What I Miss Most About Alaska, and Some Things I Definitely Don’t

I may earn income from affiliate links or partnerships in this post. I spend time to curate tours or products that align with my values. Thanks for supporting my work, at no additional cost to you. All words and images on this website are created by real people.

It is the 12th anniversary of my great Alaskan exodus. It’s weird saying that. I thought my love for Alaska was undying, and I pictured myself staying forever; I mean, I even chose to go to the University of Alaska.

After university, I was pushed out into the struggling economy, losing job offers to conservative options with 20-plus years of experience. I was losing friends to drugs and violence and comforting victims of sexual assault. I was also struggling to find a compatible life partner.

Everyone in Alaska seemed happy where they were—unexcited about traveling, unwilling to open their minds, and stuck with outdated mindsets. Suddenly, I was too big for the small town I grew up in, so I packed my things and drove to the Lower 48. It wasn’t long after I left Alaska that I encountered my now-husband, who was living in Australia, and before I knew it, we moved to Munich, Germany, together.

My breakup with Alaska was the worst breakup I’ve been through. It was hard to balance my love for the place where my family lived and where my roots had grown deep over the 26 years I lived there. I loved the outdoors, the true individualism, and the quirkiness, but I was battling with my hatred for crime, drugs, faulty politics, and outdated people.

When I was a kid, it was the best damn place on the planet, so why was it so difficult as an adult?

I’ve been lucky enough to return home at least once a year, but I knew I made the right decision to leave every time I returned home. I missed home, the friends I had left, and my family—sure—but the rose-colored glasses were off, the bad outweighed the good, and I didn’t miss Alaska ENOUGH.

While it may have been the worst breakup, it was necessary. In my ten years away from Alaska, I figured out who I was and truly wanted to be.

About seven years ago, during my trip home, I felt like I finally had enough time away from the state to miss Alaska genuinely, and the urge to move home began as a tickle in my throat.

Perhaps it is because I left to find myself and returned without all the baggage. I’m succeeding in my dream job, and I have a wonderful partner by my side to whom I can return with a fresh outlook on life and appreciate my gorgeous home state for all the good it offers.

I started making a mental list of all the things I missed most about Alaska to remind myself of the good. But after living in Europe for nearly seven years, I’ve realized I am a European at heart, and this list led to numerous things I don’t miss at all. So, here is my list of what I miss most and what I do not miss at all about Alaska.

Things I Miss Most About Alaska

Beer

This one confuses a lot of people. Yes, I said I live in Munich, Germany. Yes, I said I miss Alaska’s beer. Seriously, Alaska, you don’t know how good you have it. 

Munich might be the home of Oktoberfest, and more Germans drink beer with breakfast than I like to admit, but the beer here is underwhelming and bland. Sure, it’s great if you want to drink 5 liters and not get a hangover, but with old purity laws, I find them to be lacking creativity in brewing.

I miss going to an Alaskan brewery and getting a sampler of 6 different rainbow-colored beers. Alaska has 40 microbreweries, putting us in the top 10 per capita. 

Alaskans have a naturally creative and daring approach to doing things, resulting in unique flavors and some of the best beer in the world. Most of the brewers in Alaska have been to Europe or studied beer-making there, but they put their own twist on classics.

P.S. SOS. Send me a beer. Single Engine Red from Denali Brewery is preferred, but any will do.

Wide Open Spaces

I miss the days of heading out into nature with my tent and setting up camp wherever I pleased. It is so easy to find solitude and connect with nature in Alaska. Just head 20 minutes outside the city, and you can be completely alone – with a few bears and moose.

Nature is a great place to think, be an introvert, and contemplate life. When I brought my in-laws, who grew up in India, to Denali National Park, they were brought close to tears. They didn’t realize a place of such vast wilderness and solitude existed – untouched.

That type of vast ecosystem doesn’t exist in Germany. In fact, a German recently told me that you could be dropped out of an airplane in Germany at random, and within minutes, you would come across a town, village, farm, or city. It’s true that getting lost in Germany is impossible, and I dislike that.

I recently visited a national park and was thoroughly confused. I was in the middle of this park, and the mountains were deforested for farmland. I was hiking on a trail with domestic cows, and there were many people.

I now get excited when I see a red squirrel in a park, this coming from a girl who grew up navigating around moose to get to school. I miss cohabiting with wildlife and feeling like a guest in their home, not the other way around. Alaska has a unique relationship with its wildlife.

