Alaskan Fjord Adventures & Small-Town Umbrian Sojourns

Hey there, Travellers

We love seeing the unusual social media campaigns that different countries come up with to lure in visitors, and the Nordics never fail to deliver. From Norway's summer of "RO!" and their recent initiative to make lavatories great again, to Iceland taking on Mark Zuckerberg, they never run out of ways to entertain and endear us.

This time, Finland has struck with probably the most unusual one yet: a really awkward call-out to singles. If you're wholly over Hinge and love the idea of never having to see that person you awkwardly sat through a 2-hour meal with ever again, why not go on an all-expenses-paid dinner date in Helsinki? 

And on the off chance there is a happy ending, I'm always available as a wedding guest.

Happy travels and safe landings,

Since the first US National Park was established in 1872, sixty-three others have popped up. Each one does things a little differently, and this series is our chance to break them down. Today, we’re heading alllll the way up to the Alaskan coast to check out Kenai Fjords National Park.

Alaska’s rugged, wild national parks tend to have a bit of a learning curve, and this beautiful icy gem is no exception. Hopefully you packed your sea legs!

Quick Facts about Kenai Fjords:

• Established: 1980
• Size: 1,047 square miles (2,711 km²)
• Location: Kenai Peninsula, on the Southern Alaskan coast
• Nearby towns: Seward is directly outside the park, but Cooper Landing (an hour away) sometimes has cheaper accommodations.
• Closest airports: ANC in Anchorage (about a 2.5-hour drive away) is the only airport in the region, but it’s connected to the park via train (about a 4-hour ride).
• Best time to visit: June-August
• Biggest highlight: Those insane coastal views!

Unlike most US National Parks, where cars and campers are king, Kenai actually has very few roads and very little traversable land. The park is centered around the Harding Icefield (the largest icefield entirely in the US) and the roughly 40 glaciers that it spawns, so about half its land is actually frozen solid in a big chunk of ice.

Since Alaska’s climate can be just the tiniest bit brutal, this is really a summer destination. From October to May, the park is unavailable for pretty much anything besides snowmobiling and cross-country skiing, so we’ll be focusing on the warmer months. 

We’ll start our tour up at Exit Glacier, the only corner where you can drive around and hike like any other national park. If you don’t book a boat tour, this is where you’ll be spending your time. Here you can observe the edges of the icefield, where plants are slowly beginning to retake the gravel valleys that used to be under the ice. Look for the lupines – those purple flowers are one of the first signs of new life.

This section of the park is actually pretty easy to reach and worth a stop even if you don’t have time to get on the water. You can catch great views of the titular glacier with just a 15-minute drive from Seward and a hop down a short, wheelchair-accessible trail from the visitor’s center. 

You’ll find a handful of gorgeous icefield trails up here too, along with Kenai’s only campsite. It’s first-come, first-serve and only has 12 spots, so arrive first thing in the morning if you’re visiting during peak summer. 

Whether you’re pitching a tent or just traversing along the glacier by foot, keep an eye out for bears, moose, and mountain goats. And if you hear a noise that sounds like someone blowing a whistle, don’t assume it’s a bird – it’s probably one of these critters.

Aaaaand that’s about it for land-based adventures at this park! Experienced outdoorspeople can take on a treacherous backcountry trek, but for most of us, it’s time to get out on the water.

The NPS doesn’t run any official boat tours, so you’ll have to pick from a handful of local operators. The official Seward city website lists several options to get you started, and you can see quick comparisons of the major operators in this review. The most popular offerings are half-day and full-day excursions, but you can also find short tours that last only a few hours, as well as longer, multi-day cruises that take you to more remote regions of the park. 

Most tours leave from the Seward Harbor, meaning you can land at Anchorage, take the train to Seward, and hop right on a boat to see the park, all without needing to rent a car. Who’da thought one of the most car-free-friendly National Parks would be in Alaska, of all places?

