Chasing the Northern Lights: Alaska's Aurora Winter train adventure

I'm not suffering though, I think it's beautiful. Tonight, we step off the train in Anchorage, Alaska, where we're greeted by a historic snowstorm. But despite the weather, we're excited to share with you the beauty of the Aurora Winter Train. We hope we get lucky enough tonight to see the Northern Lights. Fingers crossed. Join us as we embark on a 12-hour journey across Alaska from Fairbanks to Anchorage. We'll show you exactly what it's like to experience this famous train ride from the food, train, a famous passenger we meet, and of course, the pretty incredible views that make this adventure truly unforgettable. We do want to thank Incogni for sponsoring this video. It's 4 30 a.m. in North Pole, Alaska, where we're starting this journey. It's way too early. We only slept two hours. The crane's not working. Before getting to the train station, we had to pack up our bags, clean up the rental cabin, load everything into the car, and then we hear this. I don't have it. It's either the wallet, the keys, or the phone. Please tell me we're not the only couple that does this. Right there, sweetie. Goodbye. Let's go. We then needed to fill the car up with gas, find a parking spot at the airport, and get all of our things out of the car, deliver the car keys to the rental agency. Oh, we didn't see you. Bye-bye. And then catch a taxi to the train station. Railroad station. Yes. Thankfully, we made it in time to check our bags, get our tickets, and we still had a few minutes left before boarding. What a morning this has been already. Last night, we were up all night searching for the Northern Lights, which if you haven't seen our first Alaska video, make sure you check that out. But after you watch this video, here we are at the Fairbanks train station, and we have about 10 minutes before we board our train, which I'm so excited to take. I was really excited to take this train ride, but I kept remembering about four years ago the last time we took a 12-hour train ride. It was probably my worst decision I've ever made. Morning, pal. We're gonna be the first ones. First time, we're the first ones. Something that stood out for us even before we stepped on the train was how nice the staff was. Oh my gosh, that scared us. We got pretty scared, though. Well, that's typical for us. And also, they had a great sense of humor. Oh my gosh, I had a heart attack. On the Aurora winter train, only the adventure class is available, which means all the seats and services are the same. The entire train consisted only of the engine, two passenger cars, and a single dining car. It has large windows, and the seats are pretty comfortable. Oh yeah, that's us. We haven't seen a moose, so I'm gonna see a moose on the train. Coffee? Yes. That's good. Coffee as well. One? No, two. Two? Yeah. I have a feeling we're gonna get a lot of coffee. Yeah. I'm so excited, I'm so excited. I feel. Just a poke, I think. Oh, you're kidding. Just kidding. It's gonna be five, Ethan. Thank you, love. Thank you. It's a good train ride. Minute one of a 12-hour train ride. All aboard the train, train. Before we go, I need to check something. Are you like me and subscribe to every newsletter, fill out online forums to get a free month of something, or use many social media platforms? What you may not know is that your personal information is being sold online without your knowledge. I was shocked when I found out how many data breaches my personal information was in when I ran it through Incogni. Your personal data is important to these data brokers. Why? They collect information from the services and apps you use daily to create profiles with your personal information, including your name, age, marital status, phone number, purchasing history, interests, and more. This data is then used to tailor ads you see on platforms like Google, websites you browse, Facebook, and Instagram. But with Incogni, you can take back control of your personal data. All you have to do is to create an account and grant them permission to work for you. It's affordable and it comes from our friends at Surfshark. The first 100 people that use the code STEPS are going to get 20% off Incogni. Click the link below and take control of your personal data now. We're only 30 minutes into the ride and we are invited for breakfast, which takes place in the car right in front of ours. The breakfast burrito with reindeer? Oh, that was me. There you go. Aurora breakfast with bacon? Thank you. Bernardo went for a more classic option, while I chose something a bit different. The burrito with scrambled eggs, hashed potatoes, shredded cheese, and something I had never tried before. Reindeer sausage. We have an hour and 30 minutes before the sunrise, so we're going to try to escape a little bit. Good night, see you in five hours. Well, coffee didn't really help me and I fell asleep as soon as we got back to our seats. It did keep Bernardo awake though. About two hours into the journey, now totally awake, we passed by the small town of Niniana, where about 40 people reside. From this point, on a sunny day, the passengers are granted with a great view of Denali, the tallest mountain in North America. But since it's not a sunny day, we didn't get to see a lot of it. Well, maybe next time. Anywhere along the tracks, you might be able to spot some of Alaska's famous wild animals. I can't take a nap on this train, because you might see wolves, eagles, porcupines. And the best part is, the train crew seems to know the best places to spot them. This is where we get some moose. This is the time, this is the time. About the five o'clock position now, closing for us. Where there's one, there's probably more. We saw a moose. In the summer, Denali National Park is a popular stop, where people head off on excursions sometimes for days. During wintertime though, Denali becomes kind of a ghost town, and you don't see much happening around there. Stop one, Denali. The stop was extremely fast, just long enough for us to catch some fresh and cold air. And take a picture. We had a pretty fast stop at Denali, like around five minutes. But we're gonna have lunch. Unlike breakfast, lunch was packed, so we shared tables with another couple. Bernardo