Appreciate your wilderness and save your national parks, Alaska. You don’t want to be like Germany and shoot the first bear that shows up in your country in years after you killed them all because you’re scared, and it might eat your precious cows. Being around people all the time sucks. Bears are better.

Subsistence Living

I think Alaskans have a healthy relationship with wildlife – for the most part- because so many people rely on subsistence living. I miss resourceful people who can live off the land. I miss blueberry picking in the autumn to make jam and to stock our freezer with fresh salmon. If the rest of the world had that relationship with their food, we would be much better off.

Fashion

Someone recently told me that I always looked like I was about to go hiking, which was the greatest compliment I have received. I miss living where everyone looks like they are about to go hiking, fishing, or camping. I miss people who look like themselves and not what society tells them to look like.

Alaskans have terrible fashion, if you could even call it fashion, but that makes it great. People wake up, put on whatever the fuck they want, and rock it. I often stick out like a sore thumb in Munich, lost in a sea of basic black smart clothing. B-O-R-I-N-G. Even the edgy and alternative people wear all black.

When I first moved to Munich, I was intimidated into conforming, and I realized it was making me feel uncomfortable in my own skin. I would wear jeans and a cute top and brush my hair just to run to the corner store, 10 seconds from my house.

On this last trip home, I realized I am proud to be a hot mess of Alaska as I slipped into flannel and hiking pants. That is how I feel most of the time. I’ve been wearing my Salmon Sisters, my Happy AK headband, Mountain Momma skirts, Alaska Chicks hoodies, and a great pair of leggings ever since, and I am happy.

Women in Badass Jobs

On this last trip to Alaska, I had amazing experiences with women working badass jobs. I took some time to reflect on what always happened and realized it was common for Alaska but VERY uncommon around the world.

During a Major Marine Cruise out of Seward, we had a female captain, a female firsthand, and an onboard female park ranger. As soon as that boat cruise ended, I boarded a train with a female POC conductor and cabin manager. How freakin’ cool is that? When I started this discussion with a few people in my travel group, multiple people said that experiences like that only happened when they had not traveled to Alaska.

I even had one PoC woman in my group tell me Alaska was one of the few places in the world where she was treated as an equal to her white partner. Alaska has a lot of problems when it comes to sexual assault and racial issues with our Indigenous peoples, and that is a whole other issue to get into. Still, we often support women in untraditional jobs and have a diverse state.

Munich still supports an outdated view of women. It’s a catch-22; I’m harassed less here, but family dynamics are obsolete. I rarely see a woman driving a truck or boat here in southern Germany.

The system is set up to encourage stay-at-home moms, and I’ve heard of some mothers being shamed out of returning to work. And Germany is better than most places I’ve been in Europe. I was the only female driver I saw the entire time I traveled through North Macedonia and Kosovo.

I like to think this is because when you live in such a hard climate, you’re forced to rely on people, male or female, and of all types of ethnicities. People bond over survival; women do just as much as men do, if not more, and they start seeing each other as equals.

Drive-Through Coffee Shops

Do you even know how horrible it is to have to put on real pants and walk to a cafe with a bunch of grumpy old men sitting outside chain-smoking just for a shitty German coffee? No, no you don’t.

I miss driving up and engaging with friendly baristas as they make me a weird and wild concoction from a long, diverse menu. With more coffee shops per capita than any other state, thanks to these drive-through coffee shops, you can stay caffeinated for long road trips and dive in and out of a traffic jam to grab a cup to go.

Coffee shops like this are unheard of in most parts of the world. That is because coffee culture is social, where you sit down and chat with people. I prefer to get my coffee on the go and without real pants.

Red Bull Smoothie

On that note, while we talk about drive-through coffee shops, I will go out here and admit a dirty little secret. I miss Redbull smoothies; they got me through University. I’m not sure if these are Alaskan things, but I remember blowing my friends’ minds from LA when they came through the drive-through coffee shop with me.

I have never seen them elsewhere, so I will claim them for Alaska. When you have 20-plus hours of daylight, you need something to keep you burning that midnight oil, so why not drive through a coffee shop and grab a Redbull smoothie?

Individuality

When I try to describe Alaskans to the rest of the world, I usually resort to the following: “Alaska is a place full of people who are unapologetically themselves. It’s a place where the wilderness and limited human interaction breed odd and quirky people.”

