Best Of
Re: 40 days until we leave for our POI tour :) Woohoo :)
tdelliott72 You will LOVE LOVE LOVE India...I think it will always be in my Top 3 Tauck tours.
I do not recall any aggressiveness from the Indian men. For my India tours, I arrived a day early and arranged guides and driver through the concierges at the Leela and Imperial hotels. I do not recall much down-time. it's a fast moving tour. If there were more downtime, I would have welcomed the opportunity to enjoy more of the beautiful hotel properties.
In reference to tour guides - I think there are two Annie's. For my first POI tour, I had Annie - middle age; platinum bob. She was good. and we had a few difficult people on that tour. A friend of a friend took the POI tour last year. I think her guide name was Annie ( a different, younger Annie). She said she was not that great - at times, downright awful). I hope you are lucky enough to get my TD Annie (2018 tour) or if Lady Luck is really on your side, you will get the incredible Sid who was my TD for the 2023 Northern India-Nepal tour. He does both tours.
Enjoy! I'm looking forward to Tauck developing another India Itinerary
Re: Ideas for S Africa visit at front end of Tanzania - Kenya Safari?
We just came back from The Classic Safari in Oct which was fantastic but I don’t see the point of many extra days on the front end in Arusha or back end in Nairobi. So you would want to check out other locations if you decide to extend your trip in my opinion. Best trip we have ever taken.
Jiron
Re: Ideas for S Africa visit at front end of Tanzania - Kenya Safari?
I really liked CapeTown. There's lots to see and do in the city and you can take a side trip to Cape of Good Hope. A visit to the top of Table Mountain is also interesting.
We stayed at the Cape Grace Hotel and it was very nice. It's located within walking distance of quite a few things. We were on a tour with a company other than Tauck and it was the tour hotel. There are a couple of other hotels in the area but I don't know anything about them.
Re: Ideas for S Africa visit at front end of Tanzania - Kenya Safari?
Agree about Cape Town. If it is going to be your only time in the southern part of Africa, then I would stay in Cape Town for longer, say a week. There is plenty to see. I’ve stayed at the Cape Grace, love it. Also stayed at the One and Only which seemed like just a fancy chain hotel compared to the independent Cape Grace…where all the celebrities preferred and where the service is wonderful.
British
Re: Vietnam Visa
A bit late I know, but I just noticed this appcon my iPad about filling out the Vietnam visa
https://uploads.mwp.mprod.getusinfo.com/uploads/sites/124/2022/07/E-Visa-Application-Steps.pdf
British
Re: Tauck raises suggested tip amounts
Sealord - In any case the cash requirements for a Tauck trip are less than the daily tour charge for one person.
It's not that the amount is too much to give in a tip, it is that it is too much for some people to feel comfortable carrying around.
You apparently are comfortable carrying $600 - $700 in cash. Lots of people aren't.
The thread is just discussing if there is a way to provide an optional (that wouldn't preclude you tipping in cash) web-based system for the people that don't feel comfortable carrying the amounts of cash that you feel comfortable carrying but still want to provide a generous tip.
This optional system would not impact your preferred method at all.
Re: Tauck raises suggested tip amounts
I don't understand your rational, Sealord. If the TD is reporting their income it would seem to be the same for tax purposes no matter the source (salary, bonus, or tips). I don't know of any country that exempts tips from income and doing that would cause some problems. Everyone would arrange for their "income" to be tips instead of wages (or other income). That's why I don't think we'll see that in the US, even though both parties said they'd do it.
Certainly in the US, if you're out of the country for the correct amount of time, it doesn't matter how you got the money - wages, bonus, or tips - it's all exempt.
Re: Tauck raises suggested tip amounts
Taxare - I did post, about a submission I made to Tauck and the response I got. Look back 40 some posts or more.
Basically the response was polite, thanked me for my input, said they would pass it along to Tauck management, but they currently had nothing in the works. In my response to their response I also suggested that they pass this thread on to Tauck management to see the level of discussion taking place.
Re: Notre Dame on 60 minutes
Drew_VanOrden1 - I read an article in 'Travel + Leisure' magazine—a very reputable source and one that has showcased Tauck numerous times—that group visits to Notre Dame will begin sometime in 2025. Perhaps Tauck might consider adding this as an excursion someday. It was never an option on my three prior Tauck tours which included Paris.
Regarding the reservation restrictions, I garnered from the article that those restrictions were temporary. I could be wrong. Regardless, I do hope you get to witness the magnificent restoration.
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