With the all the planning to move to the new cabin, Kyle and I have been reminiscing on how our planning went our move to Alaska in 2016. It turns out there are quite a few things we both would change if we could go back and do it all again. So, here’s a list of things to think about if you are making a similar move:

What we did – Shipped up a bunch of supplies and household goods on a barge

What we should have done – sold everything but the clothes on our backs. There isn’t anything we brought up that we couldn’t replace up here, especially with the money saved on the barge costs. And the barge was a week late, so there were extra up front expenses of back-and-forth travel to Anchorage and extra hotel stays. The amount of similar stories I’ve heard of barges being late or items not arriving at all makes me hesitant to ship things this way again.

What we did – Flew up with our dogs

What we should have done – driven the ALCAN. The dogs required the same veterinary care and certifications for flying or crossing the border into Canada. And the total price of driving vs flying would have ended up around the same. Not to mention all the cool sight seeing and camping opportunities we missed by not driving!

What we did – Left vehicles in Washington and bought new (used) ones on arrival

What we should have done – brought a car up with us. We ended up bringing up one of our cars that our family was using a few years later, anyway. My grandpa actually made the drive on the ALCAN to bring it to us. It would have saved him the trouble and given us an extra vehicle from the start. We spent a lot on rentals while we shopped cars. (Pro tip: Uhaul’s are cheaper than other rentals and usually have a nearby return option for your destination)

What we did – Rushed the move to Alaska

What we should have done – stayed in Washington at our careers for a few more months. That extra income could have been spent in so many ways to help us do things faster out here. A surprise pregnancy with our oldest really hurried us, and we made the move to Alaska when I was 5 months along.

What we did – Added to our standard of living slowly

What we should have done – figured out how we wanted to live and done that as fast as possible. From slow additions to the cabin, to not getting a fridge until year three and an oven last year. We should have budgeted for these “upgrades” much sooner. They save a lot of time that we can then use to do other tasks.

What we did – Added to our cabin slowly as we needed space

What we should have done – made an actual layout and added on as we could afford to achieve the final plan. Our cabin layout now does not use space efficiently, and that matters at 500 sq ft.

What we did – Tried to do everything at once

What we should have done – set realistic expectations. When providing everything for yourself, and the stores are two hours away, nothing gets done in the time frame expected. Clearing land by hand is time-consuming, so is building, fencing, and hauling water. Some things we thought would be done year one didn’t even get started until year three!

Hopefully, some of the adventures we’ve had will help someone else on their move to Alaska!