Those from Alaska might think this isn’t a good thing, but until you go to a place where so many people seem the same, the weird people in Alaska are a breath of fresh air. Alaskans are not homogeneous, and I can hardly even stereotype Alaska as anything other than individual and unique.

Here in Munich, you get weird stares for standing out or creating something unique; in Alaska, you’re just part of the community.

Made in Alaska/Alaska Grown

One of the best things about Alaska is the lack of chain restaurants, stores, and products. It is easier to find something “Made in Alaska” than it is in China. Alaskans are savvy business owners and creative entrepreneurs.

I get so excited to return home and get some unique local goods that I list things I need to stock up on every visit. Here in Munich, we have some locally farmed and made grocery items, but that entrepreneurial spirit hasn’t ignited as it has in Alaska.

I’m even an odd one out for being a freelance creator. Alaskans support Alaskans at places like the State Fair, farmers’ markets, and shops full of hand-made local goods. I miss that.

Real Winters

Munich has winter, and it’s great, but I miss having snow coverage for several months. Here in Munich, it will snow for a day; by morning, everything will have melted. I also must admit I miss the long, dark, cold winters.  I know I’m crazy; maybe it is the introvert in me, but there is something very satisfying about holing up and busting through your reading list as the winter rages on. 

I know I hear all the Alaskans that have suffered years of shitty winters rolling their eyes at me because Alaska is on par to be more like Munich, thanks to global warming. I’m told Munich used to be very snowy. So, maybe I miss the winters from when I was a kid, and we had to ski to the supermarket.

On that note, I miss snowboarding in Alaska. Alyeska is a fraction of the size of the world-class European resorts I visit, but everything is overly groomed and on the piste. I haven’t found a tree run with face shots since I moved.

However, I don’t miss Alaska’s terrible snow management.

When it snows in Germany, the roads are plowed and sanded. No, no one is driving off the road into the ditch. We pay taxes in Germany, and you know what that probably saves us a lot of money in buying a new car, going to the doctor for a broken arm from falling on the ice, or still being able to walk to the store because the sidewalks are plowed.

Fred Meyer

I remember being shocked when I first moved to Las Vegas and realized the world was not full of Fred Meyer. It was a sad day, and it only got worse from there.

When I moved to Munich, my options were limited to micro-supermarkets that sold a fraction of what Fred Meyer did. If I wanted clothing, I had to go to a clothing store. If I wanted a swimsuit, I had to go to a swimsuit store. If I wanted fresh veggies, I went to the fresh food market. If I wanted home and garden items, I went to the hardware store.

And no, it’s not what you think; I don’t miss Super Mega Marts because there is a sad excuse for a Walmart outside Munich city, and Las Vegas had Target. I miss Fred Meyer. If you love Fred Meyer, you know what I mean. Every trip home, I find myself at Fred Meyer no less than ten times.

Overly Friendly People

People from the U.S. are the most chatty, oversharing, weirdos in the world. Alaskans take that to the extreme. I miss walking into a bar, sitting down, and hearing someone’s life story, whether I want to hear it or not.

In Munich, I walk into a bar alone and am the odd woman out, but no one speaks to me. The woman at the supermarket doesn’t share her relationship problems with me, and even as an introvert, I start to get a little lonely. Alaskans are also genuinely caring people. Not only do they want to talk to you and share their day, but they also want to help you fix your flat tire, help you paint your house, or let you borrow their truck for the day. Alaskans are pretty selfless and caring.

The only neighborly help I got in Munich came from my neighbor, who barged into my house on Sunday with a can of DW-40 because he heard my bedroom door squeaking.

Dive Bars

If Munich has a good dive bar, I haven’t found it yet, but I’ve looked far and wide. I miss stepping into Darwin’s and just hanging out with other oddballs. Bars in Munich are usually so crowded that you have to reserve a table or are too posh. The ones that look like they would be good candidates for a dive bar are full of slot machines and people gambling.

Summer Solstice

In contrast to the long, dark winters, the Summer Solstice is one of my favorite days of the year. Maybe I love that stark contrast between summer and winter in Alaska; they balance each other out in a sick way.

I miss starting a hike at 11 p.m. with beers in hand to watch the sun dip below the horizon before popping back up. It’s beautiful. The long summer days make up for our short summer; you can make the most of it.

