Trans Canadian, Alaskan and more... 2027
Discussion
I promised in my bereavement thread I would start one about a dream trip I am in the midst of planning. I don’t know if this is a pipe dream but I have learned one significant thing – never ever put off anything, ever! Just do it, as the pumps man says!
Anyway, me and my late wife Lynn went on a holiday of a lifetime last year – an amazing road trip from Chicago to LA via a lot of Colorado, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Vegas, Death Vally and Yosemite, and of course Route 66. And some of the Pacific Coast Highway. It was utterly brilliant, and a lot of that was down to the great advice gained from here. The scenery, the people, the food was outstanding. We talked of doing another, and we always liked Canada so northern America became the focus if we were to do it again.
Sadly we never got to live that dream – but I am determined to see it through – there is trepidation as it will likely be on my own, but having chatted to the kids (well, adults), they are likely to be open to coming out for various stops en-route.
Noting the visa waiver gives us 90 days in the USA, I would expect to exploit all of that, or at least as much as I can. Also, am quite prepared to go for longer, and try to obtain a longer 6 month visa – but in the current climate not sure how easy they are to come by, or whether they are sensible!
I have plans for 2026, so this won’t happen till 2027at the earliest, and will tie in nicely with planned leaving the RN, or alternatively some long-extended leave.
Anyway, me and my late wife Lynn went on a holiday of a lifetime last year – an amazing road trip from Chicago to LA via a lot of Colorado, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Vegas, Death Vally and Yosemite, and of course Route 66. And some of the Pacific Coast Highway. It was utterly brilliant, and a lot of that was down to the great advice gained from here. The scenery, the people, the food was outstanding. We talked of doing another, and we always liked Canada so northern America became the focus if we were to do it again.
Sadly we never got to live that dream – but I am determined to see it through – there is trepidation as it will likely be on my own, but having chatted to the kids (well, adults), they are likely to be open to coming out for various stops en-route.
Noting the visa waiver gives us 90 days in the USA, I would expect to exploit all of that, or at least as much as I can. Also, am quite prepared to go for longer, and try to obtain a longer 6 month visa – but in the current climate not sure how easy they are to come by, or whether they are sensible!
I have plans for 2026, so this won’t happen till 2027at the earliest, and will tie in nicely with planned leaving the RN, or alternatively some long-extended leave.
Have been through various alternative strategies (which direction, from where to where etc)but still come back to:
Fly to Boston
Drive north to Nova Scotia, the across to Quebec.
Across Canada (Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, the north coast of the lakes) maybe nip downward to Duluth along the lake, before hitting Winnipeg and then Calgary.
My youngest wants to see the Calgary Stampede (another recommendation from PH!!), so that sort of dictates timings for travel.
Keep heading west to Banff/Jasper and head north to the Alcan, onward to Tok and Fairbanks – short detour to see the Arctic Circle before heading down to Denali, Anchorage and then the Kenai Peninsular. Do some whale watching, bear watching etc.
Then head east, back to Tok, then down to Juneau, before heading south to Vancouver (want to do the Whistler Gondola), and Seattle.
A good source of inspiration is YT channel “Art We There Yet” https://www.youtube.com/@ArtWeThereYet well worth a look.
Now I could head home from here or carry on south to San Francisco and do the PCH, some of which we never got to do last year because of land slides. And I could head home from SF (I guess the 90 days will be up by here) or carry on eastwards as I really want to see Lake Tahoe, and visit Reno, and then drive the Hwy 50 – The Loneliest Road.
I quite fancy visiting the Bonneville Salt Flats then heading up to Yellowstone and then to Mt Rushmore – some great roads in the Badlands, before heading down to Colorado and seeing some of the places there again that Lynn loved so much (Pikes Peak for instance). Denver being another possible return point.
Then time and money dependant, carry on east, and to the east coast (probably Washington DC), along the BlueRidge Parkway.
So minimum is Boston to Seattle via Alaska, but if time/money allows, San Francisco, Denver or ultimately DC.
Fly to Boston
Drive north to Nova Scotia, the across to Quebec.
Across Canada (Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, the north coast of the lakes) maybe nip downward to Duluth along the lake, before hitting Winnipeg and then Calgary.
My youngest wants to see the Calgary Stampede (another recommendation from PH!!), so that sort of dictates timings for travel.
Keep heading west to Banff/Jasper and head north to the Alcan, onward to Tok and Fairbanks – short detour to see the Arctic Circle before heading down to Denali, Anchorage and then the Kenai Peninsular. Do some whale watching, bear watching etc.
