Alaska - more than just a trip

A dream of mine came true last weekend by finally going to Alaska. So long have I waited for that moment. It still feels unreal to me because it was always a dream and seemed so unreachable but dreams can come true and so did this one. Although we didn´t see the northern lights, which was a big part for me about that trip I wasn´t that sad about it in the end because the whole experience was totally worth it anyways!

Why it was more than just a trip has a lot to do with where we stayed. Together with two friends I tried couchsurfing for the first time and that experience not only saved our trip, it also taught me a lot about Americans, America and people in general. I learned once again that you should trust your intuition, that everything happens for a reason and that you should not judge a book by its cover.

When we started planning our trip, we started looking for couchsurfers first and found pretty quick two good options. One was with a woman and one with a man, both living in Fairbanks for quite a while. We texted them both and it turned out that the man couldn´t confirm us at that point yet and the woman could so we decided to go with her.

Since then we were texting forth and back, collecting ideas on what to do and looking for a car to rent.

A few days before we would leave for Alaska the other couchsurfer texted us that he could spontaneously host us. I had a better feeling going with him since he was so helpful although he wasn´t even sure before if he could host us. However, we decided to stay with the one we chose before.

As we were sitting at the airport in Anchorage about to fly to our final destination Fairbanks we thought about our couchsurfing situation again. Something told me that we should switch to the man, also because the woman told us she woudn´t be there much because she would have to work. We texted him, he answered and warned us that his apartment is not the nicest and in the basement with no windows but said that he would have a bed for us and we confirmed our stay.

I´m so glad we did!

The principle of couchsurfing still blows my mind! People hosting travellers in their home for free and having that cultural exchange is just amazing. We had that with him and even more. After we arrived in Fairbanks and after some struggles with our rental car we finally got to meet our couchsurfer at his apartment. From the first minute he didn´t seem like a stranger but more like a well-known friend. He welcomed us to his home and we had some wine and talked about our stories, trips and favorite places on earth. Later, when we wanted to pick up the other girl from the airport we got stucked in the snow with our rental car, which by the way, was definitely not the right car for the snow. So our couchsurfer decided to let us drive his truck and we all went to pick up our friend.

The next day was about to start and the first thing we had to do, was to get our car out of the snow and onto the road to drive it back to the airport since also our host recommended us to better give it back. So we returned the car and were without a car from then on. No problem because our host took us on adventures. We told him we would want to go to the Santa house at the north pole so we went there and spent some time strolling around, having coffee and house-made fudge.

After that we went to his brothers house to go on a ride with his snowmobiles. He treated us as if we would know each other for a long time already and the whole trip I had the feeling we would visit a friend. His positive, funny, open, happy and helpful attitude was just incredible. So after we got our adrenaline kick by riding the snowmobiles (or snowmachines what they call it) through the snow we took off to go to the next stop which was the Chena hot springs. Being outside with minus 13 degrees celcius but in the hot water felt great! Of course I had to do the typical Alaskan thing which was to run out and lay in the snow for a minute and do a snowangel and then jump back in. We also booked a tour throuh the ice museum which was interesting to see. On the way back he did some stops for us to try to spot the northern lights but without success. He even took us up on a hill and we stayed there until around 3 in the night but even then the sky was too cloudy to see any lights.

The next day we were all a little tired still and sad that we weren´t successful with the northern lights. Our ideas for the day were to either drive to Denali national park or to go skiing/snowboarding. Turned out that the roads to Denali were too bad and not really worth it to go in winter anyways since most of the park is closed. Also, we called the skiing places around Fairbanks and none of them were open yet or only took very experienced people. Maybe not the best planning at this point but my other idea was to go dogsledding. I almost didn´t consider it anymore because I did some research before that trip and mostly found overpriced tours. However, we decided to call some places and see if they had availability. Also here our couchsurfer helped us and in the end he found a place at an older couples' home who used to do dogsledding races. It was such a sweet, lovely couple who let us get to know their dogs and gave us extra warm clothes to wear. Definitely an experience that I won´t forget that quickly and which has been on my bucketlist since I watched the movie eight bellow as a child. After that we went to an art event since our host had to drop some paintings off there and we had time to stroll around. On the way there we all loudly sang to Christmas music although everyone except me was more like a grinch kinda Christmas type but we all had a blast. At the art event I even met two Germans who are retiring in Fairbanks - small world!

We ended the day by driving through Fairbanks and our host told us about the history of Fairbanks. We had dinner, relaxed by the fire place and went back home. At night we wanted to give the northern lights another chance since it was our last night. Our couchsurfer felt tired so he let us borrow one of his trucks. Again - it felt like we would know each other for so long but actually just since 2 days. Also that night we weren´t lucky but I´m pretty sure it wasn´t the last time I was in Alaska.

On our last night in Fairbanks our couchsurfer also shared something else with us which made me think. He poudly showed us his collections of guns. Might not seem that surprising in America or especially in Alaska but for me it was the first time I saw one and I was kind of shocked when he said that besides hunting and as protection from bears, he or at least most people in Alaska would also use it as potection from other humans since people ''can be crazy''. When I looked at him with doubting eyes he asked if I haven´t heard about all those shootings in America. And all of the sudden the peaceful, beautiful Alaska had a different image for me. I just don´t get how we can live in a world where people feel safer when they carry a weapon with them and he created a different image of himself too. When he then also showed us his Trump hat I was confused. Through media and other people there was a certain image in my head of people supporting Trump. And he would have never fit in there before. Again, he was so kind and a welcoming, understanding and helpful human being who travelled the world and already hosted all kinds of people from all over the place. He also explained his political view to us and that it was mostly because of economic reasons for him, which was interesting for sure but also strange.

What I´m trying to say is if I would have known that before I´m not sure if I would have chosen him. I guess it´s normal that we all have images in our heads about certain things and topics and surely stereotypes is a thing but maybe sometimes we have to be a little bit more open and take our time to get to know the other person, their viewpoints and stories. We should never judge other people because we will never know them completely. In the end I could have not imagined a better host for our Alaska trip and he truely saved our trip with his generosity and kindness.

The next morning he dropped us off at the airport, stopped for us at Walgreens and we said goodbye as friends. I´m feeling grateful that I got to make this experience and meet this lovely human.