Welcome to Tauck’s Canada Capital Cities Travel Forum
Welcome to Tauck’s Canada Capital Cities Travel Forum- Find the answers to your trip questions, answer questions posted by fellow travelers, plus share your Tauck experiences and stories. Stop by often and join in on the discussions.
0
Comments
While I'm afraid I don't have much information about which flights are best at my fingertips, I can make inquiries for you if you like, and also please bear in mind that we would be happy to book flights for your arrival to or departure from the trip, and are happy to work to pick the time that will work best for both you and for your arriving there at the start of the trip.
-Tim
How much Canadian money should we bring for the Canadian Capitals and Niagara Falls trip?
Thanks, Audrey K.
Tell us about your spending habits. But also, you are going to Canada where credit cards as as popular as the US. You need very little Canadian money. You might even be able or buy a single coffee at Tim Horton with a credit card. Enjoy your tour.
Capstar - As British indicates, it depends. I like to have some foreign currency, especially for incidentals and inexpensive items. We typically carry more since we always add pre and post tour days.
It is a wonderful tour with a blend of both city and country life. I believe Tauck is once again using the Royal Canadian Museum in Ontario for its welcome reception and dinner. What a beautiful evening it was...one of the best we have ever experienced with Tauck. If you have the good fortune of having Felix as your tour director, you are in for an amazing time.
Enjoy and please report back after your trip.
This thread has received more posts TODAY than it had received in the previous 14 YEARS when it was created. Go figure.
There have been several posts regarding this fabulous tour, just not on this specific thread.
Thank you all for your comments. I am really looking forward to this trip! I started a discussion to see who was going on the tour at the same time as me........No Answer!
Capstar, I hope a fellow traveler responds but in not don't worry. In 10 years I've only met a couple of people on Tauck tours that actually use the forum. If you use facebook you might try asking on the Tauck Travelers fb page. In the past year alone I've met 2 fellow travelers that way.
On the money issue, we'll be doing a different canadian tour later this year and I'll probably get a small amount of currency when I can find an ATM there.
I'll try Facebook. Thanks!
An interesting tidbit....if you use cash, Canada does not use pennies anymore. They round up or down. If you use a credit card, the charge uses pennies. If you have Canadian currency from prior visits and hope to use your pennies, you will be disappointed. Merchants will not accept five pennies for a nickel.
can't tell if these are new or old posts. We are traveling in a week and have questions on dress. Specifically how dressy do you need for dinners and do men need a sport coat for this trip
When you only see month and day, the post is in the current year. The June 12 dates are this year—2024.
There have been several recent threads for this tour. You might enjoy reading some of them. Go to the 'home page' and look for the tour's title.
To answer your question, the welcome reception and dinner is held at the Royal Ontario Museum in a beautifully decorated room. It is the most "dressed" of all the dinners. I can only tell you our preferences. My husband always wears a suit jacket, with or without a tie. I like to sew and wear simple but 'nice' dresses/skirts and/or tops with tailored dress slacks. You are not going to be denied entry if you do not adhere to the aforementioned.
It's a great tour. Enjoy.
Thank you that is helpful. Does anyone wear Jeans to dinner on this trip?? Deciding if I should pack. lol they are heavy and take up space.
You might see people wearing jeans for hotel dinners in some of the more casual restaurants. We do not. You can check the hotels' websites and see if there are restrictions. I believe the higher-end establishments will frown upon jeans, but I'm not really sure.
Texasmama, every Tauck tour has a packing list. It can be found on the Tauck webpage for that tour and in your final tour documents which are emailed to you. For this tour coat and tie are optional. That is the norm these days unless there is a venue Tauck uses that requires it. Mostly what they call resort casual is fine.
I wish someone would define Resort Casual
I am enjoying all the comments about this trip! Hopefully , people will continue to post. It would be great to hear about everyone's experience on their return. I am going on this tour May 2025, so any tips will be helpful!
lol British I agree resort casual is ambiguous.
So yes I read the outdated and generic packing instructions. My question is suitcase size. I was planning to ship a 24 inch rollerbag and carry on ( need just in case luggage is lost) weekender bag . The instructions say one bag. Will it be OK to have the suitcase and weekender to go on this trip's transportation?
The phrase 'resort casual' always reminds me of when I worked the switchboard at a beach club as a teenager—great job! Men in plaid pants and polo shirts and women in bermuda shorts with their perfectly coifed hair and jewels. I think Tauck's very generic packing guide is meant as a suggestion for those who are new to traveling abroad. Merely my opinion. I dress for comfort but am always mindful of the venue.
All tours state one big checked bag and one carry on, if you toke a wheeled carry on you may be responsible for taking it to the coach when you change hotels, you may have to put it under the coach and not have access to it until the next hotel is reached. It will be too big to go in an overhead on the coach. If you don’t get a coach with extra seats, it could be a problem. We never use those wheeled ones, we just use a backpack for carry on with up to two changes of clothes just in case plus iPad, meds etc.
Surely this isn’t a long tour, you shouldn’t need many clothes, we’ve taken tours of three weeks and been fine with just backpack and mediums suitcase.
Funnily enough. We just returned from a trip where one of the coaches could not accommodate everyone’s luggage underneath. We all had one bag and the seating was not quite full. Another guy came from the coach company and he and the driver took out all the maintenance equipment and everything possible out of the underneath baggage compartment and managed to cram all our bags in. Some people were even volunteering to go to London on the train where we were heading! In the end, we were delayed about 45 mins and it’s one of those stories that we all wont forget about our travels.
British-I know you hate the Biaggi suitcases but they serve a great purpose. I take a small Biaggi bag with wheels as my carryin with extra clothes for just in case. And I reach my destination, I consolidate my stuff and fold up my small Biaggi abd stow it in my big Biaggi. At the end of the trip, I retrieve the small one and load in my purchases! This works for me!
Yes, resort casual is confusing. If I was on a Caribbean tour my version would be completely different from my European version.
We don't usually bother with jeans because of the weight and thickness if it's hot. We are leaving for the Canadian Maritimes tour next month and for that I will bring a pair of jeans. It's likely cooler, more casual and mid tour there is a hotel with laundry facilities if we need them. I'll be doing lots of layering - thin base layer tops that can be sink washed if needed, 1-2 fleece or cardigans, and a roomy rain jacket.
As to the suitcases, I have on several Tauck land tours had my 24/25" checked bag, a 2 wheeled under seat carryon and a small personal item. I carry the under seat bag down to the bus on transfer days and retrieve it at the next hotel. The under seat bag is big enough for backup clothing and all essentials like meds, 311 toiletry bag, charging cables, etc.
Keep in mind with packing - however big your bag is you'll fill it. I would never bring both a 24" checked bag and the largest allowed airline carryon bag plus personal item. Way more stuff than I ever need for any tour up to two weeks. Plus it's more that I have to manage on my own.
Most people who overpack take too many different outfits, pack too many heavy/thick clothing items and too many "just in case" items. Packing light takes some study and effort to figure out what you really need. I learn lessons each trip and have definitely gotten better over time.
Agree with you Claudia, I have always packed light and it seems that I go lighter every time LOL
Resort casual just means no jeans, t-shirts, short/cut-off shorts or flip flops and applies anywhere on the planet. Most hotels have laundry service that works well if you’re staying at least 2 nights so your packing is really only limited by how few changes of clothing/shoes you can tolerate. Other than Winters in Hawaii I tend to travel in Spring and Fall so upon return from a trip after washing everything I just put it all back in their packing cubes for the next trip.