Carry On

lkmamom · April 2016

First off, thank you for all of the wonderful advice, and especially the trip reports!! We are leaving on this tour at the end of May. It will be our first Tauck experience. My question is about carry-on luggage. I do understand limiting sizing on the bus and that the booklet sent to us stated it need to fit into the above spaces. When we received our trip booklet from Tauck, enclosed was one luggage tag for each of us, so that said to me one bag per person. Sooooo my question is, what did you carry on? Again, please keep in mind, this is our first bus trip, and for other cruises and river cruises, traveling abroad we have each always taken a tote for onboard the flight over, that probably would not fit into a space above the seats on a bus. I would not fill that carry on with "stuff" for the day tours. It would primarily be used for the flights. So, do I need to rethink my thinking?

Thank you so much, we are so very excited!!!!

British · April 2016

The Tauck luggage tag Tauck send you is for your one piece of checked luggage so it can easily be identified by Tauck. It is also a good way for you to maybe spot someone else who is going to be on your tour when you get to the airport. Note, if you see people with a Tauck tag and it is not the same color as yours, they will be going on a different tour.
We have been on numerous Tauck tours. We always take a small backpack with us for carry on, not a role on bag, mine is often a Vera Bradley one, either colorful or black. In that I carry all my essentials, iPad, phone, book, camera etc plus a complete change of clothes and a pair of shoes and a couple of pairs of underwear in case of luggage delay. If there is a pool at the first hotel, I pack a swimsuit in that too. I then use that on the bus as a day bag. It is useful to have this because when you change hotels you have to have your checked luggage ready to go on the bus at least an hour before departure, so it is useful to put last minute things in like toothbrush so you don't have to get up a the crack of dawn to have your big bag ready.

lkmamom · April 2016

Thank you so much British

I think I understand now. I appreciate your help so much!

CalKat · April 2016

My husband and I went on the Best of Ireland trip that started on September 26, 2015. You are in for a real treat! As you have figured out, you need to have a standard backpack/day pack that is fairly "squishable" to fit in the shelf above the bus seats. Our camera backpack, which is fairly hard-sided at the bottom to protect the DSLR camera, did NOT fit. You can also put your raincoat/extra jackets and shopping bags above the seats easily.

AlanS · April 2016

CalKat wrote:

My husband and I went on the Best of Ireland trip that started on September 26, 2015. You are in for a real treat! As you have figured out, you need to have a standard backpack/day pack that is fairly "squishable" to fit in the shelf above the bus seats. Our camera backpack, which is fairly hard-sided at the bottom to protect the DSLR camera, did NOT fit. You can also put your raincoat/extra jackets and shopping bags above the seats easily.

Speaking of the Tauck bus, did you have a generic bus or an Ireland version of the Tauck England, Scotland, Wales or Ultimate Alps buses we rode that had wonderful murals? :~)

Sue · April 2016

lkmamom wrote:

First off, thank you for all of the wonderful advice, and especially the trip reports!! We are leaving on this tour at the end of May. It will be our first Tauck experience. My question is about carry-on luggage. I do understand limiting sizing on the bus and that the booklet sent to us stated it need to fit into the above spaces. When we received our trip booklet from Tauck, enclosed was one luggage tag for each of us, so that said to me one bag per person. Sooooo my question is, what did you carry on? Again, please keep in mind, this is our first bus trip, and for other cruises and river cruises, traveling abroad we have each always taken a tote for onboard the flight over, that probably would not fit into a space above the seats on a bus. I would not fill that carry on with "stuff" for the day tours. It would primarily be used for the flights. So, do I need to rethink my thinking? Thank you so much, we are so very excited!!!!

I have taken a lot of tours with Tauck. Usually, you can ask to have your airline carryon put under the bus with the luggage. You can bring it down to the bus with you on the days you are changing hotels and they will put it in the luggage bay. You can pack a separate small tote to use for the day on the bus. When you arrive at the next hotel the driver will unload it and you carry it to your room yourself.

Hope this helps.

Sue

lkmamom · April 2016

Oh WOW the bus murals are just awesome!!!!
Sue, your answer was the one I was hoping for. My flight carry on tote is not big at all, actually smaller than a backpack would be, but it is also not totally "squishy" enough to fit into the top part of the bus. I so not want to be the difficult one, but it would make me feel so much better because it is a little more protective of the mini Ipad and phone I plan to bring. I have no problems at all carrying it myself or putting it into the luggage bay. Thank you thank you thank you!!!!
Linda

lkmamom · April 2016

CalKat wrote:

My husband and I went on the Best of Ireland trip that started on September 26, 2015. You are in for a real treat! As you have figured out, you need to have a standard backpack/day pack that is fairly "squishable" to fit in the shelf above the bus seats. Our camera backpack, which is fairly hard-sided at the bottom to protect the DSLR camera, did NOT fit. You can also put your raincoat/extra jackets and shopping bags above the seats easily.

Thank you CalKat. This is exactly the way my tote is (only smaller than a backpack) but it is not squishable (love that term). So did you have to store that in the luggage bay?

Also, any other tips you can offer to a newbie? We are total newbies, sooooo excited!!
Linda