Then head east, back to Tok, then down to Juneau, before heading south to Vancouver (want to do the Whistler Gondola), and Seattle.
A good source of inspiration is YT channel “Art We There Yet” https://www.youtube.com/@ArtWeThereYet well worth a look.
Now I could head home from here or carry on south to San Francisco and do the PCH, some of which we never got to do last year because of land slides. And I could head home from SF (I guess the 90 days will be up by here) or carry on eastwards as I really want to see Lake Tahoe, and visit Reno, and then drive the Hwy 50 – The Loneliest Road.
I quite fancy visiting the Bonneville Salt Flats then heading up to Yellowstone and then to Mt Rushmore – some great roads in the Badlands, before heading down to Colorado and seeing some of the places there again that Lynn loved so much (Pikes Peak for instance). Denver being another possible return point.
Then time and money dependant, carry on east, and to the east coast (probably Washington DC), along the BlueRidge Parkway.
So minimum is Boston to Seattle via Alaska, but if time/money allows, San Francisco, Denver or ultimately DC.
It is long, it is extravagant, it will not be cheap. But I figure I can go for as long as I want to – but with 18 months planning time, I just need to work out how lonely it will be. I like the idea of the romance of an RV, but not having RV’d before, that might be too big a step. Plus, RV does not seem a cheap option… El Monte and Cruise America both will offer a rental but wow, the price is huge! Plus, I have never holidayed on my own – but if the kids come out at various places, it breaks it up. It’s like man maths isn’t it!!!
An SUV (and I won’t need a Ford Expedition like we had last year), and fuel with hotels (we did too many hotels/motels last year where we should have exploited AirBnBs more) … I think would be 25-30% cheaper than an RV, fuel (they are ½ the economy at least of an SUV, but I read some are V10s…!!) and camp site passes. Now an RV allows for some free camping … which is where the romance comes in... so maybe there is a ½ way house in there somewhere. More to think about.
I also want to look to see the pros and cons of taking my dog. Getting him there is probably the biggest hassle – need to research some real experience of dogs on a plane! Also thinking maybe the QM2 – there and back with Reggie in kennels on board would approximately (ish) be the same price as two people return flights Business class (approx. £4.5K) – and in the greater scheme of things, that might be an option – will be very relaxed for Reggie! But my sister will have Reggie so not the end of the world. Just thought it might be good to take him if I go alone – but then what restrictions would he impose on what I want to do.
Lots to think about, but I do enjoy this planning phase of things like this!
An SUV (and I won’t need a Ford Expedition like we had last year), and fuel with hotels (we did too many hotels/motels last year where we should have exploited AirBnBs more) … I think would be 25-30% cheaper than an RV, fuel (they are ½ the economy at least of an SUV, but I read some are V10s…!!) and camp site passes. Now an RV allows for some free camping … which is where the romance comes in... so maybe there is a ½ way house in there somewhere. More to think about.
I also want to look to see the pros and cons of taking my dog. Getting him there is probably the biggest hassle – need to research some real experience of dogs on a plane! Also thinking maybe the QM2 – there and back with Reggie in kennels on board would approximately (ish) be the same price as two people return flights Business class (approx. £4.5K) – and in the greater scheme of things, that might be an option – will be very relaxed for Reggie! But my sister will have Reggie so not the end of the world. Just thought it might be good to take him if I go alone – but then what restrictions would he impose on what I want to do.
Lots to think about, but I do enjoy this planning phase of things like this!
We RV'd in Canada this summer, trip of a lifetime. It is quite pricey unfortunately. Much more so on the West but still not exactly cheap on the East. I'd recommend Fraserway over Cruise Canada. I thought the latter was very poor for the money. Work on 10-12mpg to a US gallon too!
North America is really set up for it though. Lots of free parking, more often than not there's free wild camping spots too, most Walmart's will even let you stay overnight which can be used at a pinch.
Municipal campsites are great and reasonably priced. In the summer every 10th vehicle is a camping vehicle of some description it seemed.
To be honest on a longer trip I'd be tempted to ship over my own camper. The Germans seem to do it a bit, we saw a few. When you're paying £1-2k a week to Cruise Canada I don't think you'd have to be there that many weeks for the sums to work out in your favour. You could also triple your fuel economy.
North America is really set up for it though. Lots of free parking, more often than not there's free wild camping spots too, most Walmart's will even let you stay overnight which can be used at a pinch.
