When considering the size of Alaska, a road trip planner will invariably ask if Alaska can truly be explored in one road trip. Alaska offers vast mountains, colossal blue-white glaciers and an abundance of wildlife with activities unique to the state; this combination earns an Alaskan Road Trip top honors in travelers’ memory books.

For most road trip planners, their itinerary will start with flight plans. Most people flying in will land in Anchorage. At this point, they’ll either rent a car and stay in hotels along the way (reserved in advance of course!) or they’ll rent an RV to explore Alaska at their own pace (with their itinerary allowing impromptu exploration options).

After exploring Anchorage’s offerings, many place the city of Tok as a destination in their road trip planner because it helps create a good triangle for your road trip. Tok is known as the “Sled Dog Capital of Alaska”. Plan on 5 ½ hours driving time from Anchorage but I know you’ll stop – even spend a day or two – around the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Get ready for the largest and most magnificent of the National Parks of Alaska, with 9 of the 16 highest peaks in the United States. This mountain region contains numerous glaciers, lakes and mountain streams and is home to a rich variety of wild life. It is superb country for climbers, walkers and water sports enthusiasts.

Fairbanks would be the third point of your trip triangle to add to your road trip planner (Anchorage to Tok to Fairbanks). Some travelers start their Alaskan Road Trip by flying in to Fairbanks, so for them, their trip triangle would be Fairbanks, Anchorage, Tok. Fairbanks is second biggest city of Alaska and has the all the amenities of an urban community. The Gold Rush Street at Pioneer Park was a replica but a real operating gold mine exists in this proud city. Visit the Museum of the North, take a river trip for half-day cruise through the Chena and Tanana Rivers. In the summer, the Riverboat Discovery Tour runs twice a day. Trip reservations are a must so make the necessary arrangements ahead of time.

Leaving Fairbanks, include the impressive Denali National Park in your road trip planner before hitting Anchorage. Denali contains Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America and is definitely worthy of some heavy-duty exploration.

A four- to six-hour drive down south from Denali National Park, passing through Talkeetna, you’ll reach the town of Wasilla. Have your camera at the ready because moose or bear sightings along the way are often part of the journey. For canoeing experience, go to the Nancy Lake Recreation Area. There are plenty of cabins to rent for overnight stays. Further south, visit the Big Lake for swimming, camping, jet-ski and fishing. Proceed to Mat-Su Valley and drop by Iditarod Trail Headquarters on Knik Road. Learn some history at Knik Museum and the Sled Dog Musher’s Hall of Fame.

Another town to add to your road trip planner is Palmer, only 15 minutes away from Wasilla. There is a great RV campground here as well as some cool farms like the Musk Ox Farm. Best time to be here is in late August when the Alaska State Fair is celebrated.

Leave another day in your road trip planner to explore more of Anchorage. It has plenty of hiking opportunities, cultural events and art exhibits. The Flattop Mountain and Chugach State Park are the city’s pride together with Alaska Zoo and Potter Marsh, a bird and wildlife sanctuary.

If you have more time, add another leg of your road trip by driving along the Seward Highway, designated as the All-American Road, and enjoy the scenic view. Picnic opportunities are everywhere, and the picture perfect backdrop is hard to resist. Fishing, camping and canoeing activities in the Kenai/Soldotna area are nice options too.

I’ve shared one road trip example, but customize yours to reflect your own Dream Alaskan Trip. Below are some tips to help you get the most out of your trip.

WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO…?* See the Northern Lights; plan on coming either late fall and early spring.* Enjoy the Midnight Sun; put June 21st in the middle of your road trip planning.* Go whale watching; head to Alaska anytime from mid-May through mid-September.* View the most wildlife; summer-time will get you sightings of moose, bear, mountain sheep, caribou, coyote, wolves, sheep, beaver, otter, mink, or hare. In addition, birdwatchers can photo-capture eagles, hawks, jays, owls, spruce hens, grouse, and ptarmigan and migratory waterfowl coming north to nest each summer.

Make this the year you go wild with your road trip planning and head North to Alaska for a trip of a lifetime.

