In my opinion, for a
short term visit to Alaska say like three weeks or less
could or would be a little more beneficial on your wallet if you were to opt for the fly and rent mode versus hauling your own RV around upon factoring in geographical distance, region, and route options taken which can also dictate higher or lower fuel prices along the way to one's desire.
The advantage of renting an RV to tour Alaska is that you are buying time to spend when arriving by air as a one or two week visit starts in Alaska, rather than driving burning a week or so just to reach Alaska if you are constraint on time.
You are talkin an average price range of at least $120 per day the last I knew just for the RV rental itself, so it would be the same as staying at a hotel room in a monetary comparison, but the advantage is your hotel room is on wheels as you dictate your travels.
Considering you still having to pay for the fuel to commute around, plus the added expense of airfare and rental....I'm with PA12DRVR suggesting a 4 to 5 week RV rental will fleece lots of money from your wallet.
Since 7 of the past 8 years I toured throughout northern and western Canada in my RV rig (the missing year was 2007 because I was not granted any summer time off work), the distances normally covered upon my short vacations range from 4200 to 5060 miles per round trip which are mostly 3 weeks off however one year was 4 weeks off and one year was 5 weeks off.
Considering just fuel costs for my old rig alone since 2008 was 65% to 68% of my total RV expenses as I am one of those types that will break down every aspect and account for every cent spent on every category of travel, I am pretty eccentric when it comes to expenditures.
My $2014.19 (USD converted) RV fuel cost for 2013 covered 4789.2 miles, consumed 409.2 US gallons at 11.70 miles per gallon, with an average price of $4.922 per US gallon, bottom line of .4205c per mile.....My total travel expenses were $3073.93 in which I even splurged a bit more this year than the past upon keeping expenses to a minimum as the fuel cost accounted for 65.5% of the total, as 2011 and 2012 still accounted for over 68% in fuel cost while not splurging as much on other costs.
I am happy to consider keeping my total expenditure expenses under the average of $150 per day, in which 2008, 2009 and 2010 exceeded that by a little bit, as I made the adjustment to reach the 2011 and 2012 trips real close just under the $150/day level, as 2013 dropped big time to $133.50 per day average for 23 days as I splurged even more in other expenses.
As a basic comparison of renting an RV in Alaska for a 3 week period, say it is fuel efficient enough to cost .35c per mile to run at 1000 miles per week covering 3000 miles ($1050 fuel), plus 21 day rental at $120/day ($2520 rental) which equals $170 per day combined.
Include the roundtrip airfare and we'll say $1000 or so and that's basically $215/day for a three week rental airfare and fuel combined, excluding any food and other expenditures.
Say if the fly and rent was a 5 week period, consider a conservative figure total for the rental, fuel and airfare would still total $190/day excluding any food and other expenditures for the 5 weeks.
In my case the 2013 non fuel expenses was $46/day average for 23 days, in which 48% of that total was groceries, restaurant and tips alone....the remaining catagories were 8 showers, 5 campground fees, souvenir gifts, retail items, beverages, 4 admission fees for attractions.
A cheaperskate than me could easily lower this figure to $25/day cuz hey, a man or woman has gotta eat, so we are back to that $215/day figure.
I would figure one could spend $150/day in their own RV, and count the basic comparison on a 5 week rental which means $65/day cheaper for 35 days....rounding it off to a $2300 surplus.
Even rating at a .40c per mile cost, that still buys an extra 575 gallons of fuel....Figure a fuel efficient rig at 15 MPG that's an extra 8625 miles of travel added for the same basic cost of a 5 week rental.
Based on the comparison of this guideline with time not being an issue, a person can weigh in the factors of wear and tear, the distance factor to Alaska and back to area of origin.
The added bonus if you opt to drive ones own RV to Alaska is you get to see a lot of Canada with more wildlife sightings.
About bringing the firearm subtopic, I am with Sue's post on this one....keep a clean camp and be real aware of your surroundings as I never had a problem in going on 32 years in the far north nor felt threatened by these so called real aggressive maneaters of creatures some portray....I would also add that the greatest chance of wildlife encounter one might have would be slowing down and avoiding a collision with a bear, caribou, or buffalo while on Canadian roads, and slowing down and avoiding a moose while on Alaska roads.
While in Canada I always feel safer there visiting while only armed with bear spray when I venture around on foot along trails and not too far out in the wilderness.
Now granted, while in Alaska when I am deep in the woods or in my canoe venturing somewhere or in someone's riverboat cruising way out in the wilderness or boondocking out in no mans land, sure I'm packin'.
It's not as much the potential worry of encountering a 4 legged creature deep in the wilderness for me being armed, it's those potentially aggressive unpredictable 2 legged creatures in Alaska that could pop out of nowhere that worry me more.
Since the OP mentioned owning a firearm and prefers to possess one while in Alaska.... if decided to fly and rent an RV, the last I knew one could still transport an unloaded declared firearm in their checked baggage while complying to the rules and regulations.
Unless transporting firearms in checked baggage is not allowed anymore, I do not understand the OP mentioning about a much added cost for transport to Alaska.
1975 Ford F250 2WD Ranger XLT (Owned June 2013)
460 V8- C6 Trans- 3.73:1 (196K Total Mi)
2000 Fleetwood Angler 8ft Cabover
Air Lift 1000 (Front)
Hellwig 3500 lb Helper Springs (rear)
Hellwig Front and Rear Sway Bars
Goodyear G971 LT Series (siped)
