There is only one way to travel from Miami all the way to Alaska by train, and for the next eight days I'll be traveling across the entire continent to check off a bucket list dream I've had since I was a little kid.
One of my favorite movies as a kid was Brother Bear.
I loved how the bears felt like one big family and I just honestly wanted to be a part of it.
So I'm traveling over 5000 miles from Miami all the way to Alaska to see bears catch salmon during the salmon run and to make this girl's dreams come true by seeing Brother Bear in real life.
Oh, and did I mention that this is going to be the most expensive trip of my life?
I'm traveling on one of the most unreliable and dangerous train lines in America.
And I'm traveling completely alone all the way to Alaska.
But it's fine.
It's fine.
What could go wrong?
Right?
I'm so tired.
Worst nights of sleep I think I've ever gotten.
I just feel like an idiot.
Train number one.
Okay, got it, thank you.
This is my first time ever on Amtrak before, actually first train in America.
Yeah, I'm really excited.
I'm going all the way to Alaska.
That's a long trip.
I hope you enjoy Alaska.
And also one question when it comes to like delays or anything like that, are they pretty common with Amtrak?
Oh yeah and, by the way, it's a four-part journey to get to Alaska and the final leg only happens once a week.
So if I hit any major delays during the first three parts, I'm not gonna make it and this journey will have all been for nothing.
Now that we have officially departed and I have 46 hours left on leg number one, shall we do a tour of my new home?
I was just about to start giving you a proper room tour but I just made the most shocking discovery.
When I went to lunch I was asking the attendant where the closest bathroom was and he said oh, it's in your room.
This right here is actually a toilet.
This is a doorway with a window and this is also a window.
Like you could see there's a guy right there.
There's also people.
This is like the most public toilet I've ever seen.
It doesn't smell bad in here at all.
Thank goodness, because that would be a nightmare.
There's actually also such a good amount of storage space.
First meal of the trip.
Got some chili with bacon, partially melted American cheese on top.
It's actually not bad.
It has been raining almost all day and you can see the roof is leaking.
So all over the mirror and also just right here on the seat next to me.
I actually fell asleep for a second and woke up because it dripped onto my face, which was great.
First dinner of the trip.
I ordered the steak.
Wow, it looks really good.
This is actually so good.
You've heard of snakes on a plane, but have you heard of steaks on a train?
That dinner was surprisingly scrumptious.
Now it's time We venture into the showers.
So we're here in the train shower.
I feel like everything on this train is really growing on me, because it's almost like adorably small yet still functional.
Time to get clean after a long travel day.
Mission accomplished.
The attendant came by to set up my bed and tuck me in for my first night of slumber.
I have officially settled into my new home in the room that.
This is the first of two nights that I'm going to be spending in here.
No delays so far.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
This will add a delay to our arrival to other stations.
But for now...
Good night.
Good morning from North Carolina.
We went through two different states as I was sleeping last night.
Went and had some breakfast and now... We apologize for the inconvenience.
This will add a delay to our arrival to other stations.
The first delay of the trip.
It's gonna be fine.
Wow, this is so beautiful and it's really honestly, such a cool way to see the US, because I've traveled all around the world but I haven't seen that much of my own country and this just feels like Such a unique way to do it.
I can just be sitting here working on my laptop a bit, drinking some coffee and watching the whole world go by.
You know, one of the things about going on these types of trips is that you have a ton of time to just sit with your thoughts, which is why, for me, Headspace has been a total game changer.
I've actually been using Headspace for years and one of my favorite meditations that they offer is actually for fear of flying, which is so perfect for travelers like me that can struggle with anxiety.
And the best part is I can download them for offline use.
So there's never a time that I can't just pop on my headphones and connect back with my breath.
I use Headspace for quick 15-minute meditations before or after chaotic travel days, and I also use their sleep casts to help wind down at night.
I also love the streak tracker because it's such a fun way to encourage yourself to practice more often.
Travel can be stressful, with train delays or schedule changes, and it's really easy to get overwhelmed.
Headspace helps me stay grounded, so I can actually enjoy the moment, even when I'm in the middle of nowhere.
Just 10 days of headspace has been proven to increase happiness and decrease stress, and you can try it now for free for 60 days, by clicking the link in my description or scanning the QR code on screen.
Taking just a few simple minutes for myself every day has been such a positive impact on my life and I definitely plan on continuing it.
So one thing about me when I'm on trips like this, especially when I'm by myself, I can be a bit of a recluse, so I'll kind of hide away from people and not put much effort towards making friends.
So right now I'm gonna challenge myself to stay in this cart until I make at least one friend.
