In last year travel has been great, and has had its challenges. We all want to travel by air, boat, or whatever means necessary. We all want to go places. This year, many people will be coming to Alaska for the trip of a lifetime. Fish, hunt, see Denali, a bear or 2, and some meese (moose).
With that, the challenges of the last couple of years have impacted every industry including the airlines. Lost baggage has increased, and that is bad news for travelers who are coming to Alaska to fish. Lost waders, rods, and your favorite flies, to put it littely can put a damper on your fishing trip of a lifetime.
So today, we provide some tips to help alleviate some of those challenges. We can not prevent bad things from happening, but we can help Advil the problem if you follow these tips to travel to Alaska.
- Put contact information in and out of your luggage- Make sure your luggage has your name and contact information- Phone, Email, and where you’re going. If you’re going to a fishing lodge where you won’t have phone service, it’s always nice to have a local advocate. Check with the lodge to see if you can give the airlines a local contact.
- Make a list of contents and save it- The easiest way to do this is to list all the while you are packing. Where this comes in handy is if your luggage does get lost, all your items’ value is easily attainable for insurance purposes. Hopefully, it never comes to that.
- Pack your EDC knife in your check luggage- Knives are handy. Everyone should have one with them all the time. It’s amazing how many times a day you can use a knife. With that, many knives are collected by TSA at check-in stations. Don’t be the person who loses a lovely knife at the TSA screening station. TSA has the largest knife collection.
- Don’t Pack too much- Just because your carrier to Alaska allows 2 (two), 50-pound bags doesn’t mean your Alaska Bush flight allows the same weight. Always defer to your end destination carrier when you come to Alaska. Most lodges will have a packing list that you can reference, and you should.
Most lodges have been around a long time and know what they are doing. Packing Lists for Alaska West Lodge and Rapids Camp Lodge, or any lodge in Alaska know what they are doing through experience and have found the balance between too much and not enough. It never hurts to ask. Fish on!
***Air Tags in your checked rod tube(s) and checked bags.