When I first moved to Las Vegas, my head heat meant long days. I started a hike after work at 4 p.m. and got stuck in the dark. It didn’t make sense. Every summer should have endless days for fun.

Things I Do Not Miss About Alaska

Drivers

Driving on the Autobahn is like a well-rehearsed symphony. Slow cars are on the right, and fast cars are on the left. Cars change lanes with the grace of a Swan Lake Ballerina.

Did you know that cars can go from 200 km/h to a complete stop without hardly touching their brakes here in Germany? Yes, they can because they understand how driving works.

You don’t need to stop-start in traffic and weave in and out of lanes like bats out of hell. The roads are banked and maintained with tax money, funding practical things like highways to provide a smooth ride. Germany made me a better driver. I used to be a terrible driver, like every other Alaskan, but then I moved to a higher-driving society, and it’s beautiful.

Then I come home to Alaska, giant trucks are riding my ass, honking their horn at me, swerving past me on icy roads in a rage fit. Cars drive slowly in the left lane, and when people see stopped traffic, they slam on their brakes at the last second. Like, come on, people, we ALL know there will be a red light at Airport Heights Drive.

Trash – What’s up with the Poo Bags?

Seriously, Alaska, let’s talk about the little poo bags that are all over the bike paths and hiking trails. You know the poo that you put in a brightly colored bag and leave it on the side of the road, promising yourself you’re going to get it on the way back? Well, guess what? You forgot about it. Figure out a way to take that shit home with you and get some compostable bags while you’re at it.

Seriously, though, Alaska, I know our recycling facilities suck up there, but that doesn’t mean you have to put your trash on the ground. On this recent trip home, I took up plogging, which involves picking up trash while you’re jogging.

Every other day, I ran from my house along a highway until I came to a loop circling a lake, Fire Lake for those locals reading. Every time, I had to detour to Fred Meyer to toss the trash in their bins. I found entire bags of McDonald’s, coffee cups, styrofoam, soda cans, poo bags… it was never-ending.

Las Vegas was better at keeping trash off the street than Alaska. And you don’t even want to know how clean and beautiful Munich is. Our parks are pristine, our roads are spotless, and our downtown area is beautiful. The bottom line is that Alaskans treat the outdoors like a trash bin, which is weird, given that we have one of the most beautiful places on the planet.

Lack of Social Services

Driving down 3rd Ave. in Anchorage, this trip home made my skin crawl. The sheer number of unhoused people living in dirty tents on the side of the main road is unacceptable. I open my news sources, and I read that people who need mental health help are being kept in prison due to the lack of social services.

I read that women are unable to escape abusive relationships, as there is nowhere for them to get help, people are dying from drugs daily, and there is nowhere for those addicted to get affordable help detoxing.

My heart sinks whenever I read about these things and the lack of movement toward making Anchorage and Alaska a better place. It is one of the biggest reasons why I left with a bad taste in my mouth.

Munich recently resettled a large number of refugees in the city. I haven’t seen an increase in the number of homeless people or those in need. A system was in place to get them homes, jobs, and productive members of society.

There is hardly any crime, hardly any drugs, and hardly any homeless people. Systems are in place to care for those who need mental health care, drug rehabilitation, employment, and housing. The people are taken care of, and it is nice to live where people take care of them.

Lack of Public Transportation, Bike Trails, and Pedestrian Zones

I love not owning a car, and I am pretty sure it would sit in my garage if I bought one. Munich has such excellent public transportation. I can hop on a tram, bus, subway, suburban train, regional train, or international train and be at my friend’s house in 10 minutes without sitting in traffic, or I can be at the foot of the mountains, ready to go hiking or snowboarding.

I don’t need to drive anywhere. I can ride my bike year-round in the city, and Munich is a bike-friendly city with specified trails for pleasure and commuting. Our downtown and old city has a massive pedestrian zone, so you can shop, eat, and enjoy the history of Munich without the stress of being hit by a car.

The bus system in Anchorage is a joke, and no one takes it. Living in Europe has made me a firm believer in taking the bus. The fact that some people look down on taking the bus is so silly, but buses and trams are awesome!

The U.S., in general, is the result of lobbying by the auto industry, which has hindered our public transportation development. Munich has a healthy auto industry and clean public transportation. You can have your cake and eat it too, you know.

