If you’re traveling entirely by cruise ship or land expedition, you can get away with bringing all sorts of luggage with you \u2014 it’ll be handled for you. Ditto if you’re only shuttling between big hotels or resorts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But if you plan to travel around the state on your own or dig into life in small towns \u2014 and let’s face it, that’s where you’ll find the most authentic sampling of real Alaska life and experiences \u2014 then traveling light becomes much more attractive. If you’re traveling by plane at all it becomes a downright necessity, because both luggage weight and space are extremely limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just how <\/em>light you go depends very much on your own comfort level. For example: Some people will happily rewear clothing to cut down on how much you have to pack and\/or how much laundry you do while here. Others are repelled by the idea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With that in mind, here are some pointers on where you can minimize luggage on a trip to Alaska. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’re willing to rewear clothes, and\/or only bring multiples of the clothing items that go next to your skin and thus need to be changed most frequently (underwear, t-shirt, etc.) you can get by with packing surprisingly little clothing. And if your budget allows, you can always supplement what you’ve brought with clothing purchased here \u2014 the most practical kind of souvenir. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For an idea of what I usually pack on trips around the state, check out my Alaska travel packing list<\/a>. Depending on the weather I might throw in three t-shirts, or two t-shirts and a sun dress… and that’s it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Need a laundromat? If you’re in a fishing town, there’s probably one near the harbor \u2014 and they’re sometimes open after hours if the fishing boats are expected in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And, hey! If you’re camping, some laundromats also offer shower facilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n My travel guidebook is full of beautiful pictures, most of which I took \u2014 and I’ve never bothered to carry anything bigger than a 200mm zoom lens. If you’re planning a mix of “in town” and “out of town” activities, you can end up with an unwieldy mix of “in town” and “out of town” gear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But there’s good news: Most places in Alaska are super-casual, so you can get away with mostly packing as if you were going on an extended outdoor trip \u2014 just ditch the city gear* entirely. You can wander around in your hiking boots and hiking backpack, and most people won’t even bat an eye. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Does anybody even carry print books anymore? I know I do. We have some pretty good bookstores up here, though, and some of them will have fascinating “Alaskana” titles you can’t get anywhere else. So if you don’t want to go full on e-reader, try to limit yourself to one book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course I hope you’ll carry my travel guidebook<\/a>, too \u2014 it’s handy to have a print reference for when your cell phone dies or you’re out of cell service. But if you’re really intent on going light, it’s also available as an eBook. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Image by Barbara Jackson<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you’re traveling entirely by cruise ship or land expedition, you can get away with bringing all sorts of luggage with you \u2014 it’ll be handled for you. Ditto if you’re only shuttling between big hotels or resorts. But if you plan to travel around the state on your own or dig into life in small towns \u2014 and let’s face it, that’s where you’ll find the most authentic sampling of real Alaska life and experiences \u2014 then traveling light becomes much more attractive. If you’re traveling by plane at all it becomes a downright necessity, because both luggage weight <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[23],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cometoalaska.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/parasailing-579960-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cometoalaska.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cometoalaska.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cometoalaska.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cometoalaska.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cometoalaska.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cometoalaska.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156,"href":"https:\/\/cometoalaska.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions\/156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cometoalaska.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cometoalaska.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cometoalaska.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cometoalaska.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Clothes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Camera<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
I don’t want to rob any of the fun from visitors who bring much bigger lenses with them \u2014 if photography is at the center of your life or your visitor experience, go for it! But if you’re looking for a place to cut weight, this is a big one. <\/p>\n\n\n\nGeneral gear<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Bonus tip: Books<\/h2>\n\n\n\n