Tales & Trails of a Traveling Wiseguy

It's time to go back to Alaska. Topically, that is. It feels like my trip there was two months ago even though it was literally just two weeks ago. (The last day of my trip was Wednesday, June 17.)  One thing I've been meaning to write about since even before I embarked on the trip is a retrospective on how I planned it: How I finally got to Alaska.

Alaska has been on my list of places to go for years. It's actually on two bucket lists I have: One is to visit all the states in the US— which I've now done, Alaska being #51 out of 51. (It's 51 because I include Washington, D.C.) The other is to visit all the national parks in the US. There are currently 63 parks, eight of which are in Alaska. Until recently I had 11 parks left to go— including all 8 in Alaska. (Now it's 10 and 7.) Clearly I was going to have to go to Alaska!

I've been saying for several years now, "This summer I'll go to Alaska." It's an easy thing to say, a slightly harder thing to do. But it's not logistically hard. There are commercial airline flights to multiple cities in Alaska. And it hasn't been a money issue; not for the last umpteen years, at least.

Too Many Good Ideas

The part that's been hard is the planning. It's hard because it's not simply a matter of, "I'll book and pay for this flight to Anchorage." I want to do stuff in Alaska— fun stuff, worthwhile stuff— not just tap a foot on the base on leave. Like, Denali is there, the highest peak in North America. And countless other things.

Ultimately the hard part with planning was the superabundance of great things to do. I'd be, like, "Okay, we'll fly to Anchorage and drive to visit Denali National Park. But there's also stuff to do near Anchorage before and after. But maybe before, because after visiting Denali we could drive further north a visit another park. But the only way in is via chartering a flight, so maybe we do that from Fairbanks. And...." It became analysis paralysis.

Simplify!

The solution to analysis paralysis is to simplify: reduce the scope of the question. Rather than solve for, "How do I plan a perfect 9-10 day trip to Alaska that hits all the high points?" I changed the question to, "How do I plan a fun 4-5 day trip to Alaska that hits one great thing?" And that's how I focused in on Kenai Fjords National Park.

BTW, this was the same approach that got us to Australia last December. For years we've been wanting to visit Australia, but the complexity of planning a "perfect" trip has always left us putting it off. I mean, it's a whole freaking country and there's so much to do! Last November we decided to simplify: We decided we'd focus on one major city (we picked Sydney), find just enough stuff for a solid one-week trip (which means 10-11 days including travel time), and look for clusters of enjoyable things within a 2-3 hour driving radius. It worked. It worked beautifully. And of course we'll have to go back to Australia at least a few more times to see & do everything we want to see & do. Just like we're going to need to visit Alaska a few more times. But that's the strength of the approach rather than it's weakness— because now we've been there once and have better insights on how to go back!

I don't have much in the way of souvenirs from our trip to Australia late last year. I mean, I've got tons of memories and gigs of photos. I don't have much in the way of tangible stuff. But that's par for the course for me. I tend not to buy a lot of stuff overseas. One thing I always try to do, though, is bring a bit of money home with me.



Money's kind of the easiest souvenir. Virtually everyone has some to sell. And if at some point I decide I don't like it, I can sell it back for what I paid for it. 🤣

But seriously, I've always been curious about money from different places. I started collecting odd coins when I was a kid, setting aside the Canadian money I'd sometimes find in my change when I bought something small in the northeastern US, or some other foreign coin I'd be lucky enough to find lying in the street. More recently I've pocketed a small amount of money like 2 Dinar from Jordan and the notes and coins I brought home from the Cayman Islands.

One of the practical challenges with "collecting" foreign money as souvenirs is not being stranded with too much of it. I shared a photo of Australia's colorful paper money several days ago. As I noted at the time, that was way too much money, $105 AU equal to roughly $70 US, to call a simple souvenir. In the photo above I've got two $1 coins and 50¢, 20¢, and 5¢ pieces. $2.75 AU = $1.80 US, a much more economical souvenir.

My ankle is still sore from the trip to Australia. It's been over two weeks since getting home and now almost 3 weeks since originally injuring it.

The first few days back home it was still sprained. Going up and down stairs in my house required slow, careful, and painful steps. After a few days that acute pain disappeared but there was a still a dull ache I'd notice when I thought about it. That pain is still there, and I feel stiffness when I do stairs or walk more than a short distance.

