In the spirit of journeying during periods less traveled, I’ve embarked to Alaska this winter. Follow the adventures here, and prepare to have your preconceived notions destroyed along the way.
Talking travel and having a laugh with Bert the Conqueror
So it ain’t so! During our time here at Alaska’s 76th running of Fur Rondy, we happened upon a true travel legend: Bert Kreischer. You may know him better as the comedic genius and star of The Travel Channel’s ‘Bert the Conqueror,’ and this weekend, he ventured up to Anchorage for his coldest, most extreme adventure yet. He participated in the Outhouse Races as well as a sophisticated snowball fight dubbed Yukigassen, and when I asked him if he’d become Alaskan enough to consider entering the Iditarod… well, you’ll just have to watch and find out. We cover everything from what kind of food he’s been eating here in The Last Frontier to his strategy (or lack thereof) for toppling his opponents when it comes time to fire off a round of snowballs.
My trip was sponsored by Alaska Travel Industry Association, but I was free to report as I saw fit. The opinions expressed in this article are 100% my own.
In the spirit of journeying during periods less traveled, I’ve embarked to Alaska this winter. Follow the adventures here, and prepare to have your preconceived notions destroyed along the way.
A helmet cam view of snowmobiling in Girdwood, Alaska
When it comes to winter sports, you’ve got skiing, snowboarding, ice hockey — you know, the usual. And then, there’s snowmobiling. Or “snowmachining” as it’s known in The Last Frontier. Whatever you call it, there’s no question that it’s a rush of epic proportions, and while you can most certainly do it in the lower 48, doing in the one that borders Canada and and Russia* provides an entirely different perspective. I’ve snowmobiled through Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming and in Olney, Montana, and while those were both unique and extraordinary experiences in and of themselves, ripping it up through the Chugach mountains is a can’t-miss episode for daredevils. Read on to find out how Glacier City Snowmobile Tours got my adrenaline pumping, or press play on the video above to catch a helmet-cam view of the entire thing!
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Girdwood feels a lot further than 45 miles from Alaska’s largest city (yeah, Anchorage), and it’s home to both Alyeska Ski Resort & Hotel as well as Glacier City Snowmobile Tours. These guys are tucked within the Great Alaskan Tourist Trap shop, connected with the Tesoro fuel station. Tough to find, but well worth discovering. You’ll have two main tour options — the 5.5 hour Real Deal Blue Ice Tour (where you’ll spot glaciers) — and the 3.5 hour Gold Mine Tour. Those run you $250 and $200 apiece, respectively, and include fuel, gear, a campfire lunch (complete with Reindeer hot dogs and Russian Hot Tea) and a guide. The “guide” part is what really makes it — we had Matthew Moscoso (shown above), an Alaskan of five years and consummate professional on the sled. He was both comical and informative, and frankly, it makes me wish my US history teacher of yesteryear had a shred of his genes. I also got to ride with Chanc Deschamps-Prescott, an award-winning skier (and Girdwood native) who is but 15 years of age, and has his sights firmly set on entering the next Winter Olympics. I can’t promise that you too will get the sled with a local hero, but hey, crazier things have happened in Alaska.
I embarked on the Gold Mine Tour, and couldn’t have possibly had more fun. The trails were definitely the most challenging I’d seen in my three major treks out, but that also adds to the thrill and excitement. We were able to stop for plenty of astounding photo opportunities of the surrounding mountains (as you can see in the gallery here), and the lunch really was something special. Delicious, and thought provoking. How often does that happen?
As with pretty much everything in Alaska, there’s something truly awe-inspiring about doing everyday activities here. Snowmobiling is no different. Glacier City is the only tour outfit that gets to cruise on the trails that we cruised on, so you’re literally surrounded with nothing but nature. It’s you, your group, your sled, and some of the most intense scenery your brain will ever have to digest. I could go on, but I’ll let a bit of helmet cam footage from my journey handle whatever convincing is still required.
My trip was sponsored by Alaska Travel Industry Association, but I was free to report as I saw fit. The opinions expressed in this article are 100% my own.
When it comes to hotel reviews, most people will only take the time to review bad experiences. Sites like TripAdvisor are full of horror stories from filthy hotel rooms around the world. And thanks to these reviews, we get a yearly lineup of the dirtiest hotels in America.
Thankfully, not all complaints are text-only, plenty of travelers take to YouTube to upload their own dirty hotel reviews. We’ve collected ten of the funniest, starting with a hotel in Layyoune, Western Sahara seen above.
A visit of a “dirty and disgusting hotel” in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
The “worst extended stay deluxe hotel in all of Austin”
Traditional camcorders produce video at 30 frames per second (FPS), that is, capture and display twenty-four pictures for every second of film that we watch. For normal moving objects at normal speeds, this is plenty, but for fast moving objects or lower viewing speeds there can be a blurred effect on the screen. Watch any airplane propeller rotate on video and you’ll see what we’re talking about.
New technology in the last few years has allowed for faster frame rate capture, and combined with high-definition video, some really cool shots have recently been composed. Three out of four episodes of Mythbusters will prove that quickly.
Even the local, simple things around us in our hotel rooms can be captured with a slow motion elegance, as Vimeo user Tom Guilmette shows in the below video.
Movies are full of wild ideas about travel. From Airplane! to Castaway, there’s no shortage of bizarre travel tales in cinema. Thankfully, Current packed many of those moments into this video from The Rotten Tomatoes Show starring Brett Ehrlich.
So, whether you want to ride a dragon, pilot a plane or just get from Point A to Point B as dramatically as possible, look to the movies for your travel tips. It’s where you’ll find the most realistic suggestions.
If you have a great travel video that you think we might enjoy, share the link in a comment below. We could feature it as our next Video of the Day!