|
|
| *Travel Tips>>>General - Travel (General) Travel Tips |
Alaska, any advice on southeast alaska. and where to go? |
Travel Info my husband wants to move there and weve never even been. Travel Tips I moved to SE Alaska almost a decade ago without ever seeing it first. While it worked out for me, based on the experience of others I have known over the years, I would not recommend moving here site-unseen. In fact, moving here was a contributing factor to the end of my first marriage. I live in Juneau and visit the other 6 major SE Alaskan communities 4 times per year, so I know them fairly well. All of SE Alaska is in a rain forest. It rains or snows approximately 300 days per year. The rainless remaining 65 days usually have periods of overcast skies. SE Alaska is NOT the place to live if you like to see clear blue skies. In winter you get few hours of daylight, and the sun never gets very high on the horizon. Many people find the dark, cold, damp winters intolerable. It is VERY expensive to live here. In Juneau, an unimpressive single family home costs well over a quarter of a million dollars. An average 2-bedroom apartment is about $1000.00 per month. Juneau has a 1% rental vacany rate so virtually none of the landlords allow pets. A decent family home is well over 300k. Gasoline in Petersburg was about $3.70 a gallon yesterday. Ketchikan's economy has been in the toilet ever since the mill closed. Houses are cheaper there, but the town is depressed. And it is the wettest community in SE. You cannot drive out of any community in SE Alaska. Alaska Airlines is the only major airline, and without competition it is very expensive to leave town. A 25 minute flight from Juneau to Sitka costs $320.00 round trip. It costs at least $2000.00 to fly a family of 4 to Seattle and back on a "cheap" airfare. On the other hand, SE Alaska is one of the most beautiful places in the world to live. Hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, and other outdoor activities cannot be beat. Wildlife is abundant. Seeing wildlife like bears, eagles, etc is absolutely routine. If you love the outdoors, an independent lifestyle, don't mind isolation or inclement weather, you can make a home here. Pioneers that explored here had to work their asses off just to survive, and the same work ethic and independence is required today. If you expect to survive here on one income, you can forget it. Others If you like fishing, hiking, boating and the outdoors it's fantastic. If you prefer indoor pursuits, it can be inconvenient. I went to high school in Juneau, and it's gorgeous there. You're always surrounded by mountains, nature, wildlife. The other communities in Southeast are beautiful too, I just don't have as much experience with them. My parents tried to move away about 3 times in the last 10 years but they keep going back, they like it so much. A major factor to consider if you're moving there is the cost of housing and what kind of jobs you'd be getting. Housing is pretty expensive, though the average wage is also higher--I believe this is still true. Weather is another thing to think about. It's not as extreme as far northern Alaska, but the winters are pretty dark and, especially, damp. This is why enjoying the outdoors is crucial to enjoying living in Southeast. I think you can still look at the Juneau Empire (newspaper) online, try Googling it, as it would give a pretty good look at what's happening in the community and the kind of stuff going on there. Good luck! |
| Tags |
| Sheffield Swansea General - United Kingdom Health & Safety Packing & Preparation General - Travel (General) Basel Bern Geneva Zurich General - Switzerland |
Travel Info Categories--Copyright/IP Policy--Contact Webmaster |