Travel, be it by air, boat or foot, in luxury or poverty, all begins the same way. Someone says that they want to go somewhere, and the following days and months are spent researching and planning.

Travel is like a choose your own adventure book. If you wish to see the great serpent of Tsang Tou, turn to page 5 in your Lonely Planet guide where it will tell you the logistics. How do you wish to travel? If you wish to hire a tour, turn to page twenty that lists tours. If not, turn to page 16 where independent options exist.

Travel can be so easy. The most difficult part of travel honestly is deciding where to go and how to do it.

In May, Weifarer and I know we are going to be jumping on a ship in Vancouver harbor and sailing to Alaska where we will switch to a train, riding it to Fairbanks. That is what we know for sure. The mystery comes from what will we do on the ship, and even more fun, what we will do before and after?

We are currently in the process of planning and have our hearts set on potentially catching a Train out of Boston and riding Amtrak to Chicago, then another train all the way to Washington State, followed by a bus ride up to Vancouver Washington. Now, typing this, I wonder if we could catch a seaplane out of Seattle instead?

So to our trip, we have added basically another vacation for about the same cost as a cramped plane ticket. Now what? Perhaps we will leave a few days early and spend 2-3 days in beautiful British Columbia’s Vancouver during the spring when all the flowers will be in bloom. Sounds like a city stay to me! While the cost does add up a bit more, the leisure we will enjoy will pay dividends compared to those showing up to simply get on the ship.

I’m not going to lie. The ship is not some cool liner, it’s a big cruise ship with all the environmental damage, pollution, and death by tourism one could expect on any cruise ship. That does not mean we will not take advantage of the ride to see something interesting. The key to cruising is to find out what the cruise companies don’t want you to know, and to take advantage of the activities and excursions that the cruises do not get kickbacks from. Those non-cruise sanctioned shore activities offer a less crowded, and often cheaper experience, that we have found much more fun. To do these things, you need to be quick footed and savvy, having done much of the research beforehand. We suspect our spring cruise will be filled with a lot of tired days, showing up covered in mud and often bloody as was the case with our last cruise… much to the dismay of our parent’s snooty travel partners.

Fast forward to the end of the cruise this spring. As it stands right now, we are planning on flying home. But there is a possibility we will stick around for a few days and rent motorcycles to explore Alaska a bit while taking in the back roads, possibly even making our way to the Tolovana hot springs! The options are limitless, we just need to find them.

Life is too short to get stuck on planning details. Many see a trip and want a clear cut beginning and end. To us, however, the travel to the destination is a trip all it’s own. If we ignore the fun of transit, we miss out on opportunities of possible adventure. 🙂