Recently returned from this tour and now that I've recovered from the jet lag thought I'd write a brief but honest review (in my opinion).

Overall it was a good trip. Generally a great bunch of people that got along very well.

The hotels were generally good, one or two very good indeed. The Tropicana in Las Vegas is a huge improvement over the Stratosphere which has been JY's hotel of choice in Vegas before now. It is very central and convenient for all the attractions Vegas has to offer.

The Hoover Dam was great and definitely worth a visit.

The jeep trip in Sedona was good fun.

The Grand Canyon is always spectacular. Being dropped at the visitor centre and given a whole day to explore using the shuttle buses worked very well. I saw much more of the canyon than on a previous trip on which you were shown two or three view points chosen by the tour guide.

California was a very mixed bag!

Yosemite, sadly, was a washout. We did see some stunning views on the way in to the valley but once we arrived a thunderstorm and heavy rain ruined the day. One day is not enough at this beautiful national park.

Mariposa was a great little town with good bars and restaurants.

San Francisco is a fantastic city. The scenery is great and so much to do. Again, not enough time to really explore. Three full days there would have been nice.

Monterey was good. The aquarium definitely worth a visit.

17 mile drive was very scenic but all a bit rushed.

Los Angeles is a huge, ugly, sprawling dump. I cannot think of one redeeming feature. Hollywood is horrible and the Hard Rock Cafe is an overpriced terrible restaurant. Also, none of the coastal towns are worth visiting. Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Santa Monica and especially Malibu are totally devoid of any soul or character. In fact I think LA could be removed from the tour entirely.

Much of the Route1 coastline (over 100 miles!!) was missed because of bad traffic so we missed a lot of great scenery.

San Diego sadly was missed entirely due to very bad traffic.

Now the flying. The flights were hard work. I will never do another tour with indirect flights. Very tiring, and possibly quite daunting for less experienced travellers. Especially as we didn't have a tour guide present until we arrived at our final destination.

The weather. Very good in Arizona and Nevada and San Francisco. But one thing we learned form the locals is not to expect good weather in early June on the southern California coast. The 'June gloom' means that it is grey all day unless you are 5-10 miles inland.

Generally I did really enjoy the tour. Met some great people whom I hope to stay in touch with. Our tour guide Stephen was very good and always helpful. Also John, our driver, was excellent.

I'd give this tour a score of 7/10.

Cheers,

Bob

Re this:

Now the flying. The flights were hard work. I will never do another tour with indirect flights. Very tiring, and possibly quite daunting for less experienced travellers. Especially as we didn't have a tour guide present until we arrived at our final destination.

I have to say I totally agree with you. I have not done an in-direct flight with Just You, but the first time I went to the States (which was an independent trip) I experienced a delay with Delta, ended up missing my connecting flight (by 10 minutes) and spent 5 hours in an airport in Kentucky on my own. :s Very daunting! I feel that JY should provide some sort of support if the flight is in-direct as especially if you are an inexperienced traveller (which I hope I am not by now) it IS or could be not nice.

Thank you for the review. I would love to go to SF but never been interested in LA.

Hi Mark

Re this:

Now the flying. The flights were hard work. I will never do another tour with indirect flights. Very tiring, and possibly quite daunting for less experienced travellers. Especially as we didn't have a tour guide present until we arrived at our final destination.

I have to say I totally agree with you. I have not done an in-direct flight with Just You, but the first time I went to the States (which was an independent trip) I experienced a delay with Delta, ended up missing my connecting flight (by 10 minutes) and spent 5 hours in an airport in Kentucky on my own. :s Very daunting! I feel that JY should provide some sort of support if the flight is in-direct as especially if you are an inexperienced traveller (which I hope I am not by now) it IS or could be not nice.

Thank you for the review. I would love to go to SF but never been interested in LA.

Hi bosuncat,

I got back from the Historic East trip last week and we had serious issues with indirect flights on the way out. Delta. No TM until Nashville - tho' we were told there would be a TM at Heathrow, even on the morning of the trip. As I was texted by JY when they were sending out tickets etc, I really do think they could have notified us all by text that there would be no TM till Nashville. At least would have known not to bother expecting someone at Heathrow and that we would be sorting it out ourselves in Atlanta. Will post more and write a review of the trip when I get a second. (Unexpectedly very busy workwise when I got back to the UK, just now getting back to normal.)

Should just say that I think all the group enjoyed the tour overall, a good group, but think there are a few issues with the structure of the trip.

Katy

Thanks for the review this trip is on my "consider" list although i've done parts of it with the "golden west" & "parks & canyons" tours.

The two places i'd want to see are Yosemite & San Diego so looks like its a good job i wasn't on your trip.

Agree about LA, one of my least favorite US cities (although enjoy a day at Universal studios.

As for the coast towns did you visit Carmel or Solvang two towns i found interesting.

I also agree Yosemite needs longer, I looked at the route and it only passes the southern end of the park, would want to go up to Lake Tahoe & maybe Reno.

Suggestion for JY, how about a holiday starting in San Fran, going up to Lake Tahoe then a couple of overnights in Yosemite before finishing in Vegas (or even Phoenix). Would appeal to me.

Mick

Hi,

Recently returned from this tour and now that I've recovered from the jet lag thought I'd write a brief but honest review (in my opinion).

I'd give this tour a score of 7/10.

Many thanks for posting this review, Mark. I've booked to go on the 30th August departure for the same trip, so this gives me some idea of what to expect.

Very sorry that bad weather and heavy traffic spoiled some parts of the trip for you.

I can see what you mean about wishing you'd had an extra day in San Francisco. I've been looking at the itinerary and wishing I had a day or two longer in San Francisco and Las Vegas. I've really enjoyed my four JustYou holidays so far, and they cram so much in which makes them good value for money, but the downside is that you tend to feel you're on the go all the time. Sometimes I wish they'd just slacken the pace for a day in the middle of the trip, give everyone a chance to draw breath and recharge, and add an extra day in one of the more attractive stops on the tour. We had a generous amount of free time on the Argentina & Brazil tour, whereas the Inspirational China holiday was busy from start to finish with precious little free time unless you skipped the optional excursions. Some people in the group skipped them purely because they were worn out and wanted a rest.

Thanks again

Dave