Alaska (Fairbanks) Travel Guide

Alaska (Fairbanks) Travel Guide Another aurora season is here! I went last year and wanted to share — I successfully chased the northern lights for three nights (out of four nights total, so I was super super lucky, and I even saw red auroras!) 🌟❄️ Since driving there is difficult, we joined a tour (the best group tour experience I’ve ever had) 🚌✨ We arrived a day earlier than scheduled, so they booked an extra night for us, picked us up from the airport, and even took us to McDonald’s late at night (🥹 it was really late, and we hadn’t eaten after a long flight — so touching) 🍔❤️ The next morning, they took us to a local Korean restaurant (yummy yummy 🍜), then to a museum to pass the time 🏛️. In the afternoon, once the whole group gathered, we went to a local supermarket to buy snacks (good thing we bought a lot — we finished most of it by the next day). That night we set out to chase the aurora, but due to a blizzard the day before, the clouds were too thick and we didn’t see anything. Still, our guide was amazing — he took us on a snowy drive (we’re all from the south and had never seen snow like that, so we were super excited and played around for almost two hours) ❄️🚗😄 Early the next morning, we headed to the Arctic Circle landmark. It was a really, really long drive, and we started snapping photos like crazy in the car. At the spot, they even used a drone to take pictures for us 📸🛸. My favorite spot was the “Devil’s Forest” — if you can handle the cold, spend more time there; it’s incredibly beautiful and awe-inspiring. But we were too cold and only lasted ten minutes before hopping back in the car 🥶🌲. Later, at the Arctic Circle sign, we saw the cutest little squirrel! Haha, a whole group of us surrounded it and took photos for ten minutes 🐿️❤️. By then we were pretty exhausted. After dinner, they took us aurora chasing again — and we saw a once-in-a-lifetime view! People say the aurora is a scam, only visible in photos, but we truly saw half the night sky covered with dancing green lights. Even the guide said it’s rare to see something like that — we were super super lucky! At first it was faint, only visible through phone photos, and we were about to leave when huge waves of green suddenly appeared! The guide rushed out to take pictures, then helped each of us take photos until the lights faded (🥹🥹 the moment I saw it, I felt my life was complete!) 🌌💚✨ We got back to the hotel really, really late that night. Felt like our guides drove for 20 hours (they took turns!) 😴🚙 Day three featured the classic dog sledding (kinda smelly, but so fun lol — watching the dogs run while pulling) and hot springs (unfortunately I couldn’t go due to my period) 🛷🐕♨️. That night we chased the aurora again (visible to the naked eye, but not as strong as the previous night) 🌠 Day four was Denali National Park — personally, I feel if you’re driving yourself, you should spend more time there. It’s unbelievably beautiful, like walking into a wallpaper; I wish we could’ve stayed overnight 🏔️🖼️. That night we chased the aurora once more and saw faint red auroras — still super exciting! ❤️🌌 #NorthernLights#Alaska