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Alaska-Yukon-BC vacation

Started by Maladict, December 01, 2012, 12:16:16 PM

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alfred russel

I checked Hertz in Fairbanks Alaska. Nothing restricted rentals based on the term of the license. This is the only applicable part:

QuoteAn acceptable, valid driver's license issued from your country of residence must be presented at the time of rental.  The driver's license must be valid for the entire rental period.  If the driver's license is in a language other than English, and the rental is in the United States, an International Driver's Permit is recommended.  In all cases, a valid driver's license issued from your home country must be provided, whether or not you possess an International Driver's Permit.  You will not be allowed to rent a Hertz vehicle with only an International Driver's Permit.
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

There's a fine line between salvation and drinking poison in the jungle.

I'm embarrassed. I've been making the mistake of associating with you. It won't happen again. :)
-garbon, February 23, 2014

Tonitrus


Tonitrus

This kinda matches your itinerary...but I am sure is outside your price range...but does kinda show what might be realistic in a 3-week timeframe...it actually seems rather rushed to me...but then, your goals are pretty ambitious.

http://www.alaskafares.com/tourpackages/motorcoach/legendary.html

katmai

Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son

Syt

Quote from: Admiral Yi on December 01, 2012, 04:37:06 PM
I think most Yuro countries require a driving course that costs a trillion yuros before you get a license.

2000 EUR in Austria is what you look at. I don't have a license. For most friends the parents financed the license when they turned 18, but my parents were poor, and we didn't have a car, anyways (rather unusual in Germany). Later, when I had the money, I didn't see the need, and the cost for having a car in Vienna easily outweigh the use I'd get out of it - I'd only need it for vacations or when I take a trip to the country side.

If I ever moved back into a rural area I'd go for a license and car, I guess.
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Barrister

Quote from: Tonitrus on December 01, 2012, 09:26:44 PM
This kinda matches your itinerary...but I am sure is outside your price range...but does kinda show what might be realistic in a 3-week timeframe...it actually seems rather rushed to me...but then, your goals are pretty ambitious.

http://www.alaskafares.com/tourpackages/motorcoach/legendary.html

If you want to tour that area in 3 weeks, then the itinerary seems reasonable.

But this goes back to why I think a car/tenting is a good idea.  Take it from someone who has been there - while the landscape is jaw-droppingly beautiful, there is fuck all to do in most of the towns.  You do not want to spend a night in Grande Prairie, Watson Lake, Beaver Creek, Dease Lake, or Tok.

But what you DO want to do is camp somewhere outside all of those locations (well except for Grande Prairie, which as the name implies is in the middle of the bald prairie).
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

Jacob

Just do it. Don't listen to the nay-sayers.

Syt

Quote from: Jacob on December 01, 2012, 12:47:50 PM
IIRC Greyhound has a pretty reasonably priced pass. Don't know what the connections are like between those specific cities, but the Greyhound is actually not a bad way to travel in North America if you are backpacking.

Also, to meet the fellow traveller who will stab you in your motel room?
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Maladict

Quote from: Tonitrus on December 01, 2012, 09:26:44 PM
This kinda matches your itinerary...but I am sure is outside your price range...but does kinda show what might be realistic in a 3-week timeframe...it actually seems rather rushed to me...but then, your goals are pretty ambitious.

http://www.alaskafares.com/tourpackages/motorcoach/legendary.html

Yeah, that looks about right, price is doable too. I just don't see myself doing that kind of group tour.
Even among friends, when we come across someplace interesting and I'm the only one who wants to go see it, I tell them to go fuck themselves and we'll meet at the hotel for dinner.
Because that's the kind of sociable person I am. :cool:

Looking at that itinerary, going from Whitehorse to Skagway and back and not being able to see the Chilkoot pass even though it's just a few miles away, that shit just isn't going to happen.

edit: oh wait, the price doesn't include getting there and back. That's not doable, then.

Maladict

Quote from: Syt on December 02, 2012, 12:07:15 AM
2000 EUR in Austria is what you look at. I don't have a license. For most friends the parents financed the license when they turned 18, but my parents were poor, and we didn't have a car, anyways (rather unusual in Germany). Later, when I had the money, I didn't see the need, and the cost for having a car in Vienna easily outweigh the use I'd get out of it - I'd only need it for vacations or when I take a trip to the country side.

If I ever moved back into a rural area I'd go for a license and car, I guess.

That's exactly it, now that I can afford it, I don't want it anymore. Owning a car would just be a nuisance.

Maladict

Quote from: Barrister on December 02, 2012, 01:07:26 AM
If you want to tour that area in 3 weeks, then the itinerary seems reasonable.

But this goes back to why I think a car/tenting is a good idea.  Take it from someone who has been there - while the landscape is jaw-droppingly beautiful, there is fuck all to do in most of the towns.  You do not want to spend a night in Grande Prairie, Watson Lake, Beaver Creek, Dease Lake, or Tok.

But what you DO want to do is camp somewhere outside all of those locations (well except for Grande Prairie, which as the name implies is in the middle of the bald prairie).

Public transport will pretty much rule out camping, and I agree that is a shame. But the towns being boring isn't such a big deal, I really just need a place to eat and sleep, not looking for lightlife much. And Vancouver is there at the end to make up for it, as well as the inevitable book-buying frenzy to max out luggage allowance on the plane.

garbon

Quote from: Jacob on December 02, 2012, 01:16:40 AM
Just do it. Don't listen to the nay-sayers.


I don't know - if BB is advising someone against visiting the Yukon (at least insofar as what Maladict has planned) that says something.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

garbon

Quote from: Maladict on December 02, 2012, 09:11:31 AM
That's exactly it, now that I can afford it, I don't want it anymore. Owning a car would just be a nuisance.

But knowing how to drive can be a boon.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Maladict

Quote from: garbon on December 02, 2012, 09:51:30 AM

But knowing how to drive can be a boon.
Certainly. And since I don't drink, I know exactly whose boon it will be.  :)

Jacob

Quote from: garbon on December 02, 2012, 09:50:37 AM
I don't know - if BB is advising someone against visiting the Yukon (at least insofar as what Maladict has planned) that says something.

True enough.

Still I wonder how much experience BB has using the public transportation and no-car-required-tourism infrastructure in the Yukon? I mean, I assume cruise ship passengers don't bring cars with them and there's stuff for them to do and see where ever they come ashore.