Hop aboard your chosen vessel, and soon you’ll be skirting along the Alaskan coast, dipping past icebergs into different bays and inlets to view glaciers, dramatic sweeping valleys, and rocky evergreen cliffsides. Shorter tours usually spend their time in Resurrection Bay, with its pine-topped pillars rising up out of the sea (pictured above). Longer routes might take you around Cape Aialik, through island chains, or deep inside fjords, bringing you face to face with behemoth walls of blue glacial ice.

The longer your tour, the wilder the scenery, and the more likely you are to meet the local fauna. With so many islands and hidey-holes along the water’s edge, this is paradise for marine mammals. Sea lions tend to colonize some of the more secluded beaches, and you might spot seals, otters, and porpoises diving around and enjoying the chilly subarctic water. 

Keep reading for more aquatic Kenai inspo...

There’s heaps more to Il Bel Paese than the big hitters of Venice, Florence, and Rome. And if anyone can help Traveler Clem out, it’s you, intrepid bunch. 

In fact, I’d bet that if we pinned a map of towns we’ve accidentally ended up in or every “oh-wow” moment we’ve collectively watched flash past our train window, there would be barely any blank spaces left in Italy. I'll get those inspirational Italian juices flowing with somewhere I bet you've never heard of...

Spoleto

^{Picture by Michal Macura on Flickr}

Umbria’s hilltop town of Spoleto is temptingly close to Perugia. 

The town sits shoulder to shoulder with the lush oaks of Umbria and puts you just a short drive from the glowing, golden olive belt and roaring waterfalls. Its steep, multi-level layout is surprisingly easy to navigate via an unusually modern system of underground escalators and elevators. 

On the path of the popular pilgrimage route Via di Francesco, compared to its close neighbors, Assisi, Spello, and Orvieto, this working Italian town proudly flies under the radar.

Passegiata always takes precedence over the rushed path of umbrella-led tour groups. The lack of footfall isn’t down to a lack of beauty, though. 

Layers of history have long since infatuated artists like Michelangelo, Carducci, and William Turner. Its crumbling Roman amphitheater, medieval fortresses, and aristocratic Lombard sites most definitely have something to do with that. 

No, the town’s intentional pivot towards high art over mass commercialism is what separates Spoleto from the rest.

Festival dei Due Mondi (Festival of Two Worlds) draws the world’s best in opera, ballet, jazz, contemporary dance, and classical music to the city’s usual sleepy piazzas. The festival was founded by a composer named Gian Carlo Menotti in 1958, with the ethos of bringing together two worlds: the USA & Europe. Tickets and accommodation do book out months in advance, so keep that in mind for your visit.

Regardless of when you visit, we declare it a crime to leave the city’s medieval walls without ordering a plate of Strangozzi alla Spoletina, preferably with summer’s seasonal black truffles. Pair it with a glass of crisp Trebbiano Spoletino and panoramic views of the valley, and you might find yourself convinced to stay just one extra night. 

So, over to you, travelers, where’s Clem’s next stop as she laces up the boot? Will it be a slow-travel journey through Puglia, like Navigator Larissa? Or maybe off to Barga, the most Scottish town in Italy? Share your suggestions in the comments or by replying to this email!

All the important (or silly, or strange) travel news from across the web this week.

• A wave of bomb threats interrupted European air travel this week, but so far no explosives have been found.
  
  
• Meet Bilbury, a small village in the Cotswolds with a population of 627 residents… and several thousand manga-obsessed visitors.
  
  
• British Airways just shook hands with Mexico's Viva Aerobus! Thanks to their new codesharing agreement, you’ll be able to book with BA to hit the beach in Puerto Vallarta or hike the mountains of Oaxaca.
  
  
• A look at America’s most recent UNESCO Heritage Site: 40,000 acres of vital Georgian swampland.
  
  
• And finally, after braving Arctic ice, a Panamanian prison, and a nail-biting Russian border crossing, adventurer Karl Bushby returned home after 28 years spent circumnavigating the globe on foot.