A few days ago I realized this sprain was bad enough it's not just going away on its own. Probably that's because I did myself no favors by hiking for 2 days after I injured it. Anyway, I started doing some self-guided physical therapy exercises over the weekend. These are things I remember learning from a skilled therapist when I had an ankle problem years ago, to rebuild strength and preserve range of motion. I'm confident I'll get back to 100%. I'm just not sure right now how long it will take. I mean, it could be a few weeks. Thankfully it's not the high season for hiking right now. Yay, crummy weather.

Australia Travelog #48
Somewhere over the South Pacific - Sun, 31 Dec 2023, ??pm

I've been enjoying my unexpected upgrade aboard our flight home from Sydney for a few hours now. This op-up, or operational upgrade, came as we'd been sitting in our seats for over an hour while the aircraft was still at the gate. Ultimately we left about 90 minutes late.

What's an operational upgrade? It's an upgrade the flight crew & local staff operating the flight choose to give to passengers without requiring any upgrade instrument to support it. What's an instrument? It's an upgrade paid for by the passenger, via cash or certificate, or it's a spot on a complimentary upgrade list managed carefully by corporate policies.

Okay, that sure reads like a lot of industry jargon. Here's what the upgrade looks like. 😅



We're in United's Polaris class. What is Polaris? Okay, I promise I won't make this jargon-y. 😂 Polaris is a name United made up for its premium class that's basically halfway between modern notions of First Class and Business Class on international flights. It more spacious that most airlines' international business, and it has lay-flat seats. But it's not as spacious as many airlines' international first class seating, and the service is still United Airlines— which means it's not the high standard of food, drink, and human service that many foreign airlines deliver. But hey, it's among the nicest seats I've ever flown in, and it's an op-up— I think it's the first one of those (though maybe the second) I've had in over 1.5 million miles of flying. In fact this is the even more elusive double op-up, as we bypassed Premium Economy to land in Polaris.



The food, drinks, and service may not measure up to the high standards of many Asian and Middle East airlines, but they're better than nearly anything I've had before on a US-flagged carrier. I perused the menu card as I sat down and familiarized myself with the seat. I've actually never seen a menu card fill both sides of a full size page before. Before takeoff a flight attendant asked which dinner I'd prefer. Even though I was still pretty full from free food and booze at the Singapore flight lounge I eagerly requested the beef brisket. And a glass a Champagne to keep the party going while I waited for takeoff. 🤣



Once in the air I experimented with the seat adjustments. The seat can recline all the way into a lay-flat position, with a leg rest rising to meet the foot compartment under the infotainment screen. I didn't actually feel like laying flat, especially before dinner, so I reclined the seat just a bit and raised the leg rest to put my feet up. Ahh, take that, sprained ankle! (Yes, I was hobbling through the oversized, overpriced shopping mall named Sydney International Airport earlier today. There is no back, only forward!)

Shit Rolls and Not-Shit Rolls

When dinner came, it was amusing. It was amusing how much better it was than the meal United served in coach on our flight out to Australia. I mean, the fact that there's tender meat and fresh steamed vegetables and not one but two salads— the traditional salad and a sort-of caprese salad with fresh buffalo mozzarella—doesn't surprise me. I fully expect the food in hybrid business/first Polaris to be better. But the roll is better, too. Way better. And that's what's amusing.

You see, this roll (on the upper-right of my table setting in the photo above) is soft and not ice-code and actually edible. That's all the opposite of the shit roll they served us in coach. And that's what's amusing— that United stocks two kinds of rolls, shit rolls and not-shit rolls.

How many pennies per passenger does United save by serving the shit rolls in coach instead of giving everyone a not-shit roll? How much more does it cost them to manage inventory of two kinds of rolls? Arguably they could save money by simplifying and serving only non-shit rolls. Though having non-shit rolls in all classes of service that might reduce the premium they can charge for Polaris. 🤣

The Sundae Cart

Once upon a time, part of the experience of flying in First Class was the cart of prime rib that would roll down the aisle. Passengers would tell glamorously attired flight attendants how they preferred their roast, and the FAs would obliging carve off a slice right there in the aisle.



There's no roast beef cart anymore— I think that disappeared before miniskirt uniforms and smoking sections did— but there is a sundae cart. Well, technically it's a dessert cart because it's got more than sundaes, but today I'm all about the sundae!



I got mine with both chocolate and caramel syrup and a dollop of whipped cream. 😳🍨🤤

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream?

Since finishing dinner I've been trying to settle down for the rest of the flight. It's a long one, over 13 hours. Not quite as long as the 15+ hours on the way to Australia; the jet stream helps a bit on the eastward flight home.

