We hope to travel to Alaska this summer, three couples. Are we too late to avail of the Alaskan Marine Highway ferry? We’d love to visit this way as opposed to an organised, huge cruise ship. Is it true we would need to book places six months in advance? We plan to fly to Seattle/Vancouver and hopefully move on from there either directly or via Vancouver Island/Prince Rupert Island.
– GMS, Louth
The 3,500-mile Alaska Marine Highway keeps the remote communities of the state connected and is a perfect way to explore Alaska. The ferries are working boats, and you are likely to meet local people too. The route is divided into three sections: south-east, south-centre and south-west. During the summer there is a route across the Gulf of Alaska twice a month.
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The closest access point from Seattle/Vancouver would be Bellingham or Prince Rupert Island for the south-east section, which includes the Inside Passage. You can take a car, sleep on board or hop on and hop off and stay in port.
For example, the sailing time from Prince Rupert to Juneau is about 30 hours. The cost with cabin would be about €250 each. If taking a vehicle, the cost per car is around $400 extra, subject to the size of the car, see: dot.state.ak.us.
Summer is a busy time, and cabins and car spaces can get booked up, but so far there is still availability on most routes. It could be possible to do the journey without a car, taking the train from Seattle to Bellingham to begin. There is usually space for walk-ons, if you are just going from port to port and not overnight, though you can sleep on deckchairs.
If you went as far north as Whittier you could take the train to Anchorage and Fairbanks and fly back. See
[ Amtrak.com ]
.
[ travelalaska.com ]
My wife and I are planning a trip to New Zealand and hope to spend two weeks there. We would like to include a stopover in China on the outward leg of our trip. In China we would like to visit an area of the Great Wall that may not be too crowded with tourists, and also Beijing and Shanghai. We would also like, if possible, to spend a couple of days in Tasmania on the way to or from New Zealand. Would it be possible to book all flights with a single airline? Which airline would you recommend for best service and legroom? Where in your opinion would be a good place for a stopover on the way home for a few days? Can a trip like this be done on a budget and would you hazard a guess at an approximate cost?
– CAMG, Wexford
That is quite a trip and one that will take a lot of planning. There is no one airline that flies to all those destinations but there are alliances of airlines that between them would. The two major partnerships that would cover all your destinations would be
[ staralliance.com ]
and
[ oneworld.com ]
.
It would be difficult to estimate a price but I would expect the fares to be in the region of ¤3,000, and you should allow about ¤120 per day each for accommodation and meals. The Mutianyu area of the Great Wall is less crowded and touristy, and you can book tours locally or with viator.com. Consider a stopover in south east Asia on the return. Your best option for this extensive journey is to book through a travel agent and maybe with a specialist agency such as trailfinders.ie or clubtravel.ie.