March 23 - An Elegant Adventure

SharonC

I am going solo for this trip and arriving a day early. Wondering if there are any others booked as well. Still trying to figure out what type of suitcase to take. I'm not bothered by the 44 lbs but wondering whether the bag needs to be soft sided or are wheeled suitcases permitted.

British

It's your choice, we always have wheeled checked bags for ease of transport before we hand over the bags to Tauck once we get to our destination. It's nice not having to worry about moving the bags ourselves during the tour.

SharonC

Thanks - I'll not bother trying to find another suitcase!

British

Have a wonderful time!

SharonC

Another question about luggage!

I have seen on some posts that we will need to have soft sided duffle type luggage for the small planes? How does this work or does this not apply to the Elegant Adventure trip?

Roe Foley

I'm confused about this as well for Elegant Adventures - hope someone can answer the question. Seems like on some tours, the 44 inch bag is left behind but since we aren't returning to the same place, hoping the luggage stays with us

British

Hey you two, you are confusing me now! I think the soft sided bag you are talking about is the actual duffel that Tauck provides you with. Any bags that Tauck do not allow you to take on the Safari part of the tour will be taken to wherever you are going to be united with it. It certainly will not be available to you until then. Sorry, it's a while now since I took this tour. But please do not fret, the duffels are huge, I've had to use a Tauck duffel on so many of their tours now and never had a problem putting everything I think I might need in that duffel. I could open a duffel store in my house, I have so many. They are so nice, I hate to part with them. This tour is a great mixture of culture and safari.

SharonC

Thanks British - I think I hear you say that I can take my regular rolling suitcase and if Tauck need me to have something smaller and more compact , they will give me a duffle for that portion of the trip.....

British

Have you paid your final invoice? If so, you should be receiving very soon, a green spiral bound booklet that explains in more detail, the logistics of the tour, including the timing and use of your duffel. When you arrive in SA, you will be given an even more detailed day to day itinerary, either daily, every few days, or for the entire length of the tour, depending on how your tour director organizes themselves. All duffel questions will be answered here. This tour has far less days 'On Safari' than any of the other Tauck Africa tours, so there is less time without your big piece of luggage.
While the majority of Tauck travellers do tend to use a rolling CARRY ON bag to the Tauck destination, we never use them, we always use a backpack, most experienced travellers do this. You only need to be on a delayed plane arrival once in your life and have to try sprinting to the next plane with a roll along bag, to ditch it forever and have a backpack and decent shoes you can run in to catch your next plane. I am also convinced I canfit more into my little backpack than an average sized roll on bag.

Roe Foley

Thanks so much Explorer - someone finally answered my question:)

LynneG

Truck told me that they do not provide a duffle for this trip. The one checked bag cannot be more than 44 lbs. and the carry-on should be soft sided and no more than 15 lbs.

SharonC

Thanks Lynne G - thought about calling Tauck myself so I'm glad you did. I'll likely have to borrow a bag from a friend as all my suitcases, while the size is right, are probably a bit too rigid for what Tauck are looking for.

I'm beginning to get excited about the trip!

British

I am surprised that Tauck no longer provide a duffel bag for the Safari days. So I assume Tauck now allows the regular suitcases on the flights to Kruger, if not, I don't think I could manage a fifteen pound backpack with everything I need in it for four nights in the camps, by the time I have my camera, small iPad and a couple of changes of clothes, sunscreen and insect repellent, never mind anything else, that would be hard. It's good one of you checked with Tauck, which is what I would always do about anything important to me. Luckily, on all our tours, the paperwork Tauck provides explains everything pretty well. I have only ever had to call a couple of times for clarification.

rsj

When I went on this trip in 2015, we took a small jet from Cape Town to Skukuza/Kruger and from Skukuza to Jo'burg. We checked in our large suitcases. Other than the weight limit (which wasn't strictly enforced) there were no restrictions on the checked bags.

The overhead bins were very small. They had a trolley parked next to the staircase when we boarded the plane. We put our carry-on bags on the trolley and they were waiting for us on a trolley next to the staircase after we landed. Didn't see anyone checking size or weight of the carry-ons.

Flights to and from Victoria Falls were on a 737. Since we were coming back to Jo'burg we had the option to leave suitcases in a secure area at the Jo'burg airport although this was not required.

They didn't give us a duffel bag - none was needed.