Flights - very little legroom on Friday flight out; consider extra legroom/exit row seats if tall. Tuesday flight back had a lot more legroom. Plane toilets were disgusting, avoid towards the end of the flight unless recently freshened! Food good. Pillows and blankets get reused so not very hygienic.

Money - local guide acted as money changer for Uzbek Sum. In most places you can now pay in Dollars and sometimes Euros for souvenirs so change small amounts to Sum for drinks, photo permits etc. as you go.

Toilets - be prepared for a lot of the squat variety and bush stops on long bus days. Useful for ladies to wear a skirt on the long driving days. Wipes and hand gel invaluable!

Mosquitoes - didn't see a single mosquito, wear repellent or use a plug in the whole trip. Take a small repellent just in case.

Health - take Immodium or equivalent with you. After Day 7 most people had a slightly dodgy tummy!

Water - a bottle of water was provided every day for drinking and teeth cleaning.

Clothing - climate is quite variable. Layers useful first thing in the morning and on the way back from dinner when it can be chilly.

Itinerary - don't expect to follow the Day to Day itinerary. The guides rearrange according to time, weather, other groups to get the best out of the trip and give you some free time. It is full on so don't expect much downtime.

Khiva - if time on arrival, explore while it's quiet and most of the tourists have gone. Inner city very compact so hard to get lost.

Bukhara - take the optional lunch at a local house if offered. It was a chance to see how Plov is made and sample some. It was help yourself so worth the experience even if not that hungry.

Shakhrisabz - currently a building site with little sign of greenery considering it means "Green City". The taxi ride through the mountains to get there is interesting and a good experience. Once there the monuments are not as spectacular as elsewhere although the souvenir prices are very cheap. If not your cup of tea, opt for a further free day in Samarkand.

This trip gives you a fascinating insight into Central Asia. A thoroughly enjoyable and unforgettable experience.

Many thanks for all these great trips - Uz is on my (long) list of places I want to visit, hopefully over the next couple of years!

Best wishes,

Bob

Jaya

Sheila Thompson is a She and not a He!!

Jaya

I've never been anywhere I can't rely on plastic for an emergency top up, and would hate to run out, but on the other hand I am concerned about carrying lots of cash!!

Nicky Kenny

I have one big question, and any help will be appreciated! Very, very roughly how much money might I need!

I've never been anywhere I can't rely on plastic for an emergency top up, and would hate to run out, but on the other hand I am concerned about carrying lots of cash!!

Nicky Kenny

That's a difficult question to answer Nicky, I took the equivalent of £200 in US dollars and came back with just over £100. I say its difficult to answer because it all depends on what you want to buy in the way of souvenirs, I bought very few but some people bought quite a lot so hopefully someone else who spent more than me will also answer. Things were reasonably cheap and even if I had spent more on souvenirs I doubt I would have spent the whole £200.

You will need enough to buy drinks with your meal if you want, I would say roughly beer/wine was about $3-4, vodka about $2. Photo permits at sites were around $2, but what some of us did was pay on the way out after we had seen whether we wanted to take photos or not, bit cheeky I know, and yes, we were all honest and paid up, there were some places where I didn't bother to take any photos. Tea and coffee was around $2-3. As I said these are only rough prices.

Our local guide was our "exchange bureau" and gave a good rate of exchange, we were advised to only buy $20 worth of som at a time as you cannot bring any local money out of the country. Some shops/stalls did take dollars in payment.

I personally would rather take more money than I need and bring some back. I always keep the dollars I bring back and save them for my next holiday as dollars seem to be the preferred currency over sterling in many countries on long haul holidays.

Hope this has been of some help, have a great time.

Avocet

I should have said that I tipped the local guide, driver and his assistant out of my dollars as well, so I would say my beers/wine/vodka, tea/coffee/snacks, photo permits, souvenirs and tips came to around £100, now I'm home I wish I had bought a few more things, so I would have spent more than that.