Are you a vlogger?
Yeah.
What did you have for your dinner?
I had the steak.
Was it good?
It was actually pretty good, yeah.
I'm Lexi, by the way.
I'm Sophia.
Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
I'm going to Alaska, which I am so excited about.
That's amazing.
Bye.
I need a friend.
Even though it literally took me almost an hour to work up the courage to talk to these nice people, the conversation made me start to understand why most people actually take the train in the first place.
Why did you guys choose the train over flying?
I mean, is this your first time on the train?
Yeah.
Isn't it nice?
Or is it like... It's pretty cool.
Okay, okay.
I like it.
It's now the end of night number two, which means over the course of 46 hours i'm going to have passed through 10 different states, which is honestly pretty wild.
Overall, best part of the train was probably the staff they were just so nice and very helpful and the worst part of the train honestly the train itself.
I wasn't expecting it to be this grungy.
Obviously, Amtrak doesn't have a reputation for being very luxurious, but I just didn't think it was going to be so rundown and unclean in here, and I'm honestly not normally the type of person that really is bothered by that.
But the fact that this train is so expensive just makes it kind of ridiculous.
Amtrak just really needs to deeply refurbish all of these rooms because it's pretty gross.
I have officially arrived to Chicago.
Also, I'm feeling really lucky because not only was Amtrak not late from Miami, but it was actually 10 minutes early, which means that I'm gonna be able to maximize the amount of time I have to explore the city, starting with a pretty epic meal.
It felt so good to have a few hours to get off the train in Chicago and explore, because I was already starting to feel a bit stir crazy and I still have three more legs of the journey left.
And before I knew it, it was time to get on the next train.
This room definitely has a very different vibe than the roomette.
This is the first class Amtrak experience and first impression I gotta say One through line between both of my Amtrak trains now is that it's just pretty dirty.
But yeah, I might ask the attendant to come washcloth spray some of this down, because it's It's a bit gross.
The attendant that just came by was like oh, if there's just any like black air, just don't worry about it.
It's just soot from the train.
So is it the soot's coming from the front?
Like you said, black stuff?
Just as in the air.
Oh, okay.
It's fine.
I've never gotten sick from it, and I live on here pretty much.
Okay, cool.
Oh, okay.
Got it.
Now that I've fully moved into my new cabin, let me give you the grand tour.
We've got a sink, an extra big trash can, and an extra big private toilet.
That may be one of the most cinematic toilets I've ever seen.
There are also little cups that almost insinuate that you can drink from the sink water, but there's just absolutely no way that I'm drinking train water.
We have a bed that folds down as well as two seats with a table that come out in the middle.
There is a curtain that slides across the entire room.
This is my home for almost $50.
The train was barely out of the station before we got delayed for a few hours, But I wanted to take this as an opportunity to challenge myself, to meet even more strangers.
Can't go back to the room until I make a new friend.
What an adventure.
Oh yeah, what an adventure.
Have you done this train wrap before?
No, my parents have.
You know, I'm starting to feel a lot more confident, getting out of my comfort zone and having a lot of conversations with folks that I would have otherwise never met.
One of the things that I least expected about Amtrak is that if you eat in the dining car, you have to sit with strangers because there's not enough seats for everyone to sit alone.
This meant I shared meals with a lot of unexpected people.
I've heard that Alaska is actually a really complicated place to travel and it's not very straightforward.
So even while I'm on the train, I've been trying to do some pretty intense research to make sure that the trip goes smoothly.
After I woke up in the morning and saw stains all over the sheets, I had the attendant change the sheets out and later discovered the new ones were also stained.
Last guy must have ran out of toilet paper.
Good thing it can't really get worse than this.
I think last night was one of the top three worst nights of sleep I've ever gotten in my entire life.
The tracks have been so wobbly and shaky that I couldn't even lay on my side because I was gonna get flung onto the floor.
The observation car is by far my favorite part of the Amtrak experience.
I mean, it's the part that feels like it's actually set up to enjoy this time, rather than just being almost like a commuter, or in motion or just there to sleep.
It feels like this has been the best place to meet people.
I've met some awesome people here already.
Taylor yesterday and Morgan today.
I think that conversation with Morgan was my favorite one so far.
I mean, how often do you actually meet a real life cowboy?
He also let me listen to his walkman and showed me how it worked.
I've never even seen a walkman in person before, but it was just so cool getting to connect with somebody who has such a wildly different life than mine.
I mean, He doesn't like technology.
He uses a flip phone.
He's got a Walkman.
He works on his ranch with his family in the middle of nowhere in Montana and seems genuinely really content and is excited to be heading home right now.
