Land and Sea Tour of Alaska with Kids

Last summer, for a milestone birthday I planned an epic trip to Alaska, my 50th state to visit.

This was a big trip for me and I had specific items I wanted to make happen:

• Step foot in Alaska before my birthday
• Be in Alaska for my birthday
• Couple a cruise with a week on land
• Go to Glacier Bay on the cruise ship
• Make sure the trip was enjoyable for my 5 and 1.5 year old
• Spend time with my mom’s friends who live in Homer

These desires narrowed our options and drove our itinerary. It also demanded a level of research I rarely put into a trip. Therefore, I’ve added a new section…

Key Takeaways from My Research

• Alaska is huge. Driving from Denali to Anchorage to Homer is 8.5 hours. With limited time, choices need to be made and “must sees” saved for the future.
• The cruise season is very short (April-October).
• Even during the peak season in July, expect it to be chilly and rainy.
• Cruises typically leave from Seattle or Vancouver. If you want to do the inside passage you need to depart from Vancouver.
• You can do a one way cruise or a loop. Only a few major lines – Holland and Princess primarily – do one way itineraries
• Only 3 large cruise lines have permits to cruise into Glacier Bay – Holland, Princess, and Norwegian and it is not included on every itinerary. Some smaller more expedition focused lines may have permits as well. I did not research this as much.
• Other cruise lines offer tours  into Glacier Bay on small boats but you won’t have the experience of sitting on your balcony watching a glacier calve (more on that later).
• Pay attention to what side of the ship you book your balcony on if you have a one way or gulf cruise. I love Gary’s Tips for Travelers videos covering this topic and many others in detail. I probably watched all his Alaska videos preparing for this trip.
• Save money to spend on excursions. Alaska excursions are some of the absolute most incredible adventures and unlike any other excursions I’ve ever seen offered. Float planes, glacier hikes, fishing, bear safaris, dog sledding, it is truly an adventure wonderland.
• The sun doesn’t set till midnight. You probably know this and yet it’s still surreal to experience first hand. Because of this, you cannot see the northern lights in the summertime.
• Rental cars are really expensive. So are hotels. This is largely due to the short tourism season. Be prepared.
• You can get one way rentals but they are extremely limited. We booked through Alaskan Rental Cars. They were awesome and I’d book with them again. We got a mini van and since it was summer and we were only on paved roads, that worked out great for us.
• I always make a Google map of places to go and things to see when I travel. Here’s my Alaska one.

The Itinerary

EWR -> YVR

1 night in Vancouver near port

7 Day Voyage of The Glaciers (Northbound) on the Princess Sapphire

-Inside Passage (Scenic Cruising)
-Ketchikan, Alaska – The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show
-Juneau, Alaska – Taku Lodge Salmon Bake and 5 Glacier Float Plane
-Skagway, Alaska – Birthday train ride
-Glacier Bay National Park (Scenic Cruising)
-College Fjord (Scenic Cruising)

5 Days on Land – Kenai Peninsula to Anchorage
-2 nights Seward – Aquarium; Kenai Fjords Wildlife Cruise; Exit Glacier
-3 nights Homer – Bear adventure
-1 night Anchorage – Trolley tour

ANC -> EWR

Trip Breakdown

Day 1 – Vancouver

We flew in the day before departure (strongly recommended when cruising) and booked a cheap hotel walking distance to the terminal. We heard horror stories about the difficulty of getting a cab/Uber on embarkation day so walking was easier. We stayed at the Days Inn Vancouver Downtown and it was clean, comfortable, no frills with a great location.

We spent the day walking to the waterfront for lunch at De Dutch—the views were great and the pancakes were a hit. Then we explored playgrounds to keep the kids active and help beat jet lag. If you are new here, my advice on jet lag – there is no time but local time, get lots of sunshine and hydrate.

Day 2 – Embarkation / Ship Review

The Port of Vancouver is well organized, and we moved quickly through security, customs, and immigration.
We boarded and headed to the top deck for lunch. Since Embarkation day is always a bit of a wash, I figured this would be a nice place to review the ship.

