All the best,

Bob

Many thanks for leaving this review as it is a tour I have been thinking about for the future. So pleased to hear you had a wonderful holiday.

Could I please ask a question regarding the Grand Canyon trip - do you fly to the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas, or do you go in the bus and do the flights when you get there? This bit concerns me and it would be great to know how it works as it will help me make up my mind.

Many thanks.

Kind regards

Ann

Hello Sue,

Many thanks for leaving this review as it is a tour I have been thinking about for the future. So pleased to hear you had a wonderful holiday.

Could I please ask a question regarding the Grand Canyon trip - do you fly to the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas, or do you go in the bus and do the flights when you get there? This bit concerns me and it would be great to know how it works as it will help me make up my mind.

Many thanks.

Kind regards

Ann

Hi Ann, I did the 3-in-1 tour so can only be specific about that tour. We left the hotel around 4.30am by coach for a c.30min drive to Boulder City airport. We then took a small plane with scenic windows (about 20 passengers) to the rim of the canyon c.30min flight. We then transferred to a helicopter for c.10min flight to the bottom of the canyon. There was c.5min walk down to the edge of the Colorado river where we boarded a small boat (c.12 passengers) for c.15min boat trip. We were then taken back by helicopter to the rim of the canyon and boarded a coach for a short c.5min ride to the Skywalk/Indian Village (even though I hadn't pre-booked the Skywalk I could have paid $38 on the spot to walk over it but I didn't bother as I couldn't really see the benefit. We then took a coach c.5min to another viewing point and a basic cafe where we were given a meal (beef or chicken/potato/veg/salad/pastry and drink). By 10.15am we had eaten our meal and boarded the coach back to pick up the small plane back to Boulder City. We arrived back at the hotel around 12.30. As to the other Canyon tours, everyone seemed to travel by coach to Boulder City and fly somewhere (not all to the same destination airpot) - some picked up a coach after their flight and visited the national park for a guided walk. I think the national park group got back to the hotel around 1pm. Hope that gives you an idea of how things work. Sue

Ann C - re. Grand Canyon, you get a pre-booked bus direct from the hotel in Las Vegas to an airstrip in Boulder City. There you get onto a 19-seater plane which flies you to the canyon (or over it if you're just doing the Visionary Tour). If you do the Deluxe tour (also known as Ground Tour), you then get onto a tour bus which takes you into the Grand Canyon National Park and stops at a couple of excellent viewing points. You spend about 2 1/2 hours between both viewing points. Then the same journey in reverse. Flight from Boulder to Canyon is about an hour.

I would definitely say that if you get the opportunity to go on this holiday it is money well spent (even if you don't win anything in the casino!).

Caroline

Many thanks for your replies, both very helpful. It's also good to hear about the tour managers as they must make a huge difference.

Thinking about this holiday for probably 2015!! Going to Canada this September so have to fill up the piggy bank. Should have done the trips the other way round (thinking about that Casino win!).

Thanks again, and I glad you had great holidays.

Kind regards

Ann

Ifound your reviews very helpful,i am doing this tour in october and am wondering what clothes to take.Will i need any dressy stuff or is it mainly casual?Any input would be much appreciated.

thanks

jacky:s

As with all JY hols there isn't a dress code as such - dress for comfort as you'll be on the coach and walking around various destinations. Americans dress very casually when going out for a meal, but you might want to pack something slightly dressier if you like to do that. I'd imagine the only time anyone dresses up on a JY hol is if you were doing a Christmas/New Year break for the big festive meal/dinner etc.

Regarding spending money, I'd allow around $50 a day, so for this holiday I'd say around $1000 should be plenty. Like home, you can find cheap places or expensive ones to eat, so the choice is yours! On the whole, I'd say the US is a little cheaper than the UK for food. I always prebook excursions beforehand so I don't need to use my cash for them and you can pay for Grand Canyon flights by credit card.

Best wishes,

Bob

Hi all, what a fabulous holiday! This was my first JY holiday and my first touring holiday. We saw so many places (both on the itinerary and off it - thanks to our tour manager Kim's initiative and our driver Tala's brilliant driving skills!). Must say that Kim Valencia is a fantastic asset for JY - she's like a walking internet, her wealth of knowledge (both factual and star gossip 🙂 is amazing). If you get her as a tour manager you're off to a good start! I heard she's managing a tour of Mexico next year (a new holiday that will be included in the JY brochure). I'd recommend America's Golden West holiday to anyone although, for me, I'd call it an 'Experience' rather than a 'Holiday' ('living out of a suitcase' so much was quite tiring but worth it!). The only suggestion I would make to future travellers is - if you go on the Grand Canyon tour which starts early morning (particularly the 3-in-1) take something warm to wear - it's really chilly leaving the hotel around 4.30am and particularly in the plane and boat! I've loved meeting everyone in the group but, as there were 43 of us, it wasn't really possible to get to know everyone. However, I'd particularly like to thank Rosemary for her friendship. We started chatting on Day 1 at Heathrow and stuck together throughout the tour. I'd also like to thank Ruth, Shirley, Chris, Brenda and Pat for helping me settle into the group and Reg for showing me how to lose money in the Casino 🙂. I hope everyone got home safely, there was such a mad rush on our return to Heathrow that I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to everyone. Perhaps some of us will meet again on a future JY holiday. Sue

You'll have to let me know if this is a good holiday, as I was supposed to be going on sept 6th but just you have just cancelled this date. So I'm now going to croatia, as the only date they could offer me was 5th October and being at work no chance of changing my dates. Julie L