Looking to Move to Alaska? Just DON'T

[1stimestar]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

You seem to be ignoring my posts...

Alaska is better designed for locals than tourists. Alaska doesn't have many beautiful quaint towns to stroll down and look at unique local owner-operated shops. If you want to rent a car it will cost you an arm and a leg. You can easily pay over $200 for a Best Western. You can easily pay $25 for a frozen fillet of fish.

However, as a local, you can buy a fishing license that lasts a year and catch your own fish and have a nice bbq at home. As a tourist, you can spend an arm and a leg to hire a boat captain to drive you around to catch a fish that you can then freeze to take home with you.

As someone who has traveled A LOT, Alaska is a RIP-OFF for tourists unless you are a very adventurous person that wants to climb Denali or go off the grid for awhile. It isn't about bargain hunters, even in Orlando the average family spends thousands because of various theme parks etc. However, there isn't much difference in the quality of the experience for a local or tourist in say a city like Orlando. Where as there is a massive difference not just in money, but quality in Alaska between a local and a tourist.

However, you probably think going to California is a scary cultural experience that you will try to attempt once in your life LOL. Geez, you are proving my point and I mentioned before Alaskans in general are quite friendly, but my one con I would say is I came across people like you who are just so ignorant about the world. Heck, not even the world, but even within our own country! lol

Hahahhaa you really should just stop now. In a while, other topics will come up and this one will be forgotten.

[Haolejohn]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

Insert any city, you are stuck on Florida... even though it offers more for tourists and is quite diverse in its offerings, but you obvsiously are one of the not-so-traveled people I'm talking about lol.

Let's say... Hong Kong or Barcelona or Singapore or Paris

Oh right, it doesn't matter because $150 will get you a dumpy hotel in Alaska, that means Alaska is better for tourists.

You want to continue proving my only complaint about some of the people in Alaska being ignorant about the world true?

People don't come to Alaska for the infrastructure. They come for the lack of it. You know...the last frontier.

[Frostnip]

Comparing travel in Alaska to travel in Barcelona or Singapore is frankly goofy. It's apples and oranges - you go to Paris for very different things than you travel to Alaska for. Somehow placing most anywhere in Florida in line with destinations like Paris is even less sensible - it's apples and horse apples. If I'm going to deal with the myriad irritations of human civilization I at least want to visit the Louvre (or whatever) and Florida isn't exactly a cultural mecca.

Tourists who are inquisitive, independent, outdoorsy and have a sense of the numinous likely to get the most of a visit to Alaska, and it's generally possible for them to entertain and house themselves pretty affordably as well if they want, perhaps with the occasional splurge for inherently spendy treats like flightseeing or whale watching. Tourists who want an all-inclusive travel experience that's basically riding the trolley around Disney's Animal Kingdom all day and spending every night on a feather bed can expect to have a rather less satisfying experience - or a very, very expensive one - and should probably rethink their travel plans. Here is just one example of how your assertions don't stand up:

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

However, as a local, you can buy a fishing license that lasts a year and catch your own fish and have a nice bbq at home. As a tourist, you can spend an arm and a leg to hire a boat captain to drive you around to catch a fish that you can then freeze to take home with you.

A tourist can stop by a Fish and Game office and borrow fishing stuff (rods, tackle boxes, etc.) for free. They can get a short-term out-of-state license for a few days or a week at a very modest price. They can camp at a state park by dropping a few bucks in the campground dropbox and grill out. If fishing is a visitor's "thing" they'll have little trouble fishing here independently and cheaply. Now, if they don't know what they're doing and need to be managed and instructed, yes, they're going to pay out the nose for a guide. But that's paying for the expertise and the customer service, and it's not the difference between being a local and being a tourist - it's the difference between being an angler and not being an angler.

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by Frostnip

... Somehow placing most anywhere in Florida in line with destinations like Paris is even less sensible - it's apples and horse apples...

Great! Frostnip is quite the writer...

[Metlakatla]

The ocean fishing packages here are expensive; maybe that's what bmw is crying about, idk. Or care. The guys that come here for ocean fishing aren't looking for budget vacations and don't give much of a damn about the price of beer and pizza. But yeah; Frostnip nailed it. There are plenty of ways to enjoy Alaska other than sitting in the Moose's Tooth and paying a great big $150 a night for a hotel.

[AlaskaErik]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

The ocean fishing packages here are expensive; maybe that's what bmw is crying about, idk. Or care. The guys that come here for ocean fishing aren't looking for budget vacations and don't give much of a damn about the price of beer and pizza. But yeah; Frostnip nailed it. There are plenty of ways to enjoy Alaska other than sitting in the Moose's Tooth and paying a great big $150 a night for a hotel.

Good luck on that $150 a night hotel. That gets you into a dump during the summer.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by AlaskaErik

Good luck on that $150 a night hotel. That gets you into a dump during the summer.

That wasn't my figure; just going off something another poster was whining about and was meant sarcastically.