Brooks Lodge is pure magic—our first visit was back in 2007. It was such an amazing trip that it earned a spot on our website home page. Deep down, we knew we’d be back eventually.

Fast forward 15 years to December 1, 2022. I stumbled upon a photo of a brown bear online, which made me wonder about going back to Brooks Lodge. Due to high demand, they now use a lottery system. Coincidentally, the lottery for 2022 opened that very day for travel in 2024. If you’re aiming for peak season, there’s a strict three-night limit on bookings. It was a long shot, but we each entered the lottery just in case.

While we were quarantined in our cabin in Antarctica, Andy got the golden ticket—he was selected! We had just days to decide and pay, so naturally, we jumped on it.

Three nights in Alaska after traveling all the way from Australia didn’t make much sense. I got sidetracked by our second ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ trip to Antarctica, so it wasn’t until March 2024 that I started planning for Alaska. By then, all the lodges and small ship expeditions were fully booked. The dates of the few things that were still available just didn’t align.

But then I found a Lindblad-National Geographic expedition from Sitka to Juneau—six nights that would work perfectly. The plan came together: fly to Anchorage, spend three nights at Brooks, followed by one night back in Anchorage, and then fly to Sitka for a couple of days of whale watching or whatever adventures we could find before boarding the ship. After disembarking in Juneau, we’d spend two nights there before heading home—via Hawaii. It’s technically faster to fly Anchorage to Honolulu and then to Sydney—and bonus, no jet lag (I swear by it!).

In true spontaneous fashion, we decided to shake things up and change the Hawaii portion of our trip on the day of departure. Living in a pristine beach community in Australia, Waikiki’s allure was pretty much limited to PF Changs and the Cheesecake Factory—plus, it’s wicked expensive. So, when I noticed it was going to be a new moon, we pivoted and decided to visit the Big Island instead. Mauna Kea was calling, and after being clouded out on our last two trips, we were determined to make this third time the charm.

Next Up – A Bucket List Trip to See the Brown Bears at Brooks Lodge