got the soup of the day, which was buffalo chili, while I went for a regular burger. Lunch was okay, honestly nothing extraordinary, but pretty good for train food. When we got back to our seats, it felt like the scenery kept getting more impressive by the minute. Being in one of the world's most scenic railways, most of us were trying to capture as most of the scenery as possible. Sometimes we did have to remind ourselves to leave the camera aside, be in the moment, and truly enjoy the journey. During wintertime in the part of Alaska, sunsets are around 240 in the afternoon, and soon it started getting dark again. Despite the few hours of light, we promise you the train ride is totally worth it, especially if we get the chance to see the northern lights. The guides and conductors seemed to know every single village and person alongside the entire route, including this inspiring and also very famous woman we met, Shannon Cartwright. You live the life we want to live. We're lucky to have met Shannon. She's a very talented illustrator who's worked on many children's books, all of them about Alaska. For decades, she's built a nomadic, secluded life in Alaska in this pretty incredible off-grid cabin. She has lived far away from the road system and has never owned a TV or a computer. She was telling us many interesting stories of her life in the wilderness. I've had many confrontations with bears. I had a scarier experience with a moose trying to kill me. The moose all of a sudden started charging across the pond, and the moose chased me around a tree. She now has a partner who lives with her and also this super cute dog. About every two weeks, they flag down this train and go into the closest city to get supplies. Do you have any advice for people who would like to live in the woods? Go do it now. Really, do it while you're young. Yeah, let's go. Yeah, well, thanks for listening. Talkeetna was our second and last stop, and it was even shorter than the first one. About three minutes. Snowing. This is really the first time that we're seeing snow here. Kind of. But that's okay, though, because at this point, we're both feeling really tired and ready to get to our final destination. The world's famous woman in Alaska. No, not the world's famous. And we met Alaska's... And we met Alaska's most famous woman. But since we still have a few hours left, it's time for dinner. We're trying all the food. We had breakfast without lunch. Now we're going to try dinner. I'm not even that hungry. I'm going to have the roast. Peanuts. Salmon. Chomper. Good. This is my favorite meal. What is it? This was my favorite, too. The woman. She said, thanks for dining. You guys are breathtaking. Oh, that's sweet. That's great. Pissed off here. Salmon. Yeah. Sweet. Love you, too. Please say to pick up a relief crew along the way, just in case we do need to switch over to the relief crew. 30 minutes into Anchorage. There's a big snowstorm. Wind gusts that reached up to 80 miles an hour. Should be fun. I think that will be fun. I'm excited to see snow, aren't you? We've seen a bunch of snow. Not falling, but... I want to see snow falling. We still don't have a hotel booked there. We'll probably be walking to the hotel. So that should be fun. I don't think that's the right way. Disclaimer. We didn't see aurora lights on this train. It's way too cloudy for us to see aurora, so... Yeah. Not this time. Is it bad if I want to say I can't wait to get off? Our time here on the winter aurora train has come to an end. 12 hours. Did you have a good time? I did. It was nice. The scenery was nice. But I'm... The lights have been on for 12 hours. So I think I'm ready for some darkness. Me too. And a bathtub. Gotta put on the gloves. I'm just wearing my gloves. Very good. Good job. Oh, oh wow. Thank you. Absolutely. Good luck. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much. Have a good evening. Have a good one. It's snowing. We made it to Anchorage in the midst of a record-breaking snowfall. We managed to get our hotel reservation at the train station, but we were having some trouble with our GPS. Or maybe my listening. Okay, now we just gotta figure out how to get to the hotel. If you like the snow as much as we do, give this video a thumbs up. If you like to watch us suffering, walking in the snow. I'm not suffering. Not knowing where to go. I like it. Give it a thumbs. I don't think that's the right way. So that's the Hilton. I think that's the downtown. We gotta go up this way. It's over this way, I'm sure. I just wish one of us was good with directions. It's not the other way. You know, we pretty much balance each other pretty well, except that both of us are horrible with directions. Where are we going? I think we go up. If Hilton's there, all the other hotels are there. Okay, okay, yes. Bernardo was right again. I was wrong. And we ended up walking 15 minutes the wrong way. But in my defense, don't you think all hotels would be around the Hilton? This is crazy. Snowball fight. Go! We have a snowball fight. This is the happiest moment of my life. The hotel was actually pretty close to the train station. Only a five minute walk. I'm sweating. Believe it or not, I'm sweating and I'm hot. But my hands are cold. I guess I should have listened to you. You should have. I told you it was here. All right, we're definitely going to sleep well tonight. Yeah, it's so silent. There's no snow blowing on our faces. Right. Oh, the weather outside is frightful. And the fires are delightful. Oh, you know it. And since we had no place to go. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Let it snow. As we say goodbye to Alaska, we want to take a moment to reflect on this incredible journey we've shared together. This trip has reminded us that life is meant to be lived fully and with a sense of adventure. When we get to a place, we always say, Let's see what happened here in Alaska. So we made some great memories here. And we'll always remember the first time we saw the Northern Lights, went dog sledding, and the wonderful people who've crossed our way. Thank you for joining us on this journey. Oh, welcome. And for allowing us to be a part of your life. Let's continue to make unforgettable memories together. Yeah, it was fun. It was really fun.