What time is it now? I don't know. I mean, my phone says it's about 8pm on the 31st. That's the time in Australia. And my laptop says it's about 1am on the 31st. That's the time at home. But what time is it, effectively, for me? That's what I don't know.

I was hoping to catch close to a full night's sleep on this flight, to help readjust to the time zone at home. My hopes for sleep went way up with the benefit of this upgrade. But right now I'm not feeling very sleepy, and that's even after having at least 8 glasses of wine today between the flight lounge and this upgraded flight. We'll see.

Australia Travelog #44
Leura, NSW - Sun, 31 Dec 2023, 9am

Well, it's that sad time in almost any trip: packing to go home. We've spent about 30 minutes pulling our bags together. In a few minutes we'll leave the hotel, get in the car, drive to Sydney Airport, and await our flight home.

Could we try to squeeze in one last hike or sightseeing bit today? Not really. Though our departure isn't until 2pm, between the time it takes to drive, gas up and return the car, and allow for lines at the airport when flying internationally there really isn't time to commit to anything else in our schedule. And the weather sucks today anyway. It's cold outside (in summer!) and raining. At least that lessens the sting of this last day in Australia being a travel-only day.

I note that today I slept in until my 7am alarm and then hit the snooze button a few times. There was no waking up at 4-5am and being unable to get back to sleep today. I've finally acclimated to the time zone change... just in time to leave. 🤣 When we get back it'll take me 5 days to readjust to home.

Australia Travelog #42
Blackheath, NSW - Sat, 30 Dec 2023, 7:30pm

When we finished up our (second) hike at Katoomba Falls this afternoon it was only 5:30pm. "Only" 5:30... and we'd already been out all day! But I have a saying, "As long there is light, as long there is water, as long I have energy, I walk." Though that may have been eclipsed this week by There is no back, only forward. 😂 Either way, I still had a bit of spring in my step. It was too early to call it a day.

Govett's Leap, Again

We drove west to the town of Blackheath and then out to Govett's Leap. Yes, this is the second time we've been there; we visited Govett's leap yesterday, too! But yesterday my ankle was really achy and today it is... only mostly achy. We were ready to try a hike a mile or so around the rim to see another waterfalls!

Alas as we got about 1/4 mile out the sky rapidly darkened and scattered drops of rain began to fall. Would we want to continue into worsening weather? As we were discussing that question at another overlook we queried a pair of hikers who were returning from farther out. One of the trails is closed, they warned us, and to get a good view of anything you have to walk about 4 miles roundtrip. That made our decision for us: we returned to the trailhead and the car.

Victoria Falls Goose Bin Chicken Chase

I was still not ready to call it a day, though. There was one more hike I'd spotted on our maps out in this direction, Victoria Falls. And there was a 4x4 road leading straight to it.



The road out to Victoria Falls felt very remote. ...Not because it was a rough road; it was actually pretty mild as far as 4x4 roads go. It was compacted dirt and well graded. Though as we'd purchased all the optional insurances on our rental car I thought about hooning it through just to see what would happen. I chose against hoonery because it was so deserted out here. If we wrecked we might have to wait hours for help, regardless of insurance.

When we got to the trailhead we found that the map calling it "Victoria Falls Lookout" was a cruel joke. A sign at the "lookout" at the end of the road explained that there was no vista there... and that even to glimpse Victoria Falls would require a strenuous hike of a few hours. We noped out of that and drove back across the 4x4 bunny trail to the Great Western Highway.

Dinner at the "OK, Boomer" Chippy

It was nearing 7pm as we got back to civilization, aka a paved road with painted lane markings on it. It was time for dinner. Back in Blackheath, a few miles back toward our hotel, we'd spotted a few restaurants that looked worth trying... including a fast-casual fish-and-chips shop right alongside the main road.



Hawk's not a fan of fish at all, but this big sign of theirs that promised burgers and chicken meant that both of us were sure to find something we like.

It turns out "BBQ Chicken" actually meant fried chicken nuggets with barbecue sauce... but that was perfect because that's actually one of Hawk's favorite fast-food meals. I was ready to order a burger but then spotted "Chicken parma" near the end of the menu. I asked what kind of sandwich that was, figuring it was almost certainly a chicken parmigiana sandwich... and it was. But with mayonnaise. Ugh. Who puts mayo on a parm sandwich?!

I ordered my sandwich hold-the-mayo, and the cashier was incredulous. "You really want it with no mayonnaise?" he asked, as if he'd never met a person who thinks mayonnaise is disgusting and is a cultural affront on an Italian-style sandwich. "Correct," I told him. "Do you still want the tomato sauce, then?" he asked, still incredulous. Fuck him and his culturally ignorant, mayonnaise eating ways. At least the kitchen staff prepared it correctly. I mean, not ruining it by slathering mayo on it is easy. The chicken tasted freshly fried, so overall the sandwich was great.

