Help - I need a route!

Hi

Apologies but I have also posted this on the America branch as its applicable there to!

HELP! I'm stuck!

I am a teacher in London, England and one of the few advantages of this is that we get 6 weeks 'summer' hoidays from July 20th to August 31st. In the past I have tried to scoot around Australia in 6 weeks and NZ in 6 weeks and this year I want to do and see the following:

(please bear in mind this is the route i have in my head my not sure if it makes sense and ANY suggestions would be great! - I know time is against me but it isn't flexible! and I want to see as much as I can and will end up flying between destinations!). Also my brother lives near Regina, Saskatchewan and want to finish the holiday there and fly out of Calgary or Regina!

OPTION A or OPTION B
Leave LONDON Leave LONDON
into Seattle into Anchorage
onto Anchorage into Seattle
Into Vancouver Into Vancouver
Into the Rockies (Jasper/Lake Louise/Banff) Into the Rockies (Jasper/Lake Louise/Banff)
Onto Calgary Onto Calgary
Onto my brothers!! Onto my brothers!!

Are either of these realistic?

Bearing in mind the relatively short amount of time i have is it worth trying to get into Alaska? What will I be able to see and do around Anchorage- will I get a sense of it?

I appreciate that this is a rambling post but I need a strating point!!!

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for ANY advice!

Jeff

It would help if you could outline where you want to go in AK and/or what activities you're going there for, ie if you want to stand on a glacier you don't need to go to Alaska but if you want to stand on Mt. McKinley specifically then it's a mandatory part of the trip.

General idea: fly into Vancouver or Seattle, up the coast (via ferries - one ferry from Seattle and skip Vancouver, or go up Vancouver Island and then ferry to Prince Rupert where you'd catch the connection to Alaska), from Alaska back to Prince Rupert in BC, from there take the train to the Rockies, and into Calgary.

Alaska ferriesv
Prince Rupert
BC Ferries
Via Rail

Alternative option (less stress in terms of constant forward motion), fly into Alaska, make your way down to Prince Rupert, then train over to Rockies and Calgary, and skip Vancouver/Seattle. More time for side trip to Regina.

Dude, you can see a lot in six weeks! Your intinerary is totally feasible.

As for going to Anchorage, you'll have to rent a car to make the trip worthwhile. Are you going with someone else? Because taking a cruise from either Seattle or Vancouver to Anchorage would be a good way to check out the coastline.

Here is another idea: It would be really enjoyable and worthwhile to actually drive instead of flying. You'll see way more of the countryside and quaint little towns etc. One itinerary you might consider is flying into Calgary, and renting a car. You could drive down to Montana, and make your way east past the Rockies and the desert (you could also consider heading south to Las Vegas if you are curious) until you reach Seattle. From there you could take a ferry to Vancouver Island and explore Victoria and Tofino/Long Beach. You could then ferry to Vancouver, exploring for a few days then driving off to the Okanagan, which is the site of Canada's only desert and an up-and-coming wine growing district. You could also explore the Kootenays on your way to the Canadian Rockies and onward to Calgary, where you drop your car back off and fly to Regina and your brother. This also avoids the horrendous fees they often charge for dropping a rental car off in a different city than where you rented it.

In all honesty the above itinerary could be realistically done in less than a month. You have lots of time.

Tons of good sites in and around Anchorage without a car many tours in and about the area - if you want to fly direct to Anchorage from Europe check out Condor Air - a german airline. They fly direct from Frankfurt to Anchorage. Then you can take Alaska air down to Seattle and a ferry over to Vancouver. Fly to Calgary, where you can access Banff and Jasper what not. A good loop from there is to rent a car in Calgary drive to Banff up to Jasper and over to Edmonton (or zip down the highway back to Calgary about 3 hour drive) then you can fly down to Regina.

As for timing - 6 weeks is a good amount of time, but I'm of mindset that you're going to want to spend some time in each place, not just drive through. You could probably easily fill a week in about Anchorage if you want (although I'm partial to Whitehorse, since it's where I live, the same flight that brings to Anchorage hits Whitehorse as well) then you can spend a week and half between Seattle and Vancouver a week and half in Calgary and the mountains (or two weeks if you really want to do some hiking and camping) and then spend 2 weeks visiting your brother. If you don't want that long in Regina (as there really isn't much to see there) then you can add a couple stops along the way. Like Vancouver Island, or the Okanagan Valley or you can fly to one of the major cities on your way back to London, like Toronto or Montreal they both have direct flights to London.

I live in Anchorage and I'm partial to Whitehorse as well! Condor is definitely the most direct means for accessing AK and the Yukon from Europe. I took a road trip last summer down through the Banff and Jasper and into nortwestern Montana. It's fantastic country with lots to see and do. Two unexpected gems from that trip were the Royal Tyrell Museum of Paleontology in Drumheller, Alberta and the Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump site in southern Alberta.