Municipal campsites are great and reasonably priced. In the summer every 10th vehicle is a camping vehicle of some description it seemed.
To be honest on a longer trip I'd be tempted to ship over my own camper. The Germans seem to do it a bit, we saw a few. When you're paying £1-2k a week to Cruise Canada I don't think you'd have to be there that many weeks for the sums to work out in your favour. You could also triple your fuel economy.
We've been to a lot of places on that list and going to many more of them in the next year, so I'll reserve comments until you've come up with a more detailed plan, but it sounds amazing. Two thoughts at this stage though:
For the 90 day ESTA rule your time in Canada won't count. It'll be effectively three separate trips, one in the US, then leave the US and do one in Canada, then a longer second visit to the US, so this might help your planning if you hadn't already taken this into account.
I would also personally avoid an RV, I looked into it and with high RV rental costs, overnight camping stay costs and poor fuel economy, it's far cheaper to rent a car and stay in hotels unless you're travelling with a bigger group. I would also prefer to have the security of a big trans-national business that can easily fix/replace my vehicle anywhere in US/Canada on such a long/remote trip. Oh and on some of the long boring journeys I'd want to be doing 70-80mph on the interstate and I'm not sure I'd be ok doing that in an RV.
If you rent a car in the US check that your firm allows use in the whole of Canada, as some have regional restrictions.
For the 90 day ESTA rule your time in Canada won't count. It'll be effectively three separate trips, one in the US, then leave the US and do one in Canada, then a longer second visit to the US, so this might help your planning if you hadn't already taken this into account.
I would also personally avoid an RV, I looked into it and with high RV rental costs, overnight camping stay costs and poor fuel economy, it's far cheaper to rent a car and stay in hotels unless you're travelling with a bigger group. I would also prefer to have the security of a big trans-national business that can easily fix/replace my vehicle anywhere in US/Canada on such a long/remote trip. Oh and on some of the long boring journeys I'd want to be doing 70-80mph on the interstate and I'm not sure I'd be ok doing that in an RV.
If you rent a car in the US check that your firm allows use in the whole of Canada, as some have regional restrictions.
As George Michael famously said, if you’re gonna do it do it right! That’s one hell of a trip, firstly if you do indeed cross the Atlantic on QM then make sure you visit the Samuel Cunard statue in Halifax NS…..
Starting from Boston makes a great circular route, films have always played a huge part of our trip planning and the story of the Andrea Gail meant a must do stop in Gloucester Massachusetts to pay respects at the memorial to those who have been lost at sea.
The expanse between Quebec and the Rockies is vast and bleak, hgv’s and brutal cross winds make day after 500 mile day monotonous, maybe cross the section in the US? The Upper Peninsula, Michigan is far nice and there’s a ferry to cross to Wisconsin crossing Minnesota North Dakota, Montana then up the Eastern side of the Rockies, the journey back down from Alaska via the Stewart - Cassiar Hwy to Vancouver.
If you haven’t already have a look at the “epic rides” section at:
https://advrider.com/f/forums/ride-reports-epic-ri...
It’s motorcycle biased but there’s a good few round trips from east coast US up to Alaska, plenty there for inspiration and often some great tips on off the beaten track routes.
Happy planning and I genuinely hope you get on and do it, we have a family member in life's departure lounge and have spent the past few weeks putting there life possessions in a skip, absolutely heart breaking but the stark realities of our short time on this beautiful rock.
Starting from Boston makes a great circular route, films have always played a huge part of our trip planning and the story of the Andrea Gail meant a must do stop in Gloucester Massachusetts to pay respects at the memorial to those who have been lost at sea.
The expanse between Quebec and the Rockies is vast and bleak, hgv’s and brutal cross winds make day after 500 mile day monotonous, maybe cross the section in the US? The Upper Peninsula, Michigan is far nice and there’s a ferry to cross to Wisconsin crossing Minnesota North Dakota, Montana then up the Eastern side of the Rockies, the journey back down from Alaska via the Stewart - Cassiar Hwy to Vancouver.
If you haven’t already have a look at the “epic rides” section at:
https://advrider.com/f/forums/ride-reports-epic-ri...
It’s motorcycle biased but there’s a good few round trips from east coast US up to Alaska, plenty there for inspiration and often some great tips on off the beaten track routes.
Happy planning and I genuinely hope you get on and do it, we have a family member in life's departure lounge and have spent the past few weeks putting there life possessions in a skip, absolutely heart breaking but the stark realities of our short time on this beautiful rock.
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