Happily Ever Alaska

Happily Ever Alaska is the story of a couple and their cat. We are documenting a beautiful and life-changing journey across 3,654.8 miles from Phoenix, Arizona to Anchorage, Alaska.

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Home is where the heart is.

Michael had originally brought up the idea of moving to Alaska. He had mentioned that he had wanted to move up north when we had first met. I met him with mutual excitement. Almost a year and a half later we are trekking from Phoenix, Arizona, USA to Anchorage, AK, USA.  

The distance we will be driving is a total of 3,654.8 miles over about 62 hours. We find that we are both more excited about it by the minute. Kitty, such an original name for our one year old cat, has no idea of the drastic change he will be experiencing. I will be posting the preparations we are taking to take such a long drive with our cat later on. From the articles I have read about traveling with pets it seems that there is a universal approach: ‘My cat would never!’ Kitty isn’t like normal cats. When I adopted him I had a dog who practically raised him. If Kitty could bark he would. I regress. I have always been one for adventure. My background consists of being born in Puerto Rico, United States territory, Caribbean Islands to living throughout a multitude of East Coast states to Arizona now. In addition, the amount of hours I have put into road trips between all of these states is intense. Michael, who is a US Army Veteran, has also traveled around the United States and other beautiful countries on deployments. I feel that it is our background in living a relatively unstable life that is preparing us for such a move. I am beside myself with gratitude to have found someone who is willing to travel the world with me and I know he feels the same way. Even kitty, a feral kitten, has adapted wonderfully to my moves thus far. Therefore, I welcome you to continue reading our posts, looking at our photographs of the preparation to move, the actual road trip, and our life in Alaska, as well as the videos we will be posting along the way. As the Alaskan state motto states, “North to the Future.”

[happilyeveralaska]

Finding a CSP for your new home

I started looking at my cell phone service provider’s coverage in Anchorage due to an article joking that Alaska did not have Internet or Cell coverage. Of course this is not true but encouraged me to check that I would be covered with my CSP. It turns out that my CSP does not have any towers in Anchorage!

Having cell phone coverage is a top priority when on the road for 62 hours and traveling through 2 countries. It is also essential to communicate with both of our families throughout the trip and in our new home; thousands of miles away. I took the following steps to ensure that we would have a CSP with great coverage in our new home.

Check with your CSP to see if they have partnerships with local cell phone reception towers in your new area. (In our case, our CSP offered roaming in our area; which was not an option after seeing the price.)

Check with your CSP about filing a ‘Moving Out of Coverage’ form to see if you are eligible for having cancellation fees waived due to the move.

Check how much it will cost if the fees are not waived.

Check for cell phone coverage in your new town by checking http://www.cellreception.com/coverage/ 

Check reviews for the cell phone coverage in your area. Remember that everyone has different experiences with CSP’s; so check multiple resources for reviews.

We still have 6 months before the move. Although that sounds like a substantial amount of time it will fly by without warning. “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” -- Benjamin Franklin