Princess Sapphire

Things we liked:

• Plenty for kids including a kids club (4+) and a family room with free skeeball.
• Two pools, including an indoor one (key in cold weather). The pools were fairly deep and didn’t have shallower ends, so even though our 5 year old is a good swimmer we still had her in a (Princess provided) life jacket for safety.
• Dedicated kids programming. Everyday there was an activity or show for the kids. In Skagway they even brought dog sled puppies on board! (See below for more on that).
• Good food.
• Huge mini suites—the nicest we’ve had on a cruise
• Medallion system for location-based room service anywhere on the ship (we used this nightly).

Things that could have been better:

• The ship felt dated and hard to navigate (especially with a stroller)
• Limited dining options—only two specialty restaurants, both booked pre-sailing
• I found the dining situation to be confusing. There were 4 dining rooms with the same menu. They were all supposedly walk-in (plus a mystery 5th dining room that was set times that I never figured out), but we ended up “reserving” a table in the Santa Fe dining room. I put that in quotes because I think the staff took pity on us, realizing we were very confused and just saved us a table every night in the back corner where our children could be menaces without disrupting everyone’s vacation.
• Despite all the kid friendly options, this was still an adult heavy ship and some passengers were clearly annoyed by the mere presence of kids. We had people make some rude comments about it (think “kids shouldn’t be here”). Shout out to my mom who deadpanned, “Have you heard of Viking? It’s adults only if that’s what you are looking for.” This seems to be a well known fact about Alaska routes, even cruise lines that tend to have more adults than families in other areas are family heavy in Alaska. So truly, if you want a kid free trip go with one of the adult only lines.
• Entertainment was underwhelming and poorly timed for families, except for kids specific programming. The exception was the afternoon entertainers in the piazza.
• We knew this in advance but the mini suites bump out meaning balconies above you directly look down on your balcony, imbedding on privacy. For us, the bigger room was worth it but it’s not the best layout to be honest.

Overall, I loved the itinerary and thought Princess did a solid job, and I would pick it again with kids if I was looking for a one-way cruise or to go to Glacier Bay. However, with kids if you aren’t set on Glacier Bay, I’d recommend Disney or Royal unless you specifically want Glacier Bay or a one-way itinerary. Norwegian also goes into Glacier Bay sometimes, but typically only on a loop from Seattle. If we didn’t have the kids, I would have cruised Holland or a smaller ship, like Viking or one of the expedition lines.

Day 3 – Inside Passage (Scenic Cruising)

A day at sea on an Alaskan cruise is a very different experience than a Caribbean cruise. This is where ponying up for the balcony pays dividends. We spent the day bouncing between the family play room, pools, and our balcony, enjoying the stunning beauty. I spent hours on our balcony reading, watching wildlife, taking tons of pictures, and just enjoying being there. The balcony was also key when the kids went to bed.

Since the sun was out until midnight, we bundled up and sat outside every night enjoying the scenery and occasionally staying awake for sunset. While it wasn’t terribly cold during the day (mid 60s-low 70s) the temperature plummeted rapidly at night. I was wearing my full on NY winter jacket with gloves and a hat every night on the balcony.

Day 4 – Ketchikan, Alaska

For our first stop in Alaska my husband surprised me with a shirt to commemorate my 50th State. My parents went on a wildlife trolley tour they found when they walked off the ship and loved it! They saw bears, orcas, bald eagles, and still made it back for lumberjacks. My mom has no details other than “They were just right by the pier when we got off and we paid cash.”

We opted to pass on the tour and let the kids run around and play. We found an amazing coffee shop, Island Brew Cafe, that had a little playhouse, great food, and even better coffee. After a leisurely breakfast, we walked the town, enjoying the picturesque Creek Street and snapping photos of all the bald eagles. We have a national park pass so we popped into the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center and enjoyed the exhibits.

Then it was time for the main event – the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show! We booked the tickets directly with the venue because the times offered by our cruise line didn’t work for us. The show is a total tourist trap and I loved every second of it! This is solidly a when in Rome must do attraction. It was super fun and the lumberjacks completely understood the assignment. It’s pretty much open seating so try to get there earlier to get a good spot!

