#4 ALASKA, BRITISH COLUMBIA & SEATTLE: IN REVIEW
I came back from my seven day cruise to Alaska & British Columbia this past Sunday! I had such an adventurous and exhilarating week surrounded by the company of my family and relatives. Words from this blog post would not even be able to describe how amazing my trip went, but I will try my best!
FRIDAY - SUNDAY:
My family and I had originally planned to fly to Seattle Friday night and meet up with my aunts and cousin to board the Norwegian Jewel the next morning. Unfortunately, our American Airlines flight got cancelled, and we were about to have our set week gone to waste. I was so disappointed; I had been looking forward to this trip since my mom booked it in early July, and Alaska is something different unlike other typical vacations I'd go on.
We stayed at JFK Airport for 3 more hours after our flight cancellation, waiting on an angry line to speak to an AA agent. The lady we spoke to said she "tried her best" but could not find any flight going out to Seattle with at least five seats left (complete bull, but whatever). So, we drove back home feeling all slumped and disheveled. I texted all my friends and posted a rant on my Facebook (which I normally do not do), and was already trying to arrange new plans to make use of my five days of paid time off from work. The photo above is of me and my siblings sleeping on the floor while waiting for our uncle to come pick us up :'(
Thankfully, my aunts helped us find a flight leaving Sunday morning at 7AM to Ketchikan, AK, through Alaska Airlines. HOPE WAS FINALLY RESTORED! My dad instantly booked another set of plane tickets and had us all board the cruise ship from the first port in Ketchikan.
KETCHIKAN, AK - TOTEM WAY:
When we landed, we had to take a ferry to get off the island that the airport was on. The photo above is of the waiting area for the ferry. Tickets were $6 per person, but the ride was just 2 minutes long! It was so interesting - Ketchikan is such a small town and we were planning on just bumming around the airport to save on hotel fees. However, we found out that it was not a 24 hour airport, and it closes at 9PM. So, we had no choice but to stay a night at Super 8, which was a run-down inn, but did its work until we were able to board the ship in the morning.
Ketchikan is known for its totem poles. It was like a mini scavenger hunt searching for all three of them. Note the street sign that reads "Totem Way" in the photo above! Below is one of the three totem poles.
Alaska in general is known for their salmon. I got to try some of their salmon spreads at a shop we walked by after passing through this beautiful river (below). It was full of salmon swimming around - some were dead and washed up ashore. Most of the salmon shops were in Ketchikan - the other two places didn't have many.
JUNEAU, AK - MT. ROBERTS:
Out of all the three places in Alaska I visited, Juneau is my favorite. We hiked up a trail along Mt. Roberts and caught the most breath taking view from atop - honestly the most beautiful view I have ever seen in my life. Below is a photo of me pointing to the vast horizon (candid - I tried)!
The weather outside at Juneau was really cold when we first got off the ship, which is why you see me layered up. I wore 4 layers - a spaghetti tank, a thin sweater, a rain jacket, then a fleece. Once I climbed to the top I was covered in cold sweat. Gross, I know, but that's how you get to explore things - by getting down and dirty! During the hike, we also saw a porcupine! I don't have a photo of it because I figured it was more worth it to cherish that moment through a snapchat video before it ran away! Below is a photo of me at a cross I passed by on my way down. It made me feel like I literally... climbed the stairway to heaven!!
SAWYER GLACIERS:
Yes!! The moment that everyone on the cruise ship was waiting for! After the boat departed from Juneau, it headed towards the Sawyer glaciers. I know I keep mentioning this, but it was the MOST beautiful thing I've ever seen. Indeed, it was very cold there! I saw a little girl running around in her bathing suit and was wondering how she was not getting hypothermia. Below are some photos of the glacier view from my cruise ship. The boat made a 1 hour 360 degree turn, so that people from all angles of the ship could see it.
In the last photo, you can see just how many people (and more) are crowded around the outer deck of the ship to see the glaciers!
SKAGWAY, AK - THE GOLD MINE TOWN:
What I love about Skagway was how the town looked like it came straight out of a black and white film (above). While the parents stayed around the gift shop area (a boring station by choice), my cousin, siblings and I explored the residential areas and the rail ways. The colors of every scenery was so vibrant. Every house had beautiful lawns and a big calm dog lying outside of their porches. There isn't much to do if you live in Skagway anyway BUT mow your lawn and feed your dogs.
We walked a few miles to a cemetery, which was probably fake and man made strictly for tourists. However, what I found interesting were the mushrooms we kept seeing. They looked so odd and characterized (below). They reminded me of that Maple Story game that everyone (or at least me and the weird friends I had) back in the day were playing.
VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA:
Victoria's city reminds me of New York's Central Park / Columbus Circle. The nature is so vibrant, and the guys are so handsome. I was a little upset that day here because my family (being the Asian that they were) were just so anxious about seeing the Chinatown there. My cousin and I had originally planned to take a cab from the ship into town and then explore our way up into Chinatown. And of course, after realizing that it was not what the parents expected, they wanted to go back to the ship. We were docked there for seven hours, but only stayed on land for 3 1/2.
There was so much more of Victoria that I really wanted to explore... I would definitely love to revisit someday. Below is a photo of Victoria's Chinatown. It was just ONE block by the way... We also passed by a Chinese public school, which was really interesting. The school really embodied the Chinese culture, especially with all the lanterns! I find it so cute how a vast amount of culture is brought out in such minimal space.
We visited a boba tea spot that had a very interesting design on the floor made of Canadian pennies! There's an alley way in their Chinatown that is called "dragon alley," so that is the design the pennies created. Below is a photo (candid!) of me sitting at the boba tea shop.. but take a look at that dragon!
On our way back to the ship, we walked around some market places. They all reminded me of New York's Chelsea Piers. So many fresh pastries, cheese, wine and flowers! I also forgot to mention that most of the spots in British Columbia had free wifi, so despite the fact that I was bummed out by the Asian parents' vibes, I was occupied with catching up on my social media. Below are a few photos of some spots of each market place we visited. Look at that HUGE display of hot sauces in the last photo though!
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON:
At the end of our cruise, we docked back at Seattle for the ship to unload its passengers of the week and board on a new set for the next week. We got off the ship at around 10AM, and our flight was not until 10PM. So we decided to grab dinner and explore the beauty of Seattle's city!
By far, out of all the cities in the U.S. that I've visited (which isn't many, sadly) and besides the very own city that I live in, Seattle's is my favorite. I don't even know where to begin for this one! First off, Seattle is most known for their farmers market. My cousin and I walked around there and bought ourselves some greek yogurt and pastries. There were so many beautiful and fresh flowers on sale, and almost every girl we walked by were carrying a bouquet of one.
We also visited Seattle's library, which is known to be the biggest library in the nation, with a beautiful view of all ten floors at the very top. I'm not even afraid of heights and this made my heart sink! To be honest, I was a little afraid of dropping my phone when taking the second photo. The library had an auditorium and glass window walls surrounding the entire place. I can see why the West Coast is a happier place.
Before visiting the farmers market and the public library, we obviously had to make a stop at Seattle's Chinatown. We took an Uber there - SUPER CHEAP compared to NYC, costing only less than $8 going from one district to another. In NY, that ride would've costed about $15 with the surcharge.
I asked our driver what the cost of living in Seattle is. He said most adults my age (ages 23 - 27) look to move to Downtown Seattle for IT jobs at companies like Amazon - that's where it's at. Rent is approximately the same as NYC's - $1,000 to $2,000 a month for a one to two bedroom apartment, but much more spacious than the ones in NY. It's understandable - you'd pay the same amount for things in the West Coast, except that you'd get more of it.
Anyway, at Chinatown, my family and I had some noodles soup! It was super yummy and had me craving it throughout the week I returned to New York (still craving some right now). We also had some boba tea (they call it boba tea there!) which costed just under $5 for a huge-regular size!
We took the monorail on our way to the airport. It traveled in lightning speed... No one came around to even check our tickets. Before we got on, we saw other passengers scan their cards onto a little machine. I guess in Seattle they trust that you do the right thing? I don't want to sound wrong - I don't know how things work around there. No one is honest enough in New York to have that system running.
Also, people in Seattle were just so nice and chill. When you're living in NY your entire life, you can be nice all you can to people, but you forget how others can be nice in return.
IN CONCLUSION...
Would I visit Alaska again? Maybe, but not so compelled to. I feel that Alaska is more of a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to do that. However, British Columbia and Seattle are the places I'd definitely revisit. I always had dreams of moving across the country and starting a new life there, but that's so scary when piecing it to reality. Who knows though, maybe my early adult life would bring me there one day. The only scary party of that reality is making new friends.
Anyway, to close here are some photos of on-boat shenanigans!
My first drunken Karaoke night. Took me some guts to do this in front of my family.. but I had Chardonnay by my side!
Me, my sister, my brother & my cousin!
Too bad we had no internet to actually post this LIVE! :(
Funny story with this one -- So while the adults were captivated by what the man was carving out of that ice, the children made their way front and center to pay attention to the ice shards that were falling off.. and they went ahead and slid them across the floor to each other. I was just entertained by the kids.
Daddy & I!