luggage, what can we carry on transport?
My wife and I will be on the Switzerland, Jewel of Europe tour beginning Aug 11. We'll be packing our checked luggage in 25" cases. We also have 21" cases and "under the seat" bags. Will these be acceptable, so far as transportation once we arrive for the tour. Anyone else on that tour?
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Have a wonderful time, I took this tour a few years ago and it was fabulous.
We generally travel with 1 checked 25" bag and 1 carryon each - nothing as big as a 21"er. In the carryons we pack the must haves (documents, $, electronics, meds, jewelry) plus 1 change of clothes. If the first night is the welcome dinner its something dressy if not something comfortable for sight seeing. Also my swimsuit. I figure if the checked bags are delayed I can have the hotel launder what I flew in and charge it to the airline.
Part of this is adhering to Tauck guidelines and part of it is I don't enjoy corralling luggage more than necessary. You're in a strange airport trying to figure out where to go, need to be vigilant about pick pockets, etc etc. Simpler is better.
Like Golly Gee I also always pack a very light tote (single layer of fabric) or reusable shopping bag. In Paris I used it for shopping, then for the day we took the train to Lyon while the luggage went by truck I put what extras I wanted for the train ride, and then for duty free shopping at the end of the trip.
Everyone has their own priorities, but Tattooz1 I'd really rethink what you plan to take and see if you can down size a bit. You only need one dressy oufit - no one cares if you wear it multiple times. Can some of your items be hand washed enroute and reworn? Again, no one cares if you wear the same thing multiple times. Also, you can handcarry a jacket on the airplane and it doesn't count against your carryon limits.
Like British, I try to wear something during the day that is comfortable but nice enough to wear to dinner with only minimal change - my shoes, or adding a wrap/scarf. Most daily excursions (at least on the European tours) are fairly gentle strolls through towns, castles etc. It's not like you need to dress for a 20 mile hike up a mountain.
We're seriously considering adding a 14 day land tour to a 14 day cruise next summer and I still won't take more luggage than I mentioned in my earlier post. Possibly less.
Another thing to consider, the hotels we've stayed at on Tauck tours have been very nice but the rooms are often fairly small. In both Paris and Amsterdam there was only room for 1 luggage stand. Small on the river cruise ships isn't a big deal because you can unpack into the closets and stow your luggage under the beds, but on a land tour where you're living out of your suitcase - arg!
Yup, the (Tauck) buses, in Europe have no floor space and very little overhead space for much of anything.
We travel with just two rolling 25" checked bags (one each) that hold 99.5% of our clothes. I carry on a camera bag/man-purse that holds my DSLR camera, iPad, headphones, and only during the flights, a few extra items like magazines, trip documents/info folder, etc. My wife carries a purse and very small soft-sided bag for book/magazines/ipad, etc. and a very few articles of emergency clothing that go into the suitcase after the flight.
The only thing I ever carry on the bus is my man-purse, which sometimes now will include a stowable rain coat, Tilley hat, and maybe binoculars. My wife carries her purse and the very small soft-sided bag without the emergency clothes that easily stows in the bus overhead bin.
It is just so much easier having less baggage in airports, on planes, and on tour. I didn't even wear all the clothes I took on our last trip.
........................But then I am a man thus considered to be single minded and incapable of multi-tasking or complex thinking. My sincere advice after 7 Tauck Tours is just RELAX AND KEEP EVERYTHING AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE - honestly, do as you are told and Tauck ensures that you will have an experience to remember.
Read all the guidelines you will get sent with your tickets - they have been created from wide experience - most importantly THEY WORK.
As previously, keep it simple to get maximum flexibility and enjoyment.
Yes, you are correct that there is generally enough room for more than the minimum, but what if the tour was sold out and everyone brought an extra bag that had to go under the bus?
Aside from space concerns, extra bags mean extra labor for the bellboys, bus drivers, TDs, etc. I don't know for sure how Tauck reimburses all these people but would worry that I'm putting more on them than they are being paid for. Sometimes you can give them a little extra yourself, but often, especially with bellboys, you don't always even see them.
With river cruises this is less of a problem since the luggage often goes by truck or broken into smaller groups so less of a problem. On a land tour its different.
I know we all worry than we won't have enough of the right clothing, etc for our tours. I for sure packed more dressy outfits for our first cruise than I needed. Then I worried I wouldn't be able to buy any souvenirs for fear of going over my luggage weigh limit with the airline. With 2 cruises under my belt I've gotten more and more creative on how to pare down my packing and still have a great tour.
When we travel on a Tauck tour that is one of those where there are a lot of people with two bags to put under the coach, we have noticed that often the tour director alters the time so that we have to be down at the bus earlier to allow for this, and when that is an extra early start day, that is a pain. I also beg to different that we have been on Tauck tours where people have been asked to carry their second bag to the coach themselves, even though the tour director is happy to give them an extra tag for under the coach.
But my main question now is, where is the original poster of the question, and have they found any thing of use here to make them decide what luggage to take.
We have taken 6 Tauck land tours since the Summer of 2013 and think there may be one issue, not discussed- a slight (unpublished?) change or relaxation in Tauck's baggage policy.
