Travel

There are few places in the United States that can boast as much natural beauty and Alaska, and when it comes to untamed natural beauty, this state wins hands down.  From magnificent snow capped mountains to serene lakes full of salmon, Alaska offers an outdoor vacation that’s hard to beat.

If you’re flying into Alaska, your main choices are Anchorage in the south of the state or Fairbanks in the north.  One way of getting the best from your time in Alaska is to fly into one of the airports and out of the other.  Then you have a choice of you’ll get from one to other, and part of your vacation will be traveling in the direction of your return airport – this can be by car or train.  For added adventure, you can take the train from Anchorage to Fairbanks (or vice versa) – this journey of just under 350 miles will give you not only breathtaking views of Mt. McKinley, crosses the 700ft Mears Memorial bridge and clings to the side of Nenana River Canyon, but it also takes you across Hurricane Gulch – 918ft wide!  This is a train journey you won’t ever forget!

Sports and leisure opportunities abound in Alaska, whether you prefer to go backpacking in Denali National Park, or dog mushing near Fairbanks, you’ll find something new to experience – note however that if you intend to spend the night camping in Denali National Park you will need to make a reservation to do so as the park has strict monitoring processes in place.  Fishing, canoeing on the lakes, photographing the natural wildlife, and panning for gold offer more sedate past-times.  You’ll even find you can have a round of golf or two if you’re missing your usual tee-time!  On the other side of the scale, extreme sports – such as rock climbing, heli-skiing, rafting etc are also available for those who enjoy the thrill and adventure involved.

Alaska has a lot more to offer than snow and ice. A vacation here will leave you wishing you had longer to spend in the state, and planning your return visit.

Orlando, Florida’s Epcot is a tourist attraction that will take a full day to explore, but if you want to sample all of the rides and exhibits, you have a multi-park ticket and find a spare half-day on your hands, then you may find you need to come back to Epcot to “finish off” what you don’t manage to see the first time – this is especially true in summer where queues for some exhibits can be quite long.

Split into two main sections Epcot consists of “Future World” and “World Showcase”.  These two sections are then fragmented into different individual exhibits on all a theme which fits the overall theme of the section.

Future World is divided up into sections such as Spaceship Earth which is about the history of communication and technologies, Innovations with its interactive technological exhibits, Test Track a high speed ride on an automotive factory testing grounds, Universe of Energy which shows how to generate energy and the Land and Seas Exhibitions where the attractions give fun ways of learning about our natural environment both on land and in the sea.  Space enthusiasts will love with Mission: SPACE ride which simulates space program training!

In the World Showcase you can travel around the world in as little time as you have available.  Each of the countries in the showcase has a interactive exhibit, a gift store selling produce and goods from the country, and food/drink traditional to that part of the world.  Some of the exhibits are more fact (such as the 360 Circle Vision movies for Canada and China) than fun (such as Norway’s Maelstrom boat ride, and America’s audio-animatronics American Adventure), but there’s something for everyone – and none of the rides in the exhibits are wild, making them good for all age groups.

Refreshments in Epcot are expensive, but apart from that, Epcot is a tourist attraction that’s primarily entertaining, but which also educates in a fun way at the same time, making it a great place to bring the kids to learn about the world in which they live.