thanks for the replies! i'm glad i started on this site sooner than later...i will definitely be re-

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on august 26th, 2011, two friends and myself will be embarking on what i hope to be the most epic adventure of all time. we will be traveling from minnesota to alaska, hoping to visit denali, homer, anchorage, fairbanks, cheapest car rental in dublin ireland etc. we will try to fit in as much as we can before we head back. one of my fellow travelers has lived in alaska before, and i was born in homer, although i have not been back since i was very young. as we are in the preliminary planning stages of this trip, and i am an organizing nerd, i would love some insight from seasoned road-trippers.
we are planning to rent a vehicle in minnesota, and return it there at the end of the two weeks. we are hoping cheapest car rental in dublin ireland to make it there in four days. once we arrive, we will have some friends here and there to stay with, but were hoping to camp in denali at some point as well.
does it make more sense to rent an rv for the two weeks so we can save costs by cutting out hotel stays? or should we stick with a midsize vehicle and crash at a hotel only when we absolutely cheapest car rental in dublin ireland have to?
MSP to Anchorage is nearly 3200 miles. On interstate freeways, you'd need a minimum of 5-6 days to cover that distance, but the Alaska highway is a much more rugged and slow going road. Basically you are looking at a minimum of 7 days of hard driving, each way.
Even if you have more time, I suspect your idea for transportation is going to be very problematic as well. Most rental car companies will not allow you to drive their cars to Alaska. An RV will certainly not be a money saving option, as it will cost you significantly more than a car/motel trip. However, if you find a car to make this work, trying to sacrifice sleep to save money is not a good plan either. If you aren't staying in motels, then you need to find another cheapest car rental in dublin ireland option like camping, because having 3 people try to sleep inside any car is just not going to work.
Sorry to start you out with bad news, but you've got quite a bit of work ahead of you in terms of making changes to your initial idea, if you want to create a reasonable plan that will actually be the fun adventure you are looking for.
thanks for the replies! i'm glad i started on this site sooner than later...i will definitely cheapest car rental in dublin ireland be re-tooling the trip, perhaps to three weeks, and do some research as to whether or not driving the rental car across the border will be an issue.
In 2004, I rented a vehicle from Budget in Seattle, and questioned - when making enquiries; again when booking; and again when I picked up the car - if I could drive this car 'all' over the United States, and if I could drive in Canada. Each time I was assured that I could drive it anywhere in North America north of the Mexican border. The only limitation was crossing the Mexican border.
[As well, I questioned their unlimited mileage policy. I did not want to get back and find there was some definition of unlimited miles, of which I was not aware. They assured me that I could do 60K miles if I wanted to. Ended up driving 6400 miles in 28 days.]
One thing you need to remember is the speed at which you will travel on the Alcan and northern roads in general. Usually 80 kph, but in areas of wildlife it can be as low as 40 kph. Besides wildlife, you need to make allowance for road construction. It is constant, hold ups are frequent and unending.
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