Day 5 – Juneau, Alaska

We booked the Taku Glacier Salmon Bake Lunch float plane excursion through the cruise line (you can book direct). This was hands down the best excursion I’ve ever done anywhere in the world. Words do not do it justice so I made a reel on my Insta. We were picked up at the cruise ship dock, driven down to the float plane dock where we did paperwork and got ear protection for the toddler (side note – we weren’t going to do this because it felt excessive for a 1.5 year old to do this very expensive excursion. Then, I was deep in the fine print and learned she could go free as a lap child! Shout out to my travel agent Alyssa (@dishingondisney) for confirming that six different ways ahead of the cruise.)

They fly these planes pretty regularly throughout the day on various sightseeing tours so this is a well oiled machine. When the planes landed and passengers disembarked, we headed down the dock and loaded up. One lucky passenger (my dad) got to ride in the copilot seat up front. The planes are small, about 7-8 passengers. We took a scenic flight over 5 glaciers with commentary on our headsets both from a recording and live from the pilot doing his best to spot wildlife. I cannot stress enough that you have to see Alaska from the air. You cannot fully appreciate the size and scale of things without that perspective.

We then landed at Taku lodge for lunch. The property is stunning with gorgeous views of the glacier and the mountains. There’s a few hiking trails that are very flat and moderate to walk. Make sure to bring bug spray. Once they rang the dinner bell we came in for an incredible meal. They have chicken, salmon, and vegetarian options.

After lunch, there was a little more free time before heading back to the planes. My husband got to sit copilot for the return. There was less flight seeing on the return, which makes you realize how close this place is to the state capital, really giving perspective to how wild the state is.

After landing, my parents headed back to the ship but we went to explore the town. Something I loved about Princess was the amount of time we had in ports. We typically docked by 9am and didn’t leave until 6-7pm. That allowed plenty of time for excursions and exploration.

We found a great playground near the state capitol and popped in for a walking tour of the Capitol building. I have a low key rule that if I find myself near a capitol with time on my hands, I try to tour it. We then found a super fun food truck courtyard with music and beers and grabbed an off ship dinner before heading back for the night.

Day 6 – Skagway, Alaska

In Skagway, we booked our White Pass Railway ride directly with the railway because we couldn’t get the children’s pricing booking through Princess. That is an issue I’ve never had with Royal Caribbean and I think is again reflective of the line not fully catering to kids and families. Since we didn’t book with the cruise line, we had to walk the two blocks to the train station to board versus getting picked up on the dock. The advantage was we had more flexibility in timing by booking directly so we had a few hours of free time to explore the town.

Skagway very much feels like a gold rush town frozen in time. They clearly lean into this and cater to the thousands of cruise ship passengers passing through each day during the season. We did some shopping and found an excellent playground (side note: shout out to Alaska for some absolutely fabulous playgrounds. Huzzah for state and local governments!).

When it was time to head to the train station, we were able to leave our stroller behind (I switched the baby to a soft carrier, key as we were approaching nap time) and boarded the train. It was open seating and our time wasn’t fully sold out so there were plenty of seats. The train ride was beautiful! I am a huge transit nerd so I love trains, so this was a fabulous birthday gift to myself. The kids also loved it. The seats also were the old school reversible ones so we could have 4 seats together, plenty of space to spread out and relax. However, we spent the majority of our time out on the observation deck between cars.

After the train ride, we headed back into town to meet my parents for a late lunch. They had snagged a table at Skagway Brewing Company. A moment on dining in the towns during port days – each port typically has 2-4 ships docked at the same time. So that’s somewhere between 4,000-12,000 pouring into very small towns (even Juneu). Restaurants fill up FAST so try to have a plan or even a reservation if you plan to eat off ship.

After lunch, we headed back to the ship because it was time for Puppies in the Piazza! This is such a fun thing Princess does – on certain Alaska itineraries, they bring an Iditarod champion on board with a herd of sled dog puppies to talk about raising and training the dogs, and the race. It’s an amazing joint partnership, with retail sales of stuffed toys, ornaments, shirts, etc. Going to support the raising and training of the dogs. This was an absolute highlight of the trip and I’m pretty sure we contributed enough to buy 5 bags of dog food.

