Anchorage & return flight over Mt. McKinley

20th September 2014

Waking up and getting up happens rather slowly. Breakfast is available until 11:30 am and we only go downstairs shortly before 11 am. I settle for a toast and coffee, as I no longer find any of the American breakfast options appealing. I can't stand it anymore. We extend the check-out until 1 pm and take a little walk around Anchorage. The sun comes out and it even gets quite warm, so a jacket is enough. The search for stamps is time-consuming and in the end, I have to buy them at UPS, who charge $1.95 for a stamp instead of $1.15 for a postcard to Germany.

Anchorage was heavily affected by the 1964 earthquake, causing whole neighborhoods to sink by 30 meters. However, you can't really see that today, because after 50 years, trees have naturally grown and new houses have been built here.

We drive towards the airport, I quickly buy a new black pair of jeans before that, throw an old one away, and then we refuel our car one more time and clean off the new dirt in the sun. 

At Go North, they look very closely to see if everything is clean. After 5,700 kilometers and 21 days, this journey comes to an end. Our car shines and when I look at the profiles of our tires, I can also see the effects of a lot of gravel roads...

We get a taxi and go to the airport. Check-in and off we go. The plane is not completely full and we exchange seats with a couple and have a row of three to ourselves. The flight departs shortly after 5 pm and takes 9:45 hours. We fly over Mount McKinley, whose peak is visible above the cloud cover. 

Otherwise, the flight is calm and arrives in Frankfurt on Sunday afternoon around 1 pm.