Western Highlights

Went on this tour 4th feb to 11th of feb 2009. It was fantastic, had so much fun and met so many people!
It was only eight days long and if I had the time again, I would of definitely have stayed on to do LA to the Bay but we didnt have time as we were going to New York. That said alot of was packed in to those eight days so it was still worth it!
Anyways i'll kinda just list what i thought was good/crap/what i wished i had known and hopefully it'll be helpful to someone!
Good Stuff-
- the bus, modern, comfy seats, pretty good legroom (although try and aim for the emergency seats massive amounts of leg room)
- most of the hotels (more on crappy vegas one later), the san diego one was pretty nice considering the outside looked abit dodge, the Phoenix one was good (free internet but only one computer), grand canyon good as well (and i have to say as a very fussy traveller I was impressed!)
- meals were generally pretty good (althou be careful with the meals at the place at grand canyon was very hit and miss!)
- I did nearly all of the optional things except for the imax experience (ive been to grand canyon before so didnt really need to see it on a big screen and alot of people said afterwards that it was kinda crap)and didnt do the helicopter as there was snow storms over the canyon
- i would recommend doing the hot air ballooning it was fantastic, yeah u have to get up early but its totally worth it and the champagne breakfast was great too
that kinda sums up the good stuff with contiki
the crap-
really wasnt much, the v variety show optional thing in vegas was ok but i dont really think it was worth the US$55 or whatever it was i think i would have preferred to spend that time looking around the different casinos but i suppose i can say i've done it and most ppl in the group went to it
- the vegas hotel. First of all i heart trip advisor, trip advisor is like my best friend when planning a trip so i have to say i was worried about it and then to come on here and see other ppls comments was a little worrying, i had contemplated paying to stay at one of the casinos but when it came down to it i didnt really want to be separated from the group/didnt have that much money that i could really justify at the point to go and stay somewhere else
so basically, its dodgy, yeah its close to las vegas blvd but its still 10-15 min walk and at night i would not be walking there. Our room was tiny, no where to put two suitcases and beds were so close together that u could touch each other. Our bathroom had no towels (either did any on the bottom floor) and was told no towels were available from the front desk, so no showers that first night. And our door wouldnt lock properly kinda had to slam it shut and make sure it closed. It kinda did in a little way kinda make it abit of a ****ty end to the trip. But that said I dont want to put anyone off (althou re-reading this it sounds so crap and offputting but theres no way of making it sound better)I guess the benefit is everyone else is there and you can't be late to the bus but i dunno if i knew what to expect having experienced it i probs would try and stay somewhere else and just make sure i know what times to be on the bus...i have no idea if thats helped anyone??
-the only other negative which was not contikis fault at all, is the day at the grand canyon, it was just snowing and cold and we werent sure if we were going to helicopter or not and it kinda felt like a waste but in retrospect it was kinda used as a day to relax and prep yourself for vegas
ok enough negative stuff...hints and stuff i would of liked to know-
- be friendly and try and meet everyone on the bus, i've met some of the greatest and nicest people on that trip and now have friends from canada and all around australia
- go out after dinner, u dont have to drink to have a good time, but its fun to be in the group and just enjoy the atmosphere
- try and do all the optionals, i have photos and experiences that will last a lifetime
- bring appropriate clothes we went in winter so i didnt really think to bring different going out clothes to what i would wear here. In winter in Brisbane when I go out I just wear a dress with a cardy and mayb tights if its breezy. Ha I was such an idiot, most ppl were sensible and wore the right kinda clothes. So if your going in winter clothes for going out i would recommend would be:
*nice pair of jeans (different to what u wear during the day)
* boots or ballet flats (i brought heels and it was f**kin cold in vegas and i freezed my arse off)
*tights (def recommened)
*dresses that are warm or can have layers over them
*cardy
*nice going out jacket or coat, something that looks nice but is warm
*nice top/s
if u follow that, then u wont be stuck like me at every shopping stop trying to find something warm and practical to wear out and then be stuck like me with the clothes u brought over because u cant find anything decent as they have already started to change seasons (end my rant lol)
- use ur time well in vegas, we kinda arrived i ran to the magic mile shopping place (i'd been to vegas before so knew where to go) to find something to wear most ppl just chilled and got ready for the night
- the next day is a free day and i went shopping with one of the girls i met and while the shopping was awesome we did miss seeing alot of the casinos and different themes (i didnt feel like i had missed out cause i'd been before but i felt like my friend kinda did)
- do the limo tour of vegas it was awesome
- listen to your tour guide they had some really interesting info about places and american history and so on and i thought it was insightful
-take lots of pics of sedona, we were told it has this kinda magical hold and it really does it was breathtaking nothing like in Aus
- get ur breakfast tickets in vegas for coco's (just in front of the ****ty hotel) we didnt coz he forgot to give it to us, but we went anyways and it was surprisingly good and cheap!
- i cant really think of anything else but im sure more will come
i think most of all, just enjoy it and make the most of it. im so glad i did it honestly was a fantastic experience so much so myself and another friend that i met on contiki are planning on going on a europe contiki at the end of the year (fingers crossed)
feel free to ask any questions!! hope this helps someone, i looked everywhere for info and appreciated reading other ppls experiences so hopefully someone else enjoys this.
kate