We did dinner in the main dining room and celebrated our third birthday on the trip. This is one of my favorite parts of a cruise or all inclusive during birthday weeks. It’s so much fun to celebrate together!

Day 7 – Glacier Bay National Park (Scenic Cruising)

This was the day I planned the entire trip around, so the stakes were high. I will say, it fully feel that it lived up to my expectations!

A quick note on weather here. It rains A LOT in southeast Alaska, where the cruises go. You should expect it to rain most days, if not every day of your trip. We got incredibly lucky with the weather but unfortunately did catch a rainy day in Glacier Bay. We were prepared though, having brought all our rain gear (coats, pants, and boots for every member of the family). Honestly, I think a large reason we got lucky was because we were prepared!

The cool thing about cruising into Glacier Bay is National Park Rangers come on board the ship and have a full day of programming. On our ship, they had a dedicated lounge where you could get your park stamp (IYKYK), talk to rangers, and check out various exhibits. They also piped commentary throughout the ship in various areas. We cruised around and viewed several glaciers before parking in front of one for about an hour. I’d done some research on what side of the ship to book a room on and we got lucky that the ship parked Port side so we could hang out on our balcony and watch the glacier calve. This was an absolutely incredible experience and by far and above the greatest nap time activity I’ve partaken in.

Another cool thing Princess did (not sure if others do) was dedicated kids programming with the rangers while in the park. A scenic cruise day is not the most exciting thing for a 1 and 5 year old. Having the rangers talk about animals, color, do activities and other fun things you expect from the NPS was a huge perk and made the day so much more enjoyable for our kids.

That night, we were in Sabatini’s, one of the two specialty dining restaurants on the ship. The food was excellent, but it wasn’t THAT much better than the main dining room. If it wasn’t included in our package, I would skip this with no regrets.

Day 8 – College Fjord (Scenic Cruising)

Our last cruise day was a completely unexpected, incredible day. The hardest part of the day was the scenic part of the day was slated for 5pm, which is dinner / witching hours with kids. We spent a low key day swimming and playing skeeball. We ate an early dinner, wrapping up by 5:30 to get topside as we were sailing into College Fjord. This is where Princess really shows their Alaska expertise. I’d never heard of this place and didn’t see it on many (any?) other itineraries. It was an absolutely stunning glacier. Honestly, my husband said he thought it was better than anything we saw in Glacier Bay (I did not feel this way). Part of this was luck. We had an absolute STUNNER of a day. It was an incredible end to the first half of the trip. The weather was so good, my husband and I ended up staying up to watch sunset as we sailed into the mountains of Whittier. My parents had told us how beautiful it was and how they would stay up if they could so we accepted the challenge. I time stamped the photos below for context. If you are a night owl and the weather works, stay up to watch your Whittier arrival, it’s worth it.

Day 9 – Disembark in Whittier / Drive to Seward

We always are slow to depart on disembarkation day, preferring to let some of the crowds off before leaving. Think slow breakfast, sitting with coffee, then rolling. We also travel light and usually keep our luggage with us to give us this flexibility. In this case, we reducing the time between when we left the ship till the time we could get the rental car since there isn’t much in the he town of Whittier beyond the cruise terminal and the building is he entire town lives in (it’s wild, NPR did a story about it)

We got a one way rental from Alaskan Car Rental. They literally drive the cars into town the day of your pick up so there was some logistics to manage but it was fine. My husband went and got the car and came back to the terminal to get us. A note – there really isn’t much in Whittier. It’s a transit point. The tunnel to get in and out alternates direction every 30 minutes. Plan accordingly. We planned to leave so that we would be to Seward for lunch time. We lucked out and had a bear sighting while waiting for the tunnel.

The drive to Seward is part of the scenic Seward highway. There are various stops and activities along the way. This website is a great resource to check it all out. We didn’t make any stops on our way to Seward because we knew we were coming back this way at the end of the trip.

