Go it alone or with a company?

Firstly let me apologies that this is not specific to only New York, it%26#39;s just I can%26#39;t put it in a USA forum, I have to chose a state and you guys were really helpful with my new york trip.

Me and my fiance are thinkikng of doing some travelling in america next year for our honeymoon, we have seen this organised tour which will cost us 拢2300, plus 拢420 for camping food kitty, and then 9 nights accomodation in the cities, which they estimate at 拢450, so in total 拢6340 (sorry not sure what that would be in dollars) for the both of us to go, it is a 42 day tour and this is where we would go:

Days: 1-2 Washington DC

Days: 3 Virginia

Days: 4 Tennessee

Days: 5 Alabama

Days: 6-7 New Orleans

Days: 8 Texas

Days: 9-10 San Antonio

Days: 11 Del Rio

Days: 12 Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Days: 13 New Mexico, Arizona

Days: 14 Monument Valley

Days: 15-16 Grand Canyon National Park

Days: 17-18 Zion National Park

Days: 19-20 Las Vegas

Days: 21 Los Angeles

Days: 22-23 Pacific Coast, Monterey

Days: 24-25 San Francisco

Days: 26-28 Yosemite National Park, Lake Tahoe

Days: 29-30 Idaho and Nevada, Jackson

Days: 31-32 Yellowstone National Park

Days: 33 Sioux Indian Lands

Days: 34-35 Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Days: 36-38 Minnesota, Chicago

Days: 39-40 Ohio, Niagara Falls

Days: 41-42 Finger Lakes %26amp; New York area

Just after a little advice as I do not know if this is reasonable, or if we could go oit alone for cheaper or the same price? How easy would travelling to all these places be by ourselves?

Thanks very much in advance

Go it alone or with a company?

it seems an awful lot of travel to me with only a day or 2 at most locations - for example you could easily spend 2 weeks in NY alone and not see everything.

which particular cities do YOU want to see?

at current exchange rates its over 10000 dollars

Go it alone or with a company?

1) It would be more helpful if you gave us a link to the co. website that%26#39;s offering this. This is not very much info. The most important info like how you get from place to place and where exactly you would stay in missing.

2) It would help us evaluate it for YOU if you told us a little about yourselves. I HATE tours/packages of ANY kind and would avoid at all cost, especially on a honeymoon. Do you really want to be traveling with a bunch of other people (who are likely to be OAPs)? But there are those who enjoy them and don%26#39;t want to be bothered figuring things out for themselves. Have you ever been on a structured tour? Did you like it?

3) There are dozens of currency exchange websites online. You will be visiting the US. You need to start learning about money conversion, but bottom line, that%26#39;s a FORTUNE of money to spend for what could be a very basic tour covering too much in too little time.

Thanks for the responses!

yes sorry I will go into a little more detail.

We will be 23 and 25 when we do this trip, and we are normally very go it alone people and have never done an organised tour.

The link to the company is

trekamerica.co.uk/tours/gn.html#tour-info-1

It seems to be lots of independant younger travellers. And no we wouldn%26#39;t want to spend 42 days in the pockets of young singles, what we do want is to experience america the best way possible, and the most we can in a short space of time.

After already visiting new york I really understand that a few days isn%26#39;t really enough, we were there for 7 days and only scratched the surface! The places I most want to visit are Las vegas, the grand canyon, hollywood %26amp; LA, california, and the niagra falls (way out from the rest of them i know) all the other places sounds amazing on that tour though but i dont know enough about them to say they are top of the list.

This will be our last BIG holiday before family life takes hold of us and our money! And we want lots of experiences that we will never forget. Wewant a mix of fast pased city life, with sunny coastal spots, and spending nights in the middle of nowhere with just the stars to look at! I guess i%26#39;m sounding like i want to much? I think I am to!

Anyway we are happy to camp and stay in hostels and use public transport, were just not sure how easy it would be, and how the cost would differ?!

Any help again is greatly appreciated!

It seems like a lot of time in the car to me too. Some of those roads will be interstates and they are boring. If you%26#39;re on a bus you have to eat where they can park it. (Cracker Barrel, anyone?) I would pick two or three destination cities, kick back, and enjoy yourself on your honeymoon.

This really sounds ridiculous to me and they make it very difficult to find out how you%26#39;re traveling from place to place. It%26#39;s mostly camping and I still don%26#39;t see how you%26#39;re getting around. Sounds outrageously expensive. Given your wants, it would be easy to either use a GOOD travel agent to arrange a trip that suits your needs or just put it together on your own spending more time in the places you really want to see and skipping those that are unimportant. If you have a month or more you can easily see the highlights of this trip, travel by plane where appropriate and even hook up with a group for things like white water rafting if you want to. I%26#39;m guessing they%26#39;re transporting you by coach for the whole trip which is a real waste of time.

You might be better off with a good amount of time enjoying the Great American West, by flying to Texas, California, Salt Lake City or any other location that would be on a large loop or with a good drop off car fee situation, using days 14-35 to full enjoyment. You need a good map of the USA with driving times. Hope you have a great time.

These places and National Parks are truly Spectacular. Check out the Wyoming, Montana, California, Utah and Nevada forums, and for good measure include Oregon and Washington.

I concur with everyone else, Swirly - although the trip would be spectacular, I fear the impact would be lost by the sheer scale of the undertaking.

Yellowstone and surrounding areas like the Tetons and Jackson is at least 4 days - you could easily spend a minimum of 3 days just in Yellowstone.

Chicago is worth 5 days of anybody%26#39;s time and New York double that just as an intro!

However, and at your ages, you are very lucky to have the opportunity to do something like this with the added bonus of having a long time in to the future to do even more.

I%26#39;ve visited abourt 30 states over the past 15 years - including about 95% of your itinerary - but it needs to be done slowly and in manageable chunks.

Then you have to keep going back to where you have been!

Take it from a Yorkshireman!

Good Golly Miss Molly. This itinerary reminds me of the old movie, ';If It%26#39;s Tuesday, it Must be Belgium.'; Do you really want to take this mad dash through America? This trip appears to stay one or two days at any location, and then moves on to the next. You will be living out of suitcases.

What types of accomodations are provided? Tents? Hotels? Hostels?

How will you be travelling? My guess is that you will be on some really long bus rides. Do you want to be a captive audience with this group?

You know how you like to travel. If this style of vacation appeals to you, check out the company very carefully. If there is a Better Business Bureau in Manchester, I%26#39;d ask them if they%26#39;ve heard any complaints about the company.

For me, I think I%26#39;d rather pick out a couple of places that I know I want to see, and spend some time there. The American West is indeed spectacular. I just think that it will be less spectacular seen through the windows of a moving bus.

If you have any spare time in your busy itinerary I would suggest you also make a quick stop in Mexico to score some over the counter Ampehtamines ..... you%26#39;re gonna need them!

well the company has been registered with companies house for some 6 years and has done its returns and accounts but that does not necessarily mean that its a good company.

I agree with the other sentiments on here

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