Would like to hear from anyone who has taken this trip. Were you happy with your Trafalgar experience - tell me about the opitonal tours. Thanks
hkapaun@comcast.net

Did the Western Discoverer tour in May 2000. In short very happy. The tour was actually run using a bus company called Destination America with a Trafalgar guide (actually a US citizen who married a British lady and lives in England). We come from Australai and the surprise for me was the number of US travellers we had on board, all from the east coast, from Florida to New Jersey.
The highlight for us were the national parks. We all know the Grand Canyon but the surprise were Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park and Yosemite. All spectacular but especially so at Yosemite. Sedona was also an eye opener.
As for optionals they will probably vary but for us there was a tour of San Diego harbour including the US fleet. The Grand Canyon had an optional helicopter flight or a plane flight. We took neither as explained later. There was an optional at Bryce Canyon but, for reasons I can't remember, it was cancelled. At Las Vegas therec was a "Sights and Lights" tour at night as well as the choice of several shows. But for me the highlight optional was a helicopter flight from Las Vegas to land on the floor of the the Grand Canyon. Hence I declined the shorter flights from the Grand Canyon itself. This flight was terrific and well worth the money (US$259 at the time). An optional was listed for the Hoover Dam but due to hot weather this didn't go ahead. At San Francisco we took a tour of the harbour.
The only real disappointment was that we couldn't go to Yosemite vai mammoth lakes because of road blockages due to snow.
In short although a couple of the optionals were cancelled they were made up for by spending time at other locations. The tour was terrific. The tour group consisted of people from the US (east coast), Britain and Australia. I can't emphasise enough the grandour of the national parks you will see. As one of our New Joisy (as she prononced it) ladies kept saying "Oh my God".
Any further information, I am happy to provide.

Hi Sozuga, thanks so much for responding to my quiry about the Western Discoverer tour. It makes me feel a lot more confident about the trip since we have never used Trafalgar before. I appreciate your reply. Mary Hamlin

Mary Hamlin,

We also went on Western Discoverer in 1999. I can only speak highly of TT and the whole trip. We went in September, which was hot enough in the desert but the optionals as described above were good value. We took the short helicopter flight at the Grand Canyon - but gave the Hoover Dam trip a miss and spent the day wandering the sights of Las Vegas. Save your film for Bryce Canyon, it is incredible. The optional walk to the bottom is a good step so you need to be relatively fit from memory it takes about 1 & 1/2 hours return and the climb out is steep. Mammoth Lakes was a great overnight stop but for anyone with a heart condition take your med's as you are approx 9,000 ft altitude and the air is thin.
We had been to Europe with another company and this was our first trip with TT. We have changed to TT since.
Have a wonderful time and as previously said you will find a mix of nationalities but our trip was predominantly from Eastern USA or Canada,Irish, English, French and the ubiquitous Aussies.
John-L

Hi Johnal, Really appreciate your taking the time to share your experiences with us. This is a great way to hear first hand about the trip and Trafalgar. Glad to hear your positive coments. Mary Hamlin

Further to your comments about Trafalgar. From time to time you see negative comments about the Tour Directors on this site. I have now done 4 tours with Trafalgar and 2 with Globus (or Bendan in the US). Both companies have been excellent and I've had no complaints about either the Tour Directors or drivers.
Bear in mind the Western Discoverer tour I went on was sublet to Dstination America. Likewise the tour was excellent. Highly recomended. Your national parks will be the highlight. Likewise I reiterate the comments above about Bryce Canyon.

Hi, Sozuga, Thanks for your additonal comments - as before they are greatly appreciated. M. Hamlin

I was curious to see what tours of the U.S would be, so I stopped in to read your comments. I went to college in Flagstaff, so I saw the Grand Canyon more than I wanted,but I was surprised not to read much about San Francisco. What did you think of it? Here we consider it a treat, usually to go there. I am glad you liked my country. My tour of the UK was mostly Australians and I had so much fun with them I just loved meeting them. Hope your trip went well too.

I e-mailed Trafalgar and asked them to send me a list of their opitonal tours offered on the Western Discoverer tour. They wrote back that they could only fax it. After several back and forth e-mails explaining the inconvenience of this, I finally gave them the fax number of a friend who receive it and mailed it to me. How much effort would it have taken Trafalgar to do the same to promote the good will of a prospective client? It was a take it or leave it thing.

To JaneCalif. You asked what I though of San Francisco. Just great. San Francisco is actually Sydney's sister city in the US. I remember crossing the Bay Bridge and somebody (jokingly, I think) asked what would happen if we had an earthquake just now. We stayed on the corner of Powell and Sutter, right in the heart of the city. Couldn't ask for a better location. Great place to set out on foot around the shops. Took the (mandatory) cable car ride a couple of times to Fisherman's Wharf. An optional here was a cruise around the bay and under the Golden gate bridge. The bus also drove us over the bridge. One point though, one of our party had his wallet pickpocketed at Fisherman's Wharf, so it goes to show it happens anywhere.
Only disappointment was that the bus wasn't allowed on the coast road south of San Francisco due to landslides. Don't know if this still applies but it was a shame. We rejoined the coast road north of Carmel. Solvang was a delight. Didn't expect to find a Scandanavian village in California.
The only rain we had on the entire trip was about for 30 mins outside of San Francisco. The entire trip was a delight. The highlight for me were the parks and a special highlight was taking a helicopter trip from Las Vegas to land on the floor of the Grand Canyon and then sip champagne on the banks of the Colarado river. Tough job but someone had to do it.

Hi Mary.
I also went on this trip in May 2000. But since my TD was a nice Christa of Austrian descent, I was on a different date.
I'd have to agree that Bryce sort of upstages Grand. I was lucky enough to take the optional Western bbq/show option there. The music was put on by an extended Mormon family (I think the name was Dansie) and was very fun. We even got "attacked" by indians on the way there.
I also did the optional float trip below Hoover Dam. Don't let potential high temperatures scare you away. This is a very unique experience. [And you can always splash water on yourself to cool off.]
On my trip, the SF harbour cruise was INCLUDED and not optional. I was shocked to see that in many neighbourhoods, the houses were built right next to each other w/ no space whatsoever in between them.
You'll also marvel at thePacific Coast Drive south of Monterey. But be warned; your fingernails will be gone by the time it's over!
By the way, what part of the country do you live in?
John