Once in Seward we ate lunch at Seasalt, which was nice. We then hit up the Alaska Sealife Center, because my toddler LOVES an aquarium. This one is great, and has seals and penguins. After the aquarium we headed to our hotel. My parents and us took turns eating dinner at Ray’s so we could have an adults only dinner after a week of cruising. This is a very underrated plan and everyone should figure out how to do it if you are traveling with young kids. The food at Ray’s was excellent and the views great. It does get very busy during the season, but I’m pretty sure you can make reservations.

We stayed at the Harbor 360 hotel in Seward. It was pricey, but worth the splurge. There’s an indoor pool (a rarity in Alaska) and the views are stunning. Be warned the “mountain view” rooms are more like parking lot view with a bit of mountain.

Day 10 – Kenai Fjords Wildlife Cruise

One of the advantages to stay at the Harbor 360 hotel is the boarding for the wildlife cruise we wanted to go is literally downstairs. We did the 4 hour highlights, which in a perfect world, we would have done the long one. But we have young kids so 4 hours it is. Hey, it was good enough for Obama!

Orcas were the #1 thing my five year old wanted to see in Alaska and this trip delivered. I understand a lot of what happened for us on this tour was luck but this was the best wildlife tour I’ve ever done. A member of the crew was literally crying because she couldn’t believe all the things we got to see. In no particular order:

• Incredibly calm seas allowing us to go further than the 4-hour tour usually goes, deep into Kenai Fjords National Park
• So many orcas it was surreal. That included one who hung out with us for a solid half hour, tail slapping and breaching. One even buzzed the ship super close and it was low key terrifying. 
• A pod of humpbacks doing a bubble feeding. I’d never heard of this but it was super cool to see in real life. Photos and videos don’t do it justice. 
• Countless seals puffins, otters, and other wildlife.

Afterwards, we went downtown to another excellent Alaska playground followed by dinner at Seward Brewing Company, which was fine. It was the winner over The Cookery, where we wanted to eat because they had a 90 min wait and the brewery was walk-in. So a takeaway here is be mindful of prime dining times in small Alaska towns during peak season. 

After dinner we made full use of the pool and hot tub before packing up to roll out the next day. 

Day 11 -Exit Glacier / Drive to Homer

 We had nothing on the agenda today beyond checking out Exit Glacier and getting to Homer by dinnertime. We rolled out of town by 10 and enjoyed the scenic hike to the glacier viewings. While we’d seen tons of glaciers from the water, seeing them from land was a very different experience. You also can really see the impact of climate change on the retreating glaciers. Throughout the park, they have signage marking where the glacier used to be every 5-10 years. My parents have been going to Alaska for the past 20+ years and they will always tell you to go now because you don’t know when the glaciers will be gone given the retreat they’ve witnessed. 

After the park, we missed the restaurants nearby and had to wait another 30 min before the next spot, The Trail Lake Lodge, which ended up being a beautiful location with fine food. I only wished we’d timed it better. We spent about 2-3 hours at exit glacier and it was about a 45 min drive to this restaurant so my family that typically eats between 11:30-12 we’re a little feral by 2. 

We made it to my mom’s bestie’s house by 6pm and let the kids run amuck in the lawn for a bit. By far the hardest part of this trip was not having time and space for kids to simply run around, even with our playground stops. Being at a house for a few days was HUGE, and I’m super grateful to our host for having us. It also meant we could dine in for 3 nights, also huge after eating out for 3 meals a day with two kids. 😵‍💫 This was honestly a huge takeaway from this trip for me. I don’t know that I’ll do a trip longer than a week without apartment style accommodations. Not having to eat out all the time benefits our sanity, even with buffet or grab and go type options on a cruise or all inclusive. At this point we’ve traveled enough I can say it’s fine for up to 7 days, beyond that the wheels come off. 

