Travel Philosophy

It’s fun flying to Juneau because you get to walk out on the tarmac and up the stairs to board the plane. It’s especially fun if you’ve never done it before and you get out of the airport before the flight attendants can show you where you’re supposed to go (to the back). Tomcat and Peanut walked directly to the stairs at the front of the airplane and waltzed right into the cockpit! According to Tomcat, their surprise appearance was clearly a post-9/11 taboo.

Between the cockpit and the passengers is a big section behind a black wall with a secret door. You have to stare at this wall the entire flight wondering, wondering, wondering. Well, check this out: it’s cargo! Everything has to be flown into Juneau, so it’s loaded down with fruit and veggies, toilet paper, glue, whatever. Very cool.

The mountains surrounding Juneau the only capital city surrounded by water, are enormous and lush. I taught everyone how to spot bald eagles in the trees: look for cotton balls! When you find one, it’s the male eagle’s head! And there are almost as many eagles as there are swarms of tourists from the numerous cruise ships docked there.

The kids were awed at the size of the ships and wanted to know when we were ever going to go on one. How do you explain “not in a million years” to kids that insist on the details? I wanted to use sweeping generalizations like “we don’t like Cruise Ship people” but finally I slowed it down and tried to explain our family’s travel philosophy, which is borrowed from Rick Steve.

I used to work for a tour operator that sold small adventure cruises to Alaska. That’s where I learned the benefits of traveling in small boats with interesting independent travelers. Kayaking in front of a glacier is quite a different experience than seeing a glacier from the deck of an enormous cruise ship. I told Little Man that jumping into glacier water (search our blog for Tracy Arm Fjord) is quite different than jumping into a pool on a big-ship cruise. Maybe it’s fun, but it’s not exactly what we’re after.

In fact, we went to eat at my favorite breakfast spot in Juneau, the Sandpiper Café. It was delish as usual and the waiter was telling us how he takes 6 months off every year to travel around. He just “lives on less” and saves his money. I asked him a tourist question and he goes, “Are you guys tourists?” I said, “Yeah” and he goes, “Wow, I just never would have guessed you were tourists.” As we left the restaurant Tomcat pulled me over, “So was that the best compliment you ever got?”

“Absolutely!”