There are road trips and then there are ROAD TRIPS. Many of us have taken day or weekend motorcycle road trips. However, cross-country road trips are a different ball of wax. In order to maximize the chance that they will be a success, we must make extensive preparations. While this will not ensure that our trips will lack pitfalls, it will certainly lower the chance of experiencing them. Here are some helpful tips for your consideration:

1. Keep an open mind on the open road

A cross-country road trip can provide an outstanding means of learning how other people live. William Least Heat-Moon’s book, “Blue Highways” inspired me. William took a cross-country road trip across the U.S., without traveling through any cities. By keeping an open mind during your trip, you can truly appreciate the different pockets of Americana from “sea to shining sea.”

2. Be frugal

There is a difference between being cheap and frugal. On a cross-country motorcycle trip, it is highly advisable to be frugal. You could stay at a campground, which provides an outstanding opportunity to enjoy the Great Outdoors. You could also stay at youth hostels, which tend to have rock-bottom prices. However, keep in mind that everything is communal there. If you are in these groups, you could get discounts at hotels:

• government employees

• military personnel

• motorcycle group/association members

• those over 50-years-old

3. Look for humor in your travels

Does it take fewer muscles to smile, than to frown? Experts are still debating that. However, long, hot, dusty road trips can become more bearable if you look for humor in your travels. Keep an eye out for interesting road signs that put a smile on your face. Sometimes small-town businesses have interesting names, maxims, or motifs. A little can go a long way during a long trip.

4. Learn something new

A cross-country motorcycle road trip can provide a cornucopia of new experiences for you. Take advantage of all of them. Sometimes you can learn all sorts of information from the idiosyncrasies of different towns. You will probably even find locals who can explain certain things that you observe. In fact, these experiences could change your perspective on life. So before you strap on your Harley Davidson motorcycle boots, vow to make your road trip as much of a learning experience as possible. Your past schoolteachers would be proud!

5. Get inspired

Look up at the stars on a clear night. That is how many types of people exist in our world. One of the perks of road trips is that you get to meet people of all walks of life. I am a firm believer that “everyone has a story.” Meeting different people on cross-country road trips provides you the opportunity to hear fascinating stories from other bikers and non-bikers alike. Listen to their stories and stay inspired to keep on keeping on!

A coast-to-coast motorcycle trek is THE road trip of all road trips. Follow some basic guidelines, in order to make every mile of it memorable.

Taking a road trip, whether for business or pleasure, can be one of the most rewarding experiences for an individual or for a family. There are many destinations across the country that are not only a pleasure to arrive at directly but lay in locations that are a joy to reach by means of a road trip. From the plains of the Dakotas and deserts of Vegas to the beaches of the Florida coast, there is no question that there are many great stretches of road that make for some of the most enjoyable trips that can be experienced many times throughout the year.

For the family that is enjoying a road trip with many stops along the way, satellite navigation systems, also known as sat navs, help to take the unexpected bumps out of traveling on a road trip; no matter if the destination is across town or across the country.

Anyone can benefit from using sat navs for a road trip because these small electronic devices, also often referred to as GPS systems, work on a global positioning relationship between the device and a satellite in space. The technology that is designed into sat navs makes it possible to plan a direct course of travel for a road trip that takes into consideration the vast majority of road conditions that might otherwise cause a bumpy trip. One such thing is major road construction. On a road trip, particularly when it is necessary to take a toll road or a major highway, construction can make the difference between getting safely through an area without delay or spending hours stuck in bumper to bumper traffic.

Needless to say, everyone who is on a road trip, even a trip that has frequent stops, wants the trip to proceed at a reasonable pace. Sat navs ensure that pace by communicating with the satellite in space and relaying back current information about road conditions that lie ahead on the route that you choose to use to take your trip. What is even more important, when traveling through areas that are unfamiliar, no one expects you to know alternate routes and sometimes detour signs leave plenty to be desired. Sat navs eliminate the guesswork such as stopping to ask a gas station attendant for directions.

The travelling sales person, honeymooning couple and nuclear extended family can all benefit from using sat navs to plot a perfect course across the countryside. The next business location or vacation stop is as simple as plotting in a starting point and ending point and letting sat navs do the rest. As the technology has continued to develop, so too the price of sat navs have continued to come down to an affordable range for just about everyone who wants to have one of these increasingly popular devices for your next road trip. Detours, construction, accidents and other road hazards can easily be avoided and the pleasure of the trip can be fully experienced with sat navs on board, navigating the way.

The use of sat navs has replaced maps in many instances for up to the minute information about the road ahead.