Day 12 – Homer Spit

We were supposed to go fishing with our host, Captain Ron but alas our incredible weather luck ran out. 30 foot swells and wind gusts out in the Bearing Sea equated to conditions we all decided to pass on. Not wanting to waste a day of agreed upon babysitting (thanks mom) we were able to pivot and book a bear watching expedition. I had initially cut it from our itinerary because we couldn’t fit everything in, so I was glad they still had space. I had heard most tours are sold out well in advance for July. However, our experience was many things still had availability even last minute. I wonder how much economic pressures factored in here. My opinion is it looked like the same number of people were still traveling, but potentially they were booking fewer extras, hence many tours still having space even during the peak of peak season. 

Since we now had a day with no plans, our hosts took us on a tour of town, checking out overlooks and spending some time in the spit, an area of shops and restaurants. After some site seeing, we headed home for dinner and a little backyard hike. 

Our hosts live on an incredible property overlooking Lake Clark national park. I cannot express how wonderful it was to simply sit on the living room on the back deck and just enjoy the views. When my mother-in-law did an Alaska cruise she said she didn’t feel like she did real Alaska. Sitting in our host’s backyard staring at Mount Iliamna, it truly felt like real Alaska. If you can add a few land days to your Alaska trip it’s totally worth it. 

Day 13 – Bear Adventure

We had an afternoon flight so my husband and I headed out to the spit after lunch for a drink at Salty Dog before heading to the airport. I’m not going to lie, I booked this tour without a ton of research since I had dismissed it from my initial itinerary so I wasn’t really sure what we’d signed up for. We booked the short and sweet tour from Alaska Bear Adventures. All I knew is we were promised a plane ride and bears. 

We checked in, got our waders and safety briefing before heading down to the plane. I didn’t even know what kind of plane we’d be on. It was a little 4 seater plus pilot Cessna with some serious off road tires. Turns out that’s because we literally just flew over to Katmai National Park and landed on the beach. We literally landed on the rocks and used some driftwood to chock the tires. I’m not sure you can get more Alaska than that but from there we went hiking in salt marshes to check out the bears. To me, the most similar thing I’ve done to this was an African safari with a key difference being nothing separated us from the animals on this tour. Our guide assured us the bears were used to it and so long as we stayed together, we’d be fine.

Overall this tour was equal parts amazing and terrifying. The scenery was unreal. Katmai is one of the most beautiful national parks I’ve been to. The beauty was really best seen from the air. Our pilot took advantage of the weather and flew over the caldera and across various peaks in the park. Incredible doesn’t do it justice. The bear walk, as I called it, was interesting but probably not worth the money unless you are really into bears. The flight seeing tour that came with it was worth every penny. 

Day 14 – Drive to Anchorage 

The next day was the start of our journey home. We headed out a little before lunch, stopping in Soldotna for lunch

 We took our time on the Seward highway, stopping at many overlooks and spending an hour or two at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. This was basically a zoo on steroids, so the kids enjoyed. 

We happened to be driving on the Seward highway during full moon, which meant we could time it to catch the bore tide. I’ve been low key obsessed with tidal events after reading Tides: The Science and Spirit of the Ocean so I wasn’t giving up a chance to see one of the most famous bore rides in the world. My kids however were not having it. Shout out to my parents for taking them on a walk and to tablet land while my husband and I waited out the tides arrival, which was a solid 45 min late. It was cool and if you are traveling without kids and the timing works, do it. Sometimes beluga whales come in on the ride and locals surf it. However, if you have kids or aren’t as big a nerd as I am, skip it. Captain Ron basically told us the same but I had to see it myself. 

We got into Anchorage right at dinner time and not wanting to fight parking went to The Fancy Moose Lodge for dinner. It ended up being a great choice! The weather was beautiful and it is located right on the float plane base so we could take the kids outside and watch the planes take off and land. The food was fine but the view was worth it on a good weather day. 

Day 15 – Anchorage Trolley Tour / Fly Home

This was our last day! We had a red eye so we packed up and loaded the mini van, which we were basing out of for the day. Since it was raining, we drove over to downtown and walked in to find out about booking a trolley tour. We got an afternoon time slot and headed over to Glacier Brewhouse for lunch, my mom’s favorite. I finally got king crab legs after refusing to get them in the touristy towns we’d been in. 

