Watching videos.
Flipping through pictures.
Planning for the future.
Although this is the day when you should have been taking one of the most highly rated glacier helicopter tours, you are instead at home. You are still with your family, but you are stuck in the midwest instead of visiting the Alaska sites that have been on your wish lis for years. Yesterday was the day when your daughters planned for the family to take a dogsled tour, but you were instead home on that day as well. Fortunately, you paid extra for nearly every kind of trip insurance and the businesses that you have worked have offered refunds or helped you plan for a future date when you can finally get back to life as normal.
Cancelled Travel Plans Add Disappointment to the Anxiousness Many Americans Feel
Instead of feeling scared or worried, it has been easier these last three weeks to focus on the disappointment of the travel events this pandemic has created. Quite simply, it is easier to talk about the feelings of disappointment than the fears that would otherwise keep you up at night.
For their part, your two college age daughters have already started planning for the day when this trip can happen. They, too, were looking forward to taking the trip this spring, but they are working hard to convince you and you wife that the delayed trip will be even better. They are on a mission to use these days to help all four of you be in better shape so that the Alaska hikes they plan will be even bigger and better. The long days when the sun rarely sets will when you visit next summer can be more packed with adventure than the spring days you would have enjoyed this year.
Whether you are planning a family vacation of a special wedding event, the great state of Alaska is one of the best options. With outdoor adventures and vistas that simply cannot be found in any of the lower 48 states, in face, Alaska is a dream vacation location for many families. From helicopter tours to float plane rides, you can see more in Alaska in a day than you can traveling for weeks in other parts of the country. Consider some of these facts and figures about the many reason that Alaska is a state that is high on the travel wish list for many people:
- Alaska’s landscapes are vast, but if you look closely you just might get to see some of the more than 900,000 caribou that roam in 32 herds across the state’s tundra.
- Catching site of a bald eagle in the wild may be a challenge in many parts of the country, but the national bird is abundant in Alaska with approximately 30,000 of them residing in the state. This is more than any other place in the U.S.
- Better seen on a helicopter tour than on a hike, Alaska is also the home to an estimated 100,000 black bears.
- Seventeen of the 20 highest peaks in the U.S. are located in the state of Alaska.
- In the Interior, Alaska visitors spend an average of $478 million, and tourism is responsible for as many as 8,500 jobs.
- Throughout the rest of Alaska, visitors spend $3.2 billion, and tourism creates 43,000 jobs, an increase of 3,600 jobs since the year 2015.
- Representing a 4% increase from the year 2016, Alaska hosted 1.93 million visitors in 2017.
- More than 70 potentially active volcanoes are in the state of Alaska.
- As unique as the state itself, Alaska’s state flag was designed by a 13-year-old boy. After calling on students throughout the territory in 1927 to submit their ideas, Alaska ultimately decided on Benny Benson’s scene of the Big Dipper and the North Star.
- Alaska has seen tourism rates increase 26% since 2010’s recession-attributed to the slump of 1.53 million visitors.
From helicopter tours to see glaciers to hikes with view of both the ocean and mountains, there are few places like Alaska if you and your family want to travel to an outdoor adventure. Anyone who had travel plans for this spring and summer is likely in the process of cancelling those plans or rescheduling their trips. Will you be ready?
