Alaska for the Holidays

Alaska for the Holidays

We spent about 3 weeks in Anchorage, Alaska for the Holidays (Christmas and New Year’s). Luckily we could find a house/pet sit to cover the lodging expenses and the homeowner allowed us to use her truck while we were there.  Therefore, we had no lodging or rental car expenses. Also, we used miles to fly there and back, so it was pretty much a free trip. Our only expenses were food, fuel, parking, and other miscellaneous items. So, it’s not exactly free, but much cheaper.

Our house/pet sit was for 2 cats and a dog. We could leave the dog at home for up to 3 hours, but that limited our ability to explore. The homeowner said we could use doggy daycare if we needed to explore further away from Anchorage. However, we would be responsible for the cost of daycare ($45 a day). That was reasonable since we had no car expenses other than fuel.

Unfortunately, we only had a glimpse of a moose and did not see the northern lights. It was too damn cold outside to look for the northern lights at midnight on New Year’s Eve.

To learn more about house/pet sitting, check out my post about using it as an alternative to paid lodging. Also, check out our videos from this trip on YouTube.

About the House and Location

We had our own space on the second floor to use. This area included 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a kitchen, a laundry room, and a small sitting area within the main bedroom.  We used one of the bedrooms as an office since it had a nice desk and was away from the main bedroom where we slept. The homeowner was there for 2 nights when we arrived, and 1 night before we left. Other than those 3 nights, we had full use of the rest of the house including another kitchen, a dining room, a bathroom, and a den area with a nice large flatscreen TV. The only area we did not use on the main level was her bedroom.

The house was located near the zoo on a quiet street about 15 minutes from downtown Anchorage. As mentioned above, we also used her vehicle while we were there. This was great as we could take the dog to the dog park, and daycare. In addition, we could use it to explore, go to the store, and go out to eat a few times. The homeowner showed us around Anchorage the 2 days after we arrived and took us out for a couple of meals, we took her out for one as well.

Day Trips

We took a couple of day trips, one to Whittier and the other to Wasilla (we couldn’t see Russia, though; it must have been too cloudy), Palmer, and Matanuska Glacier State Recreation Site. These were full-day trips, and we used the doggy daycare services on these days. The rest of the time, we explored some areas close to Anchorage, as we did not use doggy daycare on those days.

Costs

Below is a breakdown of our expenses for 20 days in Anchorage, Alaska. Since we were house/pet sitting, our lodging cost was $0. The homeowner allowed us to use her car, so we only had to pay for fuel. We did take the dog to the doggy daycare for 2 days while we explored the area. Also, we used miles to fly there, so we only had to pay a small amount for airfare. Our daily cost was about $70, which is quite cheap for Alaska.