Part1: The urge, the beginning

Middle of May, 2016. I was a little bit frustrated. Frustrated with the consequences of failure in my work, frustrated with a broken-up relationship goal, and of course frustrated with the daily chores. Attempting to dissolve all the fiascos in glasses of scotch; trying to hide all of them by shunting myself in the corner of my condo; slowly I started realizing my depression. Last few weeks of psychiatrist counseling also stopped working and directing me towards sedative medication.

Well, I am a PhD student in the United States, left a beautiful IT-job in India, a loquacious friend circle, a caring family and now living a secluded life surviving on my meagre stipend.

Last night, while surfing over NetFlix, I found a movie called ‘Into the Wild’ and that is where it all started. A true story on the life of Cristopher McCandless who left his life for the solo travel and hiking. I don’t know why, but I started feeling a strong connection. A frustrated life, regular chores and a sudden great escape. The next morning, I went to my counselor who was always inspiring me to do something different that I never thought of.  An hour of discussion, and I simply booked the cheapest available ticket to Anchorage. Of course, it’s not my first tour, but it’s different. I really don’t know how, but it’s very different.

Well, I packed my bags. Packing means only a couple of t-shirts and a couple of all-purpose trousers and shorts. I started looking for cheap accommodations. Fortunately, I discovered that most of the travel-destination in the world has Hostels to accommodate budget travelers. Hostels are wayyyyy cheaper than normal hotels. The popular websites are hostelworld.com, hostel.com, etc. Or, just a quick search on Google will give you plenty of options. The availability of cheap hostels made me plan to base at Anchorage.

I reserved a red eye flight (the flights which travel overnight) for the cheaper option that fit in my stipend and I reached Anchorage around 3-30am. It was summer in Alaska and possibly the most pleasant summer outside the airport. Well, on the airport, the city does not have much to offer. Neither I reserved any room for that day. So, I had plenty of time to waste and I started talking to some of the locals, other budget travelers and airport-staffs.

The locals were interesting. Besides 10-5 jobs, many of them are involved in some form of fishing business here. In Alaska, fishing is quite mainstream. Salmon, Cod, Halibut, by virtue of Mother Nature, the Gulf of Alaska is the home for all these costly fish. Fishermen hunt their games all over the summer when the ocean is warm. They hunt almost without taking any rest or sleep from June to August and then survive the entire year on the business made by this. Well, long live to US-bureaucracy. The big companies buy the fishes with handsome remuneration to the fishermen. A life to envy, huh…. Pretty different from the one of ‘Padma Nadir majhi’. Especially I was extraordinarily jealous when comparing my PhD-life with theirs. In fact, I met a person (named Greg) in the airport, who left his high-paying IT-job in San Francisco for this business and started living his life possibly to the fullest.

Well, slowly the sun came out around 5 in the morning. Like the fishermen, He also does not get much rest and sleep in summer. In the middle of May, the normal sunset time was around 1-00am at night and sunrise was 5-00am. I took a bus and head directly to the rail station. It was kind of half an hour ride. My train was scheduled at 9-00 am though. However, I could not stop my fantasy anymore.

This is what I thought of Alaska in my mind. Honestly, I visualized her as some edited pictures of glaciers available in Internet. I thought of some blue ice caves, a few floating icebergs, a few miles of sledge ride like Santa Claus. And that’s it.

But when it all comes together, I was simply speechless. I just stared, stared and stared. I was convinced that if there is a heaven anywhere, I am on its door today. The surreality put me together with ‘Pandavas’ on the way to ‘Mahaprasthanam’. I wish I could capture my eyes and brain on my Camera. But I don’t think our technology is so advanced. Furthermore, my skill is limited. I tried to preserve some moments but it’s nowhere closer to what I saw and what I feel. And this is just the beginning. 

​Read Next Parts:

Amazing Alaska Part 2

Amazing Alaska Part 3