Avocet

Thank you so much for your detailed reply. You have really helped me: I'm not a great shopper, but I do like to be able to have something to drink with a meal and not to have to worry about running out of cash!!!

I've been planning this trip for about 4 years, and am now swinging between high excitement and terror!

All the posts I've read make me feel that perhaps the terror is misplaced!

Thanks again,

Nicky

Hi Avocet

Thank you so much for your detailed reply. You have really helped me: I'm not a great shopper, but I do like to be able to have something to drink with a meal and not to have to worry about running out of cash!!!

I've been planning this trip for about 4 years, and am now swinging between high excitement and terror!

All the posts I've read make me feel that perhaps the terror is misplaced!

Thanks again,

Nicky

Hi Nicky

I'm sure you will be absolutely fine, the unknown is always daunting at any time. One thing I can say about Uzbekistan is I felt very safe there and you can easily walk out amongst the locals without any problems, even in the bazaars, but of course take the usual precautions with your valuables as you would even in this country. I found it very refreshing that the sellers weren't in your face pestering you to buy things like in some countries.

Like me you say you are not a great shopper but there are some lovely items to buy, like suzane (embroidered wall hangings) jewellery, bags, silk scarves and ceramics, so you might want to buy more than you think, I wish I had when I had the chance. You can get some really nice small pieces of ceramics, which are quite cheap and would make lovely Christmas presents, you might be tempted, so allow for that.

Have a great time

Avocet

Thank you for your posts! Off tomorrow, full of excitement! You and Sheila have really helped reassure me.

Nicky[/font]

Thank you for your posts. I got home yesterday, having had a wonderful holiday. It totally lived up to my expectations and my fears were groundless!

A great group, fantastic tour manager and guide, and an amazing country!

Nicky K

Sheila and Avocet

Thank you for your posts. I got home yesterday, having had a wonderful holiday. It totally lived up to my expectations and my fears were groundless!

A great group, fantastic tour manager and guide, and an amazing country!

Nicky K

Hi Nicky

So glad you had such a great time and it was everything you hoped it would be, it's a fascinating country isn't it. I bet you're now thumbing through the pages of the new brochure trying to decide where to go next. So many great holidays to choose from! Wherever you go it will be a completely different experience from this one but I'm sure you will enjoy it just as much.

Avocet

I really want to go to Uzbekistan but the idea of hotel registration is a little daunting for me, I have no problem with local laws but do group leaders collect passports ? And do they retrieve them from the hotel?

Because I do not like this, I had a horrible experience once where the local travel agent collected tickets and passports and the group leader , a Scot demanded tips which were for guide, hotels, churches.

When I went to the Hotel Reception to collect my passport for checkpoints, I found they didn't have it and the group leader did.

Also several times afterwards, after leaving passport back with hotel reception, I found later that the group leader retrieved it behind my back. The same leader was hassling people for tips and writing down who gave them.

I think all of what I have written is unacceptable and I think we should hand in and retrieve our passports ourselves.

I did Uzbekistan in November, fantastic holiday.

Regarding hotels, if you are on the group visa, your passport will be collected by the JY TM and he/she will (if like ours) take care of the registration and return your passport to you. Those on the group visa only had to do this at the first hotel. Several on their own visas had to do this at each hotel.

I'm sure if you want the hassle and to do this yourself you'll be quite welcome, but whilst the TM and local guide sorted the paperwork we were all relaxing in the bar.

Sandy

SKW2962

Hi Ina,

I did Uzbekistan in November, fantastic holiday.

Regarding hotels, if you are on the group visa, your passport will be collected by the JY TM and he/she will (if like ours) take care of the registration and return your passport to you. Those on the group visa only had to do this at the first hotel. Several on their own visas had to do this at each hotel.

I'm sure if you want the hassle and to do this yourself you'll be quite welcome, but whilst the TM and local guide sorted the paperwork we were all relaxing in the bar.

Sandy

SKW2962

Glad you said that about the passports Sandy, I was beginning to think I might have had too many vodkas along the way (my post today under Reviews)

Avocet