Magician in Anchorage

Anchorage is a connection through Seattle or Minneapolis, most of a day in the air, and a three-hour time change working against me. I arrive the day before and never plan around a same-day landing.

That also makes it worth asking early. If another group in town is looking at the same week, one set of flights can cover more than one evening. Travel is built into the package or itemised on your quote, and agreed before anything is booked.

What gets booked in Anchorage

Work here is annual rather than routine. The Native corporations, oil and gas, mining, air cargo and the fishing industry each run one significant evening a year, and nonprofits do the same with a winter fundraiser. The convention halls downtown carry state association meetings and the AFN convention in October.

Season drives everything. Summer belongs to tourism and eighteen hours of daylight, and nobody sits still for it. From November onward people want reasons to be in a warm room together, and that is when I get asked.

Getting there

A fly-in date from Milwaukee. Flights and time on the ground are either built into the package or shown as a separate line on your quote, agreed before anything is booked — never added afterwards.

Also covered nearby: Eagle River, Chugiak, Wasilla, Palmer, Girdwood.