, it's just fabulous. Yeah, even further up the hill, is what we call flat top mountain. You know, that you can start there and hike over there over the past to Indian on the other side of the mountain beige. And, you know, people see it from down here on the flats was there. Well, what's up there? Well, that sets up their trails. Yeah, so the trails are, I think, an incredible resource for those of us here in Anchorage Yeah. And and it's funny because During the ghost years of COVID the benefits of having a good outdoor infrastructure, like trails, leave trails, maintain trails really paid off. Yep. For some of the mental health, no kidding. of people who live here, because we're able to get out there and use them. Yeah. For sure. So that's so that's, that's my that's my take.

Jennie Flaming: 45:28

And that's Yeah. Right. Yeah. It's great. Yeah. And if you're, if you're visiting Anchorage, and you're like, oh, biking sounds cool, but like, I'm not gonna bring my bike to Alaska. You can totally rent bikes downtown. I mean, I know Pablos is one place you can rent bikes and E bikes. I'm sure there's others, but that's where I've rented them from.

Unknown: 45:51

Yeah, you can you know, I mean, I live in Midtown, which is you can get them downtown. Yeah. Right by the copper whale anything? Yes. Yep. Um, and so you can do that or in Midtown. Rei is right here. And also my local bike, bike shop track bike shop. They also rent bikes and the bicycle shop. Rents bikes, and they rent good bikes. Nice. That's how I ended up buying the bike. It was way too expensive. The round really nice bike. Yeah, it's like, oh, this bike was I like to say my bike is three things that I'm not fast, light and agile.

Jennie Flaming: 46:39

That's awesome. I love it. I spend a lot of time on insurance. I know you do a lot. So cool. Thanks for sharing that. Well, Scott, thank you so much for being here. And I'm talking about anchorage talking about Alaska, talking about the tour saver. Thank you for creating the tour saver or being dragged into the tour saver, because it's such a great resource for visitors. So thank you so much for being here.

Unknown: 47:06

Well, you know, it's great. Great to share the gospel a tour shaver.

Jennie Flaming: 47:11

Yes.

Unknown: 47:12

The good news.

Jennie Flaming: 47:13

Yes, That's

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