Any advice welcome

RogerH

Hi - great to see how much information there is on this forum. We're on the Canyonlands trip starting on September 4. We're from the UK and this is our first Tauck tour so any advice on whether we need to bring more formal clothes for the evening (as far as I can see, that's a no) would be great as would any thoughts on how the photography opportunities pan out on this tour. We're very much looking forward to this as we had to defer the trip from October last year as a result of the National Park Closures....

BillWest66

We took this trip several years ago, it was our first Tauck tour and we're taking our 5th next month. No formal clothes required, everything is pretty casual. The photo opportunities are fantastic. I took probably 1500 pictures, around 100 are posted here (http://preview.tinyurl.com/o7j39ok) . We also made the trip in the month of September, weather should be perfect. Have a great trip.

ChrisN

We took this tour last year departing on Sept 13. Had some heavy rains the first two days due to an extended Southwest monsoon season that usually ends in early September. Otherwise the trip could not have been better. The scenery was breathtaking. We took about 1,000 pictures between the digital camera and iPad. The panoramic app was wonderful for the canyons. Our favorites were Bryce Canyon and Lake Powell. Dress is casual. You need layers as mornings and evenings can be cool. Our guide, Charlie, and bus driver, John, were terrific. This was our first Tauck tour and we will do another definitely! Enjoy your trip and the natural beauty of the American Southwest.

RogerH

Thanks so much for the advice (the pictures are great, Bill) - really looking forward to this!

British

We took this tour several years ago. We had been to the area independently before when we lived in England. But with Tauck it was much better, they know exactly when and where to be at the right time for the best views, especially getting to the Grand Canyon for evening viewing and then because you are right there on the rim you can get up at dawn for the morning colors. The tour did not begin at the Four Seasons when we took the tour but the rest of the tour is definitely a no need to dress up trip. The majority of hotels are lodges, perfect locations but seasonal and staffed by students. These are the best places to stay, but not representative of the type of hotels Tauck stays in for other non- National Park tours. When we went independently we stayed in nicer hotels but had to travel miles to get to the sites, that was a pain.
If you have not booked the optional flight, book it, it is fantastic, one of my Tauck highlights.
We walked the bottom of. Bryce Canyon early morning with a group, it was wonderful and not too taxing.
We did not get to do Antelope Canyon because there was a flash flood warning at the time, we were so disappointed but it could not be helped.
Have layers of clothing for removal after early morning cooler temperatures

RogerH

Thanks again for all the useful thoughts so far. I do have one more question - given that we seem to be very well fed on the trip, how much cash would it be advisable to bring along?

British

Hi Roger, first of all, you will be visiting a country where the credit card is king, I hardly ever use cash anywhere in this country. Just be sure to tell your CC companies where you will be traveling. Food---that's the only downside of any Tauck tour I go on, there's plenty, and it takes me months to lose the weight.

Merlin321

Roger, some thoughts on the cash issue. 1) In the US now, I carry cash in my pocket but I can't remember the last time I used it. I even use my cc at McDonald's now for a $3.00 burger. You might feel foolish using it for a $1.00 bottle of water in a 7-11 or for a pack or chewing gum, but the clerk would have no problem with it. The only place I could think of that you might absolutely need cash might be some kind of rural road side vegetable stand, but even most of those take cc's now. 2) Visa and MasterCard are almost universally accepted. American Express, Discover, Diner's Club may not be as widely accepted. 3) Although the chip and pin cards are standard in Europe, no one on this side of the pond has ever seen or used one. I don't know how well they translate. Maybe someone else has had some experience using a chip and pin card in the US. 4) When I travel, I charge my purchases in the local currency and let my bank do the currency conversion. The bank conversion rates on the cc's are much better than I could ever find at any money exchange were you to convert your currency to cash dollars. 5) There are what we call ATM's and you call cash machines everywhere in the US and if from a large bank, they generally also have good conversion rates. So basically, I would carry a small amount of cash that I would get at a bank ATM for an emergency, but you should be able to easily get by with any standard credit card for practically everything.

Hope this helps.

Merlin321

OOPS, I have to ammend my previous post. DON'T GO TO COSTCO. Do you have Costco in the UK? It's a big box, warehouse type buyer's club. Very big and very popular in the US and are the only large business in the US that I'm aware of that doesn't accept MC or Visa. They have a unique deal with American Express and only accept cash or American Express cards. So if you want to go to Costco you better have a lot of cash or American Express, lol.

RogerH

Thanks for the help!
British - Yes we were a bit concerned about possible weight gain - now on a crash diet to try to lower the baseline....
Merlin - that's really helpful, thank you. Interested to see the note about Costco (and they do operate in the UK in a very similar format). They do accept M/C and Visa over here - I guess less people use Amex.
Thanks again.

British

hi, it is hilarious to think that on a Tauck tour we could find time to go to Costco, but interesting to see what you can find out on a travel website! I did go in a British Costco once and bought my sister a vacuum cleaner with my US membership!
I am trying to think what you might have chance to purchase on the tour Roger, I think it is generally t shirts in the hotel stores or park stores and maybe some nice turquoise jewelery or if you collect rocks, the geology sort. Oh, lovely colorful guide books that will help you to remember the scenery if you have a camera disaster. Now Vegas, that's different, lots of high end stores I would never be able to afford that stuff. outside of town, never been to check out anything when I have been there.