Lack of Vegan and Vegetarian Options

I can count the full vegan and vegetarian restaurants in Anchorage on my hand. If you look at the menus of Simon and Seaforts, or any of the other fancy restaurants in the city, they don’t even have a dedicated vegetarian section; you have to order from the menu and ask the chef.

Munich, a city notorious for pork knuckle and schnitzel, has many vegetarian options, including many great products in the supermarket. (In fact, just about every city in the U.S. does, too.) Every menu has a nice little section for vegetarians and vegans.

I’m super excited that my birthday dinner this year will be at a 5-course gourmet vegan restaurant here in Munich, with organic wine pairings. I can’t wait for that to be a thing in Alaska.

Supermarket Prices

I know, I know, I said I love and miss Fred Meyer, and I really do, but when I go there, I usually spend $100 just on food to last me a week or less. I go to my local market here in Munich, and I get food that lasts me seven days.

I spend about USD 44 on fresh local food. The supermarket and food prices in Alaska are ridiculous, and they only get worse the more remote you go. I do not miss going broke to get healthy, fresh food in Alaska.

Drugs

This is a really sensitive subject for me. Drugs and Alaska are synonymous in my head. I started losing friends in 7th grade to drugs, and it hasn’t stopped. I’ve had two toxic relationships that involved drug use and several more that were made worse with alcohol.

Alaska has a drug problem, and it is a HUGE drug problem. People don’t play around with recreational drugs; they are shooting up on heroin and smoking meth to OD. This is the reason Alaska broke my heart.

You can only stand by as you watch schoolmates, friends, and colleagues slide off the deep end and take their own lives so many times that you have to get out of there. I’m teary-eyed just talking about it, so I will leave it at that. Alaska has a drug problem, and it needs to do something about it.

Here in Munich, I know very few people who do drugs, and those I do know mostly smoke marijuana or do MDMA responsibly in safe places for special events.

PFD

I’m sure you’re all saying, “Hey Susanna, I think you meant to put this in the things you miss section. Who doesn’t miss free money?” Wrong. I don’t miss the PFD. I did when I moved to Vegas because many of the same economic problems exist around the rest of the U.S., but I don’t miss it anymore.

I think Alaskans tend to hyper-focus on this issue when it comes to voting. People vote to protect this free check and ignore larger issues like drugs, violence, and mental health. I think the PFD has created tunnel vision. I also think that the money given to Alaska residents no longer offsets the damage oil companies cause, and it is time to invest in renewables, stop relying on oil company money, and vote for what matters.

Also, why don’t we pay people a living wage so they can buy that flat-screen TV whenever they want?

Sexual Assault/Cat Calling

I wrote a whole article on this; you can read it here. To sum it up, though, I haven’t been catcalled ONCE since I moved to Munich, not by a refugee, not by a Middle Eastern, not by a local, not by strange men in dark alleyways. My heart rate no longer increases when I walk down a dark road at night and see a man. I feel safe and respected.

Meanwhile, back home, I was catcalled, and I was harassed daily. The number of women sexually assaulted in Alaska is insane. Alaska has the highest rate of sexual assault in the country, and it is high time we took action to curb this behavior.

I still think about the party bus scheme, where a group of men worked in tandem with a local bar to roofie women in order to sexually assault them. No one talks about it, because that has been normalised.

Politics

Sarah Palin vs. Angela Merkel. Do I need to say more? Also, seriously, Alaska, why do you keep voting for regressive ass hats… I have no words other than to stop voting for racist, Trump-loving losers.

So, Does the Good Outweigh the Bad?

Sorry, this took a dark turn… At the start of this article, you might have even thought that I missed Alaska enough to come home. I was thinking that, too, but at the end of the day, I think the bad still outweighs the good.

I miss the culture and lifestyle of Alaska; I don’t miss the deep-rooted systemic problems with socio-economic problems. But you know what? Sometimes I think that if Alaska functioned a little more like Germany, much of what I love would disappear.

We would lose that quirky individualism. I am convinced there is a happy medium, though. We can have a more functional state and keep the weirdness; in this, I have faith.

I am also confident that, now that I’ve figured life out, every time I return home, I can look at it with love and admiration for the good it offers, and not be so jaded by the bad.

Who has left Alaska? What do you miss the most? What do you miss the least? Drop me a comment and let me know!