After lunch we headed back over to the trolley. Our tour guide / driver was awesome! She was a former performer and she had some hilarious songs and jokes galore. We learned a lot about Anchorages history, including seeing the fault line from the 1964 earthquake at the appropriately named Earthquake park. We also finally saw a moose!

The tour was great and I highly recommend it, particularly on a rainy day when you don’t want to be walking around. Since a lot of my anchorage plans were rained out, I took a shot and googled indoor play areas, thinking I would find a place offering an open play session. However, Alaskan municipal governments came through once again and I found a free indoor playground at the community center! The kids had a blast! It was the perfect way to spend a few hours before we had to head to the airport. 

And now a shout out to my husband: I don’t usually rent a car when I travel, relying instead on public transit and ride shares. My husband rents cars far more frequently. Therefore, he had the foresight to ask me to call our local Alaska based rental company to check on drop off times if we needed the shuttle to the airport (we did). We learned we needed to be there in about 20 minutes to make the last ride! So we said good bye to our last Alaskan playground and headed over to the car rental office. 

I typically plan to eat at the airport before a red eye, leaving ample time before boarding to brush teeth and put on pjs for the kids, comfy flight clothes for me. A red eye is never my favorite but a lot of the times it’s the only option, and does come with the advantage of not losing a day. Here are my best red eye survival tips:

• If possible, don’t book a red eye that’s less than 6 hours unless you will be able to land and go back to sleep for a bit. 
• Always change and brush your teeth. It’s a mental thing, it feels like you are going to bed. 
• Bring a face mask, ear plugs, and download low key sleep music. I tend to listen to classical music on red eyes. Turn off your video screen and if they have it, put the do not wake me option on. Also make sure to fasten your buckle over your blanket. 
• Bring a travel pillow. Try a few to decide which one you like best. I have a ridiculous memory foam one that’s the most inconvenient thing to travel with but is so comfy that if I actually need to sleep on the plane I suck it up and bring it. I have a more compact one I bring if I anticipate plane sleep is more like plane nap. 
• I try to red eye in the day before I have real plans. Going, this means a low key day where I focus on getting sunlight and getting on the new time zone. Coming home this means getting back Sunday morning so I can unpack, reset, and get to bed early to get on the right time zone. 
• With my kids red eyes are easy. Both of my kids have no issues sleeping. They will however be WIDE AWAKE upon landing so I know I will need to parent through my sleep deprivation, hence my focus on getting some sleep on the plane. 

What I Would Have Done Differently 

Honestly, for what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it, and who I was traveling with, I wouldn’t have changed much about this trip! Obviously if the weather had cooperated, we would have fished instead of doing the bear safari. If we could have gotten the car dropped off earlier I probably would have done the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center on the day we drove to Seward since we literally drove by it. That would have given us time to take the Alyeska scenic tram 6 days later when we drove to Anchorage. 

What I’ll do Next Time(s)

Now here’s the list of things I couldn’t do for logistical reasons and will totally do in the future:

• I love the idea of an expedition cruise. It doesn’t make sense with kids as young as ours (and in fact is usually not allowed, 8 is usually the minimum age) but I would love to do this in the future. 
• I wanted to do an excursion where you land on a glacier and go dog sledding, but again, age restrictions meant this was a no go. 
• Same with kayaking, glacier hiking, and other awesome activities I’ll definitely do in the future when the kids are older. 
• To do that, I’d like to try a different cruise line. With kids, I’d go Royal Caribbean or Disney. Without kids, I’d like to do Holland or Viking. I’ve met people who cruise Alaska annually and I understand why!
• I’d also like to go to Denali and Fairbanks. I’d do this either as part of driving around land only trip, or another land and cruise trip. 
• Eventually, I’d like to get to all 64 U.S. National Parks. Alaska has 8. So while I checked off Glacier Bay, Kenai Fjords, and Katmai on this trip, I still need to visit 5 other parks – Denali, Lake Clark (not counting our fly over), Wrangell-St. Elias, Kobuk Valley, and Gates of the Arctic. 
• I want to return during the winter to see the northern lights, ski Alyeska, and maybe even get in some heliskiing. 

With that list, I know I’ll be back to the last frontier a few more times…