Travel Logistics

I am preparing to fly to Ohio next month to visit my mother. I have purchased my plane ticket from Anchorage to Columbus. It cost me $630, which is about average for a round-trip coach class ticket to the Lower 48 from here.

During the course of my travel, I will change planes in Seattle and Chicago both coming and going. According to my itinerary, I’ll be in the air for just over 8 hours on my way east and just over 9 hours returning to Alaska. Working with or against prevailing winds surely plays a role in that time difference.

In addition to the air time, I’ll be wandering randomly around airport terminals for nearly 5 hours on the way east, but only about 2 hours on my way back to Alaska. So my total travel time for the eastbound trip will be just under 13 hours and westbound just over 11 hours.

It is for this reason, along with the expense, that we make few, if any, spur-of-the-moment trips to visit family and friends in the Lower 48. With our annual travel budget being what it is (i.e., slim), we are obligated to choose between visiting family and going someplace vacation-like. We don’t have the ability to do both, unless family either lives near a good vacation spot or is willing to meet us at one. The fact that none of our family lives in Hawaii is a source of distress for all of us.

Lucky for us, WE live in a wonderful vacation spot ourselves. We consider ourselves very lucky to be able to do a weekend getaway in Alaska. There are few who have this luxury. We don’t take advantage of the opportunity as often as we’d like. But this weekend we are headed to Denali National Park for a couple days of wildlife viewing and scenic splendor. Time to charge up the camera battery!