Off the AeroTech thread, and more to the original post.
I feel compelled to mention another reason I am heading south for some more advanced ratings. Before I say any of this, lemme say that all of my flight is AK VFR time, so it is all I know. I could be right about this stuff, but I could also be way off base, at any rate, here are a few more things to consider when thinking about training up here.
Some of the requirements for Inst and Comm ratings are downright tough in AK ~ UNLESS you stay on the road system. Consider night VFR. I minimize it as much as I can. No roads, no cities, no runways, scads of humongous mountains, spotty flight following, freezing level at the surface 10 months of the year, and temperatures and dew points that are bosum buddies all conspire to make for a risky endeavor if you light your engine up at night for a VFR flight anyplace other than one of the big towns.
Unless you live on the road system, 50 mile XC's are also a challenge. Why? Because everything is so spread out up here. Generally speaking you have to fly 90 minutes or so at 100knts to get to a runway that might be plowed, might not, might have 100LL, might not. You'll be flying with 2 jerry cans full of 100LL in the back seat more often than not. Additionally, in AK 50 NM often means you have to get around/over/through a mtn range. Mtn ranges tend to have different weather on each side of them. Tough to find a day where you can maintain VFR on both sides of a range and not have to sweat at the yoke as mechanical turbulence tries to smack you down. I know that is the whole point of the 50NM rule, that is to teach those skills, but my point is that in AK your XC options are a bit more limited by the scale, geography and infrastructure of our state. I'm not saying it is good or bad, just another aspect of building time up here to ruminate over.
If the engine stops you don't have farm fields, roads etc. as a safety net.
Another consideration is that by far the majority of the runways you have as options are gravel. Look into FBO's policies regarding landing their rentals on gravel. Some will let you, some won't. This is one of the reasons I bought a 150 to build time in.
In reading this you may think, "why would that dude even want to fly in AK if he is so weirded out by the potential danger?" Well, INMHO the rewards far outway the risk and this, after all, is my home. I just reckon that why shouldn't a fellow minimize aviation's inherent risk whenever he can in whatever way he can? For me that means jumping through the certification hoops in a place with a larger safety net than AK has to offer me during my rookie time.
There is also Bravo class airspace to be experienced in America...none up here, might be important to you, might not.