ALASKA: 2007 : FIRST VISIT

2007 was a very important year in my life. I completed more than 35 years in Service and finally retired in January. On family front Sipra and I completed 25 years of our marriage. Our only Son - Ritwik - was studying in the USA. So I felt the urge from within to make this time special, for me, for my wife and even for Sherpa. I chose a Cruise in Alaska as a Silver Jubilee gift for Sipra and after that we planned to spend nearly 2 more months in the rest of USA and Canada.

For the Alaska Cruise we chose Diamond Princess of the Princess Lines. The experience was as novel as it was wonderful. The sounds and sights were as wonderful as mind boggling - almost always a new experience waiting to happen, from massive chunks of ice calving off from more massive glaciers, a series of beautiful glaciers in the College Fjord, our first live Whale Watch, to majestic Bald Eagles in their equally majestic flights, 24 hours sunlight on days of midnight sun, our first close encounter with the Mendenhall Glacier and so much more.

The Mendenhall Glacier up close

The experience with the ship itself was simply superb. The room was luxurious with an attached balcony on the sea where we could sit for hours on end taking in the magnificent scenery around us. Occasionally some seals or otters would make an appearance making the scenery more interesting.

Our hospitality Manager turned out to be a Bengali from Kolkata and at the time of check-in we felt very comfortable with his behaviour and friendly attitude. When we returned to our room later in the evening after a day’s outing we were simply bowled over by a huge platter of chocolate covered strawberries with a message wishing us the best. In general rhe food was always as sumptuous as it was delicious. My favourite was the salmon while Sipra would simply love the quantity and variety of fruits at her disposal. Breakfast and lunch were free sitting while dinners would mostly have assigned sitting.

Coming back to the impressive balcony, we would indulge ourselves once in a while with champagne breakfast. Chocolate coated strawberries often made it to our menu.

The thrills and pleasures of Alaska were many and unforgettable enough to flooding our memories to last a lifetime. Even then one experience in particular was particularly spectacular, memorable and worth narrating again and again.

21 May 2007 - exacly 16 years ago, we had been pre-booked for an excursion activity - Flight seeing of Mount Mckinley on a Helicopter. The programme was scheduled to begin at 5 pm from the takeoff site and we were advised to wait at Reception of our resort positively by 4 pm so that we could be picked up well in time and driven to flight takeoff site.we were ready by 3.30 pm and started waiting patiently. Time ticked by and soon it was 4 pm, then 4.30 pm and then 5 pm.I had gone up to the Reception and enquired twice but there was no information. At 5.30 pm, I could not hold my anxiety, irritation and quite a bit of annoyance and I barged into Reception once again visibly agitated. The lady, later I learnt to be the Manager, listened to me calmly and patiently and politely told me to be patient a little while more while she took some actions. Then she got on the phone and lambasted the Flight Operators for leaving us in the lurch only to be told that the particular programme had been cancelled. Not to be outdone so easily she demanded substantial compensation and that’s when things really began to happen. The Flight Opertors offered two seats on their “Flight-seeking Mt Mckinley” Tour. The differences were two in mainly - it was a Seaplane now end NOT a helicopter. Sipra was happy- she had a lot of trepidation and fright over a helicopter flight and we were happy to agree; but the second problem was much more difficult. It would cost us $200 more per person. I explained my predicament to the Manager. We really wanted to fly but the extra money was just too much! The Lady pulled on some more weight and legalese and after a few minutes there was a message of acceptance from the other end of the phone. We needed not to pay any additional money.

The Lady seemed to know magic and we hurried onto the waiting area to be picked up 10/15 minutes later.

In course of our numerous travels in and outside the Country we have been witness to many many magnificent sights some of which are so memorable that we would never forget the sight/experience all our life. A "MOUNT MCKINLEY FLIGHT SEEING" tour undertaken exactly sixteen years ago in ALASKA ranks amongst the top of such UNFORGETTABLE experiences. We boarded a small Seaplane with tyres fitted over with Skiis and flew around

MT MCKINLEY _ THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN IN NORTH AMERICA, and then landed on the RUTH GLACIER at its base.WHAT AN ADVENTURE! EXACTLYsixteen years ago on 21 MAY 2007.

Here-below are some photos from that WONDERFUL experience.