You’ve put in the hard work, and the reward is finally here: retirement. But is it everything you dreamed it would be? If you find yourself craving travel and adventure there are a couple ways to pursue it. But only one offers the unique combination of exploring Alaska, enjoying fulfilling work, and keeping your body and mind active. Here are five job opportunities in Alaska that are the perfect way to spend your golden years.
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Hit the road
A job behind the wheel in Alaska might be the closest thing to getting paid to road trip, and offers a unique combination of retirement employment and sightseeing. Whether it’s toting luggage to and from a lodge or buzzing tourists to and from their destinations and entertaining them with a narrated tour, a job driving motor coach sure beats thinking up reasons to pull the car out to take a spin around the neighborhood. With mountains, meadows and coastline in the windshield and boredom in your rearview mirror, it’s the perfect way to explore new terrain and make new friends in retirement.
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Help out in the kitchen
If sautéing, chopping and baking is right up your alley, put your skills to work by applying for a job in an Alaska kitchen. Both city hotels and backcountry lodges need people to turn out delicious morsels for their guests. They hire prep cooks, line cooks, pizza cooks and sous chefs. Preparing meals for guests to enjoy is rewarding work, and adventures await outside the kitchen for you to explore on your days off.
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Guide like a local
Got the gift of gab? Put it to work as a tour guide. If you like telling stories, cracking jokes and sharing experiences with people, a job as a tour guide in Alaska could be your ideal retirement job. Learning the landscape, the history and lore of the area is fun in itself, and sharing that with guests is even better. Whether it’s sharing a tour of Ketchikan—the “Salmon Capital of the World”—or guiding visitors through the epic landscape of Denali National Park, a tour guide job is the ultimate way to make a post-retirement living.
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Serve, clerk or host your way through an Alaska summer
If you’re a people person, we’ve got you covered. Why take a job as a host in your hometown when you can do the same job somewhere people go for their dream vacations? Jobs like attending to the gift shop at the Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge or hosting guests with Denali Transportation and Guest Services are perfect if you like interacting with people and enjoy life in a beautiful location.
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Dabble in a sub-Arctic garden
If planting flowers and trimming greens is your idea of retirement heaven, then a groundskeeper job in Alaska will probably be seventh heaven. Why dabble in the same old garden when you could be maintaining the grounds of a scenic lodge a mile outside Denali National Park or looking out onto the famous Wrangell St. Elias Range. The growing season might be short in Alaska, but the days are long and grounds keeping might be one of the best ways to enjoy the daylight and still make money.