Summer Season Working in Alaska
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Seward, Alaska |
This year, I believe I'm taking things to a whole new level with my bold and hasty decision to abandon all adult responsibility and instead spend the summer living and working in Alaska.
I will be based in the picturesque, seaside town of Seward, a place I visited for around 2 hours on my first and only trip to Alaska (a trip that also spawned the worst photo ever taken of the Northern Lights). Ultimately a fishing town - some have made the daring claim that it offers the best salmon fishing in the world - Seward has a population of 3000, an average summer temperature of 55°F (13°C) and sits at the entrance to the Kenai Fjords National Park. The town is the prime jump-off point for the boat and kayak tours that carry tourists along the waterways for close-up viewing of tidewater glaciers and marine wildlife. It is with one of these glacier tour companies that I have managed to gain employment.
What I hope to glean from this experience is:
- A great adventure
- New perspective
- The chance to travel around and see more of the glorious state of Alaska
- Excellent stories for this blog
Some of the summer challenges ahead should include:
- Making around the same money as I earned 10 years ago working at McDonalds. Maybe slightly less
- Living in dormitory style accommodation. Sharing a room, bathroom and kitchen with 2 or 3 random people. Maybe more
- Working in customer service (although I could argue that working in film and television for the past 8 years has been an exercise in extreme customer service)
- Potentially an entire summer without experiencing any summer weather whatsoever
Right up front, I can tell you that the thing that scares me the most is the dormitory situation. I haven't slept in a room with more than one stranger since my first day at kindergarten.
Nevertheless, I depart Los Angeles in 3 days. May the pitfalls of my upcoming journey provide the entertainment that gets you through 5 minutes of your work day.
Good luck and forget the salmon fishing, I believe there are Killer Whales there that can be caught off the south pier on Sundays. I might be wrong.
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