I feel like I'm really really far away from home at the moment, but it's conversations like that that make me realize that what I'm doing is so much fun.
And I think that this has been a really interesting and unexpected point of growth for me on this trip is meeting people and having conversations like that, because in the beginning I genuinely felt so much anxiety even trying to have those conversations.
I really had to force myself to get out of my shell, and now it's starting to feel easier and easier.
So that's been amazing.
The idea of getting off in Seattle and not doing a sleeper train again feels like bittersweet.
I feel like I've gotten into this new routine of waking up to the announcements in the morning coming and having breakfast, being able to look out the window and look at the map and see what new state we're in.
And I'm honestly gonna miss it.
And it feels so different than airplanes because you can sit next to somebody for 10 hours on an airplane and never even really say hello.
Like that's very normal.
But when you're on a train, you're here for so long, you sit in these chairs across from each other and you actually share meals.
So I found that to be my favorite part.
It's very wholesome.
It's the ocean.
I've now officially gone coast to coast across the entire United States by train.
How crazy is that?
Thank you.
Not a problem.
You got it?
Yeah.
I'm so excited to be on stable land right now for a few hours before I set off on train number three of my journey.
This is gonna be the last train that I have left.
This is also my first time in Seattle, so I'm gonna drop off my bags and go explore the city before heading back to the station on the third leg of my journey.
This is the shortest leg of my journey and it's also the one that I'm doing in coach, which honestly isn't that bad because it's only for about two hours.
This train was about two hours delayed so unfortunately now i'm having to do the whole train ride in the dark but i did get to see a beautiful sunset and also got to meet my new friend bruce we had a nice little conversation he was coming back from visiting his sweetie in salem which i love that it's so cute but Honestly, I am absolutely exhausted.
My head is pounding.
I'm dehydrated.
I am sleep deprived.
And I am counting the moments until my face is slapping the pillow of a wonderful hotel bed that is not on a moving train.
I've never taken this ferry, but the views are awesome.
It's like the cheap version of a cruise ship.
Yeah, yeah.
Did you get a cabin or are you just like on the deck?
I am hopefully getting a cabin.
I did not bring camping gear.
Yeah because, like some people, just like, literally like there's chairs or something that's crazy, like lounge chairs you get.
I'm torturing myself enough by taking eight full days to get to alaska.
I'll take the whole, the whole Place to sleep.
I always feel like an idiot.
When I was planning this trip.
Obviously, it's not the easiest or most straightforward trip to plan, but I had called the Alaska Marine Highway System about this ferry that I'm going to be taking from Washington to Alaska the final stretch to Alaska.
She was like, Oh, you don't need a reservation.
There's like tons of availability on these ferries.
I just had a feeling and I looked it up just now and There are no cabins available.
I can still get a ticket, thankfully.
The consequences of this are so steep.
Like when I look up photos of this ship.
It's literally people camping on like deck chairs or they have like tents.
I don't have anything for camping.
I've barely even brought good enough layers to go to Alaska in the first place.
I was already thinking I need to buy more layers because I don't know how I'm going to stay warm.
And I also am leaving tomorrow.
So I need to go to like the store and i'm like i'm gonna get through it i've gotten through worse things before, but which i don't want to seem like dramatic because at least i still got a ticket but i'm still going to alaska.
Just definitely not the way that I thought I was going to.
And I have to go to the store now, before they close, to try to get some of the gear necessary to do this.
And I'm just so worried about how Uncomfortable this is gonna get.
I suddenly had a lot of packing to do and shout out to the people that helped me find the right gear for the long journey ahead.
I'm gonna try to just embrace this silly predicament I've gotten myself into and embrace the fact that I'm camping on this ferry for the next four days.
I called ahead, talked to somebody, and they're like, oh, you don't have to make a reservation.
It never fills up for like the cabins.
I'm actually starting to be kind of excited because it's just so random and I can't believe I got myself in this situation.
I think this is a good sign. first thing I spot.
Okay, so I think I found a spot to set up this tent, but it's definitely raining, so not sure exactly how this is gonna go, but we'll see.
I'm vlogging this entire thing.
I'm not gonna lie, I don't remember the last time I did a tent.
Okay, so tent is now up, but I am very quickly realizing that I am so in over my head.
Thank you.
Goodness, my new neighbor will offer to help put this tent up with me because it is so windy.
It's raining.
So I literally just got the last spot on here that's like slightly covered.
Like it's so windy right now.
Like this, you can see this tent is like blowing around and we haven't even started moving yet.
