California and the Golden West

[dot.hawkes]

i have been looking at these guided tour 14 -15 day vacations and they seem quite reasonable, but has anyone ever been on such a holiday where you are driven around in a bus? How does it work? is it like a school trip or can you do your own thing to a certain extent?

[jno]

it will depend on the itinerary - get a copy and have a look. I went on a coach tour of Sicily last year in which some days were spent on the road, but we had a day to ourselves in Taormina and another in Palermo. The days in towns may give you free time or they may take you on included tours (which you could always skip) or optional ones you'd have to pay extra for. It just depends if you want to see the things they take you to. Driving round is the best way to see the USA but it may well make sense to have someone else doing the actual driving while you just relax and enjoy the scenery, as distances are considerable. I'm going to California for 10 days in April and will be driving myself; I enjoy it but I also have to devote some time to finding motels etc, which a coach tour would take care of for you.

One downside is packing and unpacking each day. Another is if you get stuck with people you hate (but of course you may also make friends for life, you never know). Also, make sure there are sufficient rest stops etc or you can get cramped on a long day's drive. There generally will be as Americans are good about that sort of thing. Food is generally wonderful and plentiful too.

[Im a BusyBee]

we done this a couple of years ago and it was brilliant, met some lovely people and saw things i never imagined i would see in my life. It was a coach holiday staying 1 or 2 nights in each place it was hectic and quite tiring but well worth it. We did have free time in some places but the thing is they know exactly where to take you to see the things you want to see which is what we liked. i would recommend it - we did go with supposedly the best tour operator in uk whether that is true and makes a difference i dont know. If you want to know anything in particular do ask and if i can help i will.

[Im a BusyBee]

and yes we did make some very good friends on the trip, im sure we will be friends with for life.

[Clanad]

I'm with jno on this one. Since I live in the U.S., I've never participated in such tours, but the ones I see have an awful lot of blue-haired matronly passengers. I suppose it depends on the clientele for whom the operator aims. Biggest problem is the adherence to a schedule over which one has no control. You might wish to get up at the crack of dawn or you might wish to sleep in for a while, neither of which is an option on guided tours.
I well understand how foreign travellers are concerned about driving here... heck, some people that live here don't like to drive. But there are so many side trips one can take out west, where I live, that it would be a shame to miss them for the sake of a set-in-concrete itinerary, and the driving is simple, coming from a resident, of course. But at any rate, welcome to the U.S.!

[dot.hawkes]

thanks for the replies. I have the detailed itinary for 2 different companies that offer a similar holiday. My parents and sister and bro in law did a 3and a half week trip covering simialr places back in 1997 and they hired an air conditioned people carrier so that thye could relax and see alot . I hadn't thought that there would be alot of elderly people on such a holiday BECAUSE it would be so tiring and demanding. I have distinct ideas about what i want to see and most are definately on the itinery but I also don;lt want to feel I am being directed to certain places because it is a tourist money making con, My parents went to Tombstone but they felt it was a disapointment, even my dad said that.
I'm going to look at a few more packages before I decide if it is what we want to do. thanks!!

[jno]

Tombstone is a bit of a tourist trap - a real place but mostly run for visitors, who go clambering all over the graves in Boot Hill cemetery as if there was nobody inside them. But most American sights and sites aren't like that. Have you got a link to the itinerary you're looking at? I wouldn't mind a look myself.

Clanad, don't you knock us blue-haired, matronly types - that's Grey Panthers to you!

[Clanad]

Silly me, jno... forgetting I'm dealing with retirees here! Keep up the spirit!

[dot.hawkes]

I found the type of accompanied tour in a supplement in the daily mail this week and i've googled it and found that there is a company called Riviera Travel in the UK that sell the holidays thru national newspapers, but there are some others that do the same thing, this is one i looked at. I just googled 'California and the Golden West'
http://www.harveyworldtravel.co.uk/DealsDetail s.aspx?id=6380

[jno]

oh yes, a couple of Riviera brochures fell out of my papers last weekend - they were identical except one said 'specially selected for Telegraph readers' on the cover and the other one was 'specially selected for Guardian readers'. Bet that makes for a harmonious tour group. This is theirs:

http://www.guardianholidayoffers.co.uk/details .aspx?DAT=&COU=&SUP=&PRI=0&FLX=0&DUR=0&PAX=0&S EA=&ORD=VIEDES&CAT=&TID=61DE6C42-19E9-4CEB-8B8 0-F7F6EA8286A4&tab=itinerary

That looks pretty good - fairly busy and you cover a lot of ground, but someone else does the driving and accommodation. I prefer doing these things on my own but to be honest, I doubt I'd be able to cover all that in 3 weeks driving myself. But I like to have some more free time to see things at my own pace; that itinerary only seems to allow free days in Las Vegas and San Francisco. So it looks like a matter of being rushed around (in comfort), but seeing more than you would under your own steam and probably cheaper too.

[cc1]

I've looked at the schedules for some of these trips and been amazed at the distance they cover in the time. I doubt you'll get anything more than a glimpse of the sights, and also miss some of the less popular but still amazing ones.
Driving the the States is very easy, we've done it countless times and enjoy having the flexibility to amend a travel plan.

The tours also mean you are limited regarding dining facilities, meaning you have to to pay hotel prices and it can mount up quickly.