I had a lot of fun on this trip and really enjoyed most of it, the tour group was pretty great and I got exactly what I wanted in regards to having people to travel with. The itinerary was pretty good, it covered a lot of great spots across the country so you will get a decent idea of some of the highlights the USA has to offer. However, not all of it was amazing. The biggest issue I had was that the advertised itinerary was misleading, we stayed in Fort Worth instead of Dallas and only were provided a 3hr return trip to Dallas from the hotel in Fort Worth. It looks like this has been communicated and fixed already, which is good, just frustrating as I expected to have more time in Dallas. The strangest decision in regards to the itinerary was we stopped off at beautiful Santa Fe for lunch, then stayed the night in Albuquerque which we were told was dodgy/dangerous at night, and best to stay near the hotel. Given they were only an hour apart I don't understand why we wouldn't stay at Santa Fe instead. There were a lot of pitstops in the middle of nowhere or at truck stops where the only food options were fast-food. This is probably just 'Murica rather than something in the control of Topdeck, but it's worth keeping in mind that where you go is very spread out with not much in between. The optional activities were great, definitely recommend the heli trip over Grand Canyon, the jeep ride in Monument Valley, the horse riding and ziplining in Durango and the bike ride in DC. I don't recommend the swamp tour in New Orleans. If it was like 20 minutes long, didn't take so long to get there and it wasn't bitterly cold then maybe it would be alright, it was just really uninteresting for the most part (I started nodding off a couple of times). You really don't see much, it's all the same, gators are the only interesting part. The accommodation was all really good, some questioned the hotels but I thought for a whirlwind tour like this they were all very satisfactory. Even the hostels were quite nice. The only issue was that often we were staying well outside the town/city and had to catch Ubers to get in, or just not really go anywhere. I feel like they could compromise a little bit of time to have us stay somewhere closer to the action. The bus driver was a bit weird and he unfortunately was a source of discussion the whole trip, a few of the women felt a bit uncomfortable (not in a dangerous/creepy way, just how he talked to them). If you want to see America and don't have a clue where to go then I'd recommend this tour, it gives you a good idea/taste of it. Definitely spend extra time in New York City though, that's the real highlight of the US.
This trip was one of the best thing's I've ever done! The app was a great way to meet everyone beforehand and we couldn't have asked for a better trip leader with Jess - she was AMAZING! Took the best care of everything from start to finish - there wasn't enough she could do. Met some amazing people and saw the best places - would recommend the trip to anyone!
I really enjoyed the range of activities that were on offer. Furthermore, I know that my trip leader Jess, included a few extra optional activities that were just fantastic. I was also super impressed with her knowledge and understanding of all the places that we visited.
