Explore Alaska from your desk

Alaska is filled with adventures and great trips to remote places, but how do you find out all you need to know before you go? Simple -- you log on the Internet, and visit the places you want to go without ever leaving your home.

Researching Alaska trips is as easy as turning your computer on.

There are Web sites for thousands of guide services, flightseeing agents, bed and breakfasts and nearly every other Alaska-related thing imaginable. But sorting through all those Web sites can be a time-consuming, tedious task. That's why several Web sites are doing it for the consumer.

A number of sites have gathered all the pertinent information and provide links to services around the state. They are useful tools for people to use at this time of the year -- when the snow melts and thoughts drift to summer activities.

Now is the time to book a fishing charter this summer, or to arrange a flightseeing excursion. The Web sites are useful for residents and tourists alike.

www.frontiersman.com

The Frontiersman's Web site provides a quick list of things to do in the Valley, and gives readers a chance to catch up on the news in the community. Great outdoor stories appear on the site every Friday, giving people far away a chance to feel as if they are in the Valley camping or fishing.

www.alaskavisit.com

The official site of the Mat-Su Convention & Visitors Bureau is a gold mine for information about the Mat-Su area. You can get a detailed fishing report for the Mat-Su area, as well as information about communities.

One of the site's highlights is the tours section, in which detailed information about a number of tours is outlined. There are also links to everything Mat-Su -- fishing charters, tour operators and a number of other tourism-related businesses.

www.sportingalaska.com

This relatively new site has a comprehensive listing for everything one could imagine about Alaska. It is essentially a major search engine that collects information, sorts out the useless pages, and delivers the most appropriate pages to the computer user immediately.

here are listings for fishing, hunting, snowmachining, the Iditarod, the Iron Dog and every other Alaska-related outdoor and sports topic.

The site also has some editorial content about Alaska items.

www.alaskan.com

At this site, visitors can get links to guides of all sorts in all areas of the state, as well as travel planning tips and links to lodges.

www.alaska.com

Links to news, travel, fishing, weather, jobs and shopping are aimed at visitors and residents alike.

www.inalaska.com

The site's billing as "Alaska's most comprehensive online travel guide" fits, but it is geared more toward out-of-state guests than Alaskans. You could spend hours on the site, which includes a handy section on how to prepare for your Alaska vacation if coming from out of state.

www.alaskaontheweb.com

Another site where people can get links to tourism-related sites around Alaska, such as fishing lodges and guides.

www.vacationalaska.com

The Web site has sections for every region of Alaska, and a comprehensive search engine where visitors can get information about specific types of companies located in specific areas -- such as fishing guides in Willow, or flightseeing tours in Wasilla.

www.alaskafishing.com

If fishing information is what you are looking for, this site has a directory of links to the specific information being targeted, such as lodges, fly-in fishing opportunities and a list of Alaska-related fishing books.

There is also a photo gallery to tease visitors who wish they were on the water instead of at the computer.

www.akflyfishers.org

Everything fly-fishing can be found at this site. It is a noncommercial Web site that boasts a great bulletin board where people exchange information about fly fishing around Alaska.

The Alaska Fly Fishers Web page also has a beautiful photo gallery, and a section for fly tiers in which detailed instructions are given on how to tie popular flies, and when and how to use them.

These are just a few of the many Alaska-related Web sites available to people. The best thing to do is spend an afternoon online to line up your week trip or month-long vacation.

Many Web sites offer online booking and reservations, as well as helpful information about what to bring and what to leave at home.

The Internet is the business of the future, and many tour operators are trying to take advantage of these new opportunities by offfering Internet discounts, or by offering more than their competitors on the Web sites.

Alaska is a huge state, and checking out each business in person would be almost impossible.

The Internet changes that, however. It makes everything local, and gives the power to to the consumer. When you can't be there, you can still get a feel for the business based on their Web page.

A little time spent at the computer can often result in big savings, as well as a thought-out adventure -- whether it be a weekend or a month spent around Alaska.