Like others have mentioned, we also stand patiently in lines (que up as Brits would say) and don't park, stop, or stand our cars in the fire lane in front of stores like so many people in the US do these days, so we followed Tauck's written policy to the letter in 2013 (England, Scotland, Wales) (and still do). Our friends on this trip did not - in addition to their regular large luggage they brought along a good size carry-on piece (more that just a small rolling "bag"). Though he didn't say so, you could tell the TD was not thrilled. He did not offer them or anyone else extra luggage tags, and asked them to haul their carry-on to and from the bus at each hotel.
Since then it seems that our TD's have been more and more open about carry-ons. They now openly announce the availability and freely hand out extra luggage tags. I can't say for sure, but this may be a case where Tauck still wants to limit the number or doesn't really want to deal with carry-ons, so hasn't made a formal change to the policy, yet to be their usual accommodating self will readily accept them (especially when they know there will also be people like me and Richardb on the tour. : -) ) It may also be because we have taken mostly small group tours.
So, while the written policy may not have changed, it could be that the enforcement or implementation has relaxed.
Our first cruise (French Waterways) which started in Paris at the Intercontinental, we did exactly as Tauck recommended with 1 checked piece and one smallish carry-on each. Put the luggage tags mailed to us on the checked bags. When we got the hotel almost the first thing the TD asked was whether we wanted extra tags. I thought he meant in case we had forgotten or lost the mailed ones. No, it was because the luggage went by truck to Lyon/the ship while we went by train. It was great to have it. We just kept back what we had to have for sight seeing that morning and the train ride. Since there was a screw up by TGV we were so grateful not to have to haul our carry-ons running for the train.
On the Rhine/Moselle, we assumed the same set up. There we almost had to beg the TDs for extra baggage tags. They clearly didn't want to hand out too many.
My husband and I are retired military so following the rules is pretty automatic, however, left to himself my husband would take a checked bag, as large a carry-on as the airline would allow, and a bag with 50 lbs of electronic gear. He's thinking about making sure he has everything he needs while I'm thinking of all the hassle shepherding that must stuff causes when things go wrong. Which of course they do. In addition to the TGV story above, coming back from Paris Air France broke off a back wheel on my spin around bag. Guess what, those suckers do not function well without both back wheels. I was ready to kill someone by the time I had wrestled it and my non wheeled carry-on for the rest of our return journey home. If I'd had a third piece to deal with someone might have gotten hurt. Just saying.
Because there were 4 internal flights and we sometimes had to check our own luggage at the airports -- I was really able to see exactly what luggage people brought. At least 85-90% had what would be considered non Tauck approved carryons. In fact there was one woman who was absolutely furious that she had followed the advice she read on the forum and did not bring what she had planned to. Interesting -- Alan S. -- that your TD made your friend handle his own carry on. While of course anything can happen with any individual TD -- we have found the same situation with rolling carryons on every tour we have taken -- both in terms of the number of them -- and in terms of the TD asking repeatedly if anybody wanted extra tags. (I asked a friend who just booked her 21st Tauck tour -- each time with a 21" rolling carry on -- if she ever had a problem and she said no.) When it is imperative that people pack correctly for a trip -- safaris for example -- Tauck makes the regulations eminently clear. I should also mention that we do not take small group tours and have never experienced even the slightest problem with all of the bags fitting under the bus. Believe me -- I am not advocating overpacking -- just voicing what has been our experience over the course of numerous tours.
Part of my personal problem with many of the wheeled carry-on bags is what you do with them when you're dealing with them and the wheeled checked bag. My non-wheeled tote (it's called a boarding bag) has a sleeve on the back that fits over the handles of my checked bag. Most of the 21" carry-ons I've seen don't. Actually found a bag for my husband at a thrift store - a wheeled laptop bag designed for business travel with room for a computer, files, and 1-2 nights worth of clothing. It also has the same sleeve as my bag. It's like the luggage people assume you're only going to travel with the 21" bag and a personal item.
Sadly the later group seems to be growing within the US thanx to the cheapskate airlines. On flights within the US I check one bag and take a small carry-on with as little as possible. I always figure I can find a Target if my suitcase doesn't show. I've had people try to force me to put my small bag under the seat in front of me so someone else can fit their big carry-on in the overhead. Why do I have to give up my leg room so someone else isn't inconvenienced by checking luggage? Or worse, what happened to a friend of mine. She found her seat on a flight and someone else had their bag under the seat in front of my friend. She asked the flight attendant whose it was and about that time a lady across the aisle looked up from her magazine and said "oh that's mine, you can move it if you want". My friend did, moved it right into the center aisle.
So I guess the bottom line to all of this is do whatever you're comfortable with. If you don't mind herding a bunch of luggage and Tauck doesn't have clearer guidance, go for it.
Retired Navy, but my wife thinks following the rules is more a function of OCD ☺ Unlike your husband I have been taking less and less camera/electronic gear each trip- a plug adapter, power strip, DSLR w/only one lens- 16-300mm, GoPro, iPad (I used to take a laptop) and a few pwr modules and cords.
A reminder to all posting on e forum that we partake with an agreement to agree to disagree on subjects and that nothing is a substitute for calling Tauck
We're both retired Navy.
USNA > Naval Aviation (NFO- EA-6B) > Pentagon and other staff tours > retired after 22.5 > HS math teacher (loooong 3 yrs) > DoD (DIA)
Mr Sails was a science teacher 15 yrs then a Navy Supply Off - kind of how we ended up on our first Tauck cruise
Now we live out west and just spend time on our hobbies and travel.