Now it's time to head back to the hotel for the evening.

Australia Travelog #40
Leura, NSW - Sat, 30 Dec 2023, 1pm

One of the first things we did when we landed in Australia at the start of the week was get some cash. We knew from reading ahead that it's easy to get around in Australia without cash; credit/debit cards are widely used. For example, transit buses have nicely integrated tap-to-pay systems. Parking meters have them, too, as do street vendors. So far in one week there's nothing we've had to pay by cash. But we like to have some local currency in hand whenever traveling even in mostly cashless societies because (a) sometimes in a remote place, or in an emergency, cards aren't accepted and you need cash; and (b) when negotiating with certain kinds of sellers you can get a discount for cash.

When we hit the ATM at the airport we got a bunch of $50 notes. Now that we've chosen to pay cash for a few things we have some smaller change. Look at how colorful Australian money is!



The colors are an anti-counterfeit technique. The US could learn from that since we're so concerned about counterfeiting (and, indeed, it is a problem)... but we're also too stodgy about our good ol' greenbacks to accept change. Oh, and the colors make it easier to tell at a glance which denomination is which.

Another difference between Australian money and US is that Australian "paper" money is actually plastic. It's a polymer blend. This is also an anti-counterfeiting technique. The US has slightly dipped its toe in this water by including micro-strips of plastic in its newer bills. But other than that US "paper" money remains a fabric— a 75/25 blend of cotton and linen.

Oh, and as for us using an ATM in the airport? Forget those old-fashioned currency exchange kiosks and offices. They charge often a 10% vig between crooked exchange rates and transaction fees. In most first-world countries the past 20 years the cheapest way to get local currency is to visit an ATM and withdraw it from your home-country bank account.

BTW, as pretty as this splash of cash is, I am not going to bring it home as a souvenir. There's $105 AU in the photo... that's $70 US, too much for a souvenir. We've been spending our wad down from $300 the past few days so it's not a stranded investment. I'll keep a few coins for my currency collection, but as for this money— we'll make a point of spending it today and tomorrow.

Australia Travelog #38
Leura, NSW - Sat, 30 Dec 2023, 12:30pm

The steep trail down to the bottom of Bridal Veil Falls was worth it. And the climb up on the return I knew I'd have to do was worth it, too. I knew both of these things as soon as we got to the foot of the falls.



From this angle down here at the bottom of the falls we couldn't see most of the falls. They were way above of us. But this little bit we did see— this little bit that's still a towering massif with water pouring over it— was amazing. We found a flat rock off to the left in the sun to sit on.



We explored a bit around the foot of the falls. The rocks were slippery, of course, with all the water and spray pouring over them, so we stepped gingerly. And, honestly, we didn't explore that far. We were already past the safety fence anyway. WIth my already sprained ankle I didn't want to risk slipping and having to do the ascent in worse pain.



Back on the other side of the safety rail some fellow hikers offered to take our picture.

Then it was time to make the slow ascent up the canyon.



The ascent, too was worth it. And not just because we had to get home eventually but because it brought us new views of Bridal Veil Falls. The photo above shows a view from above it and to the side.

The trail wound down from this viewpoint to the top of the falls itself. Of course right at the top there isn't much to see. There's just a stream until... there's not. So we headed upstream to the Leura Cascades.



The Leura Cascades are a set of small, stair-step falls. Again we climbed around the safety rail and perched on large rocks to enjoy the falls from a closer vantage point.

We looped around from the Leura Cascades to Cliff Drive, the part of the road that's closed off as you can see in the barricade picture at the top of part 1 of this trek (previous blog). Oddly this last 1/2 mile or so on paved road was the hardest on me. It's not because it was a paved road but because it was steadily uphill and my sprained ankle was asserting itself pretty hard. Well, the next stop is lunch!

Australia Travelog #36
Katoomba, NSW - Sat, 30 Dec 2023, 10am

Today's our last day in Australia. Well, our last full day. And though my ankle still hurts from overdoing it on Thursday— and, frankly, overdoing it again on Friday when I was already hurting— I am determined to maximize what I am able to see and do today. There is no back, only forward.



The cool thing about there being many small towns bordering Blue Mountains National Park and Jamison Valley is that there are many entrances. We drove up to a spot in town marked "Katoomba Kiosk", parked in one of the few spots the side of the road— which was easy "early" in the morning at 9am— and walked down a short, paved trail down to the canyon rim.

