Fairbanks

We had other activities planned while we were there. We planned to go skiing and go dog sledding. Who knew it was going to be a record 10 year low in Alaska? Probably anyone who pays attention, which clearly wasn’t me! We were in Alaska when the temps were -38 to -42 (that’s without factoring in windchill). Skiing and dog sledding closed, so we pivoted. Tip: Do not get so hung up on having to do something on your vacation. You need to be flexible. We ended up a lot of time on our hands. We found the Antique Auto Museum (Andy LOVED this) and the Alaska Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center. We ate some great ethnic food and we travelled to North Pole, Alaska. We were also able to go to Chena Hot Springs and the ice museum which we had planned prior to travel. Chena Hot Springs reminded me a lot of the Blue Lagoon in Iceland on a much smaller scale. They had towels for rent for $5 and lockers that you had to have exact change for as they supposedly would not give change. I did not test this and had the 2 quarters for each of us ready to go.

Remember that tip about staying flexible? The the record lows in Alaska? I didn’t really think about either of those until it was time to leave. We had flown Delta and had no trouble getting there. On the way home, they could not get the internal temp of the plane warm enough for us to board. They told us it was mechanical and put us in a hotel for up to 2 nights. They told us that our meals and transportation would be reimbursed. I know better than to leave the airport when they say something like this, but it was 3 am and tired. They got me. They proceeded to cancel every out bound flight due to weather. Tip: Set a number in your head and discuss with travel companions if emergency situation arises. As we were there longer, we realized we were not getting home with Delta until past when we needed to be back to work. Andy and I discussed it and it was more important to get back to work then to wait out the weather. Tip: Airline status does get you a separate number. Andy was on the generic help line and I was on the gold status help line. I was able to get more help than he was, though ultimately, they still could not get us home. We eventually booked with Alaskan Airlines (on our own, Delta couldn’t manage this) and got home. Tip: You can ask an airline to book you on a competitors flight if they cancel yours. In this case, after a little Internet searching it turns out that Delta and Alaskan Airlines do not get along and this is probably why Alaskan would not approve the ticket. The problem with Delta was that they do not fly planes rated for weather that cold to Fairbanks. They ended up leaving a lot of people stranded in Fairbanks. And when we got home they claimed it was weather related and would not reimburse us anything. What? Shame on you Delta! New to me tip: If you are flying somewhere with extreme temperatures, it matters what plane is taking you/bringing you back from said destination. Tip I had forgotten on this trip: Get the travel insurance! That would have been SO MUCH cheaper than the last minute plane ticket prices we paid to leave.