I guess it's time to make my little home and embrace the reality that I've gotten myself into.
I've gotten all cozy in my tent now.
It's been stormy and raining for the rest of the evening.
And I'm going to get some sleep and I'll give you a tour of the rest of the ship in the morning.
It is now time to do our tour, and we're going to be discovering this at the same time, because I have yet to see everything.
At the very front of the ship.
There is a lounge inside where you can see all of the sights, protected from the rain, and there's also a cocktail lounge which has some very 70s decor inside and games.
For food, they have what they call a snack bar and a dining room.
The snack bar is more like casual lunches, coffee, all kinds of snacks.
And then there is a more formal sit-down dining area, which is honestly so much more than I was expecting there to be.
I did not realize that there was going to be two food options.
And honestly, so far the food hasn't been that bad.
On the very top of the ship there's an area called the solarium, which is used for more tents like mine, but also if you didn't have a tent, you can actually just sleep out on the deck chairs on this level.
They even have heat lamps above that are keeping people warm at night, because obviously it does get pretty cold at night.
This boat is rocking so much.
I'm getting such bad seasickness, which just makes me so tired.
There's not really anything else I can do at the moment but curl up in this tent and sleep, because I'm exhausted.
The scenery is absolutely insane.
It's definitely been raining the entire time but you really can't beat views like this.
I'm gonna be waking up in Alaska tomorrow.
We're in Ketchikan and my new friend Will, that actually helped me set up my tent, is getting off there because he's moving there and he offered to give me a little tour around the town during the layover of the ship.
All right, so we're officially in Alaska.
Ketchikan, and my new friend Will here is acting as a tour guide, even though he's officially moved here right now.
We don't have that much time here.
Probably less than an hour at this point, but enough to get a coffee, see the sights and head back onto the ship.
This is awesome!
So this is my absolute favorite part of the trip so far.
The sun decided to come out and greet us for a little bit, so I brought my tent over to the edge of the railing so I could see this beautiful landscape go by.
And I was just laughing to myself because of how upset i was when i found out that i was going to have to be camping on this ferry.
It just was so different than my expectations and i thought i had made this big mistake and i didn't know how i was going to be able to make it work.
Like i just stressed out so much about this going wrong.
And right now i'm sitting here looking at these insane mountains going by and being on this Alaskan cruise and camping outside, and it's honestly one of the coolest travel experiences I've had in Seoul long.
If that plan would have worked out, I would have never had this unique of an experience.
I probably would have spent so much more time inside of my cabin.
Overall, 10 out of 10 recommend this.
Now I'm going to cozy up and enjoy the view.
And my journey is still not yet over.
I still have quite a bit of ways to travel within Alaska to make it to my dream destination of seeing the salmon run and hopefully, the bears.
Now that I have finally made it to Alaska, I have to show you where I'm staying, because this could not be more full circle.
I actually found a cabin that is a real train car.
They call it the moose caboose and I honestly couldn't think of a better place to be exploring Alaska and having an actual train be my home base.
It really is just bringing this whole adventure so full circle.
After nine full days of traveling across the entire country, the time has finally come for the moment I've been waiting for for so long.
We are on our way to go see the bears.
My friend Aiden is here to enjoy this experience with me because, you know, the best moments in life are better when they're shared.
It's been a very long solo trip.
We are currently driving to the small plane that's gonna be taking us to go see the bears and, I'm not gonna lie, A little bit nervous.
I don't love planes, especially small planes, but I have a feeling it's gonna be worth it.
Thank you.
I still can't even honestly believe that I'm here.
I know that this has always been the original inspiration for the movie Brother Bear.
It really feels like I'm getting to live out such a childhood dream today.
It's honestly surreal.
Oh my gosh.
And I can already see one, two, three, four, five, six, seven bears.
So beautiful.
What?
This is such a dream come true.
I don't know if it was going stir crazy on some of the dirtiest trains in America, or dealing with seasickness, or sleeping in a tent on top of a moving ferry.
Or maybe it was just the fact that it took me nine full days of traveling overland to get here chasing a childhood dream.
But standing here now, looking at this view, it was worth every second of the journey.
Oh, one of the best moments of my entire life.
I knew it was gonna be amazing, but I had no idea it was gonna be like that.
Oh my gosh.
I spent the next few days exploring Katmai and Lake Clark National Parks, living out my childhood dream seeing more than 30 bears and having some of the best weather and meeting the best guides that Alaska has to offer.
Setting off from Miami.
I didn't know what to expect on this journey, but what I learned was that, no matter how incredible the destination is, it's always the people you meet along the way that make the adventure a story truly worth telling.