The photo above is from Reid's Plateau, a small climb up after the dip below the rim. From here there are nearly 360° views, including out across the broad canyon. There's an aerial tram crossing this nook of the canyon. That's operated by an adventure company here in town. They also have an inclined train that goes down/up the canyon. It was originally built for mining work decades ago and was repurposed for tourism. We looked at buying tickets for the inclined train as a way to get out of the canyon rather than hiking back up the ~1,000' ascent from the bottom but reservations are required and the time windows available didn't fit out needs.



Here's another view out across the canyon from Reid's Plateau. In this photo (above) I've zoomed in on Orphan Rock, that spire rising up in the center of the frame.

Hawk found a blog in the research we were doing on hikes in the area where someone wrote about climbing Orphan Rock recently. There used to be a maintained trail there. ...A tough one, with ladder-like rails in the rock. It was closed years ago after damage that the park service chose not to repair. We could see the remnants of the hand rails on the rocks.



Turning to the other side of the viewpoint we found views of Katoomba Falls. Hiking it has been one my top priorities the past several days. Alas we didn't do it early, and now I'm not well enough to get all the way to the bottom and back up. And the train (mentioned above) don't serve our needs well enough for coming back up. So we'll satisfy outselves with going just part way down. I see on the may what looks like a beautiful viewpoint near the bottom of the top tier of the falls.

Ah, but there's another problem: the sun. The falls are in deep shade right now. They'd look better in the light! Sounds nitpicky, right? But here's the thing. With a photographer's mindset I think about where the light will be at different times of day. I can look at this scene, consult a compass, plot where the sun will be as it travels across the sky throughout the day, remember to flip all that upside down as we're "Down Under" in the southern hemisphere 😂, and conclude that this scene will look way better after, say, 3pm.

So: We'll bail out of this hike for now, hike another falls— which are currently facing into the sun— this morning, and come back here after lunch and other stuff.

Oh, but while we're here we'll visit another falls that's currently in the sun and won't be at 3pm.



This is Witches Leap, a drop of about 80' high on the canyon wall. Getting down to this vantage point was a drop of at least 100' on the trail... and an equal, but slower, climb out. 😣 And yes, we'll have to come right back down this way (and up it again) when we return for Katoomba falls this afternoon. Oh, the pains I go to to have fun.

Australia Travelog #34
Leura, NSW - Fri, 29 Dec 2023, 9pm

After dinner this evening we stopped by the grocery store in town again. Our main purpose this time was to buy painkillers. Yeah, my ankle is still killing me after I strained it from hiking down and back up too many canyons on Thursday, then did it no favors as I overdid it again today with several miles of hiking and maybe 1,000 feet of down/up.

Didn't I bring painkillers like ibuprofen and acetaminophen? Oh, I always do. It's just that I've gobbled them all up already and need more to get through the last 48+ hours of this trip. Especially because I want to be active tomorrow, our last full day of the trip, when the weather's supposed to be great (finally! After a week of so much rain!) and there are two outstanding hikes I still want to do.

When it comes to buying over-the-counter painkillers I've read that the huge bottles we can buy in the US are considered crazy and not sold in other countries. Indeed, at the town's grocery store the biggest package of ibuprofen I could buy was 24 pills. Compare that to the US, where at my local Safeway I can buy Advil (brand name) in bottles up to 300 pills and store-brand ibuprofen in packages of up to 500. At Costco I can buy ibuprofen 1,000 at a time. But in Australia, only 24. Foreign doctors on YouTube have mansplained (complete with heavy finger-wagging on camera) it's so I don't kill myself. Thanks, but I learned from a young age not to drink the bottle of pills.

Speaking of drinking the bottle, beer is hard to buy in Australia, too. Oh, there are bars and pubs everywhere. But booze can't be sold at grocery stores. Even ordinary beer and wine can only be sold at specialty liquor stores. Sheesh, these are worse blue laws than just about anywhere in the US. Oh, and because the specialty stores have limited hours you've got to plan ahead if you want to enjoy a drink in the comfort and safety of your own home. I bought a four-pack of some Aussie beer yesterday— planning a midday shopping trip when the stores were actually open— that I'll enjoy a few cans of tonight. To wash down all those ibuprofen. 🤪

Update: We also looked for food for a trail lunch tomorrow at the grocery store. Like our previous visit, there was nothing appropriate. Maybe we'll dine at the BP gas station again tomorrow!