With tourist season in full swing, our Alaska roads are full to the brim with RVs, boat trailers and other adventurers off to make amazing memories before the season ends. Here's a handy checklist to prepare your vehicle with all the essentials to begin your road trip.
🎒 Prepare for the unexpected
Keep an emergency kit in your cargo space in the event of a flat tire, breakdown or road closure. This could include:
- Cell phone and charger
- Flashlight
- Fix-a-flat
- Flares and a white flag
- Jumper cables
- Tool kit for small repairs
- Tire pressure gauge
- Jack (and ground mat) for changing a tire
- Work gloves and a change of clothes
- Wildlife protection
- Extra windshield washer fluid
- Nonperishable food, drinking water and medicines
- First aid kit
- Emergency blankets, towels and coats
- Printed copy of your car insurance, license and registration
🔍 Check your ride
If you are venturing onto Alaska backroads where help isn’t easily at hand, you may need to get an extra maintenance checkup before you go. Check out this vehicle safety checklist to ensure your vehicle is safe to hit the road.
🛣️ Plan your route
Alaska is home to some of the country's largest national parks and remote wilderness preserves.
- Use printed Alaska maps and highway guides as your personal GPS when exploring new places.
- To plan your route online, simply enter where you want to go into Roadtrippers. When you're ready to hit the road, sync your trip to your phone and let the app lead the way with turn-by-turn navigation and discover the coolest “off the beaten path” places along the way.
- Check highway conditions through 5-1-1 Travel Information to help avoid lengthy road construction delays and keep your trip on schedule.
- Bookmark the Alaska DOT's travel resources page to view weather and road conditions, traffic crash reports and current construction projects.
📲 Manage your finances on the go
- When it come to cash, plan ahead. It's a good idea to make sure you have cash on hand in case your financial institution doesn’t have locations or ATMs where you're headed. Always plan for the unexpected when budgeting your trip.
- Online and mobile banking are invaluable ways to monitor and manage your accounts from almost anywhere. If you're a CU1 member, download the CU1 Mobile App and set up spending alerts, make transfers and find fee-free ATMs near you.
- Consider using tools that help protect your card transactions from fraud while you travel. Use Tap to Pay or add eligible debit and credit cards to your device’s digital wallet and pay for purchases.
- Make sure your financial institution has your current email address and mobile phone number, so you can be reached while you’re traveling in case suspicious activity is detected on your account.
We know that Alaska road trips are some of the best in the world. Take time to truly get your vehicle ready before you go, and adventure on!
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