Budget Trips to USA

The tour was excellent, with a great your leader (Rick) and many great sites to visit. There was a lot of driving, but that is your best expected in such a big country as the USA. The accommodations were mostly similar types of hotels, all very comfortable. Mobile coverage was a little dodgy, especially in Yellowstone Park, not surprisingly. The Grand Canyon was magnificent, with plenty of time to enjoy it. Overall an excellent adventure.

Our flight to Colorado was a direct flight, so no negotiating airports. Our tour guide greeted us at the luggage pickup and escorted us to our bus for the week. All of the hotels were of high quality and we got good sleep every night. Too many sights to see, the tour hit most of the highlights. In my opinion, the Arches National park and Pikes Peak were the highlights for me. Our tour manager, Curtis, prepared us for what to expect the next day as far as sights to see, itinerary changes and the expected weather. Sometimes we had to change plans because of unexpected delays, but this is to be expected. I would recommend this tour for anybody wanting to see Colorado at it's finest.

We flew to Fairbanks a day early, so we had a free day to explore Fairbanks on our own. We had a fun visit to the Fairbanks Ice Museum followed by lunch at The Crepery, all within walking distance to the Westmark Fairbanks. After lunch we strolled along the Chena River viewing the Golden Heart Plaza, the Land Lease Monument, and the Antler Arch. We then visited the impressive Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center with its interpretive exhibits and displays. As we walked back to the hotel, we stopped in at the Humble Roots Beer Project for some locally brewed beer. A great way to start our trip.

We had a once in a lifetime experience on the Colorado Rockies Tour. The views were absolutely breathtaking and the tour guide Bryce and the bus driver Rhonda were also amazing. I think our favorite stop was the Arches in Utah and that was added on because there was a wildfire in Black Canyon. We did the walk to see the double mask and did quite well considering our age. The meals were unbelievable- the many choices helped because they always had my favorite food, Salmon, available. Sadly, we had to leave early because my husband had a medical problem and that was also taken care of immediately thanks to Bryce and the hotel manager at Strater Hotel in Durango. So many nice people that we met and shared stories. I would definitely recommend Collette to everyone.

The trip to Alaska with our tour guide, Janice Burnett was wonderful. Janice was on top of everything, even the unexpected. She is a book of knowledge and answered all our questions when asked. The accomodations were great! On to the ship! We had a little problem with our room but Janice to the rescue! Due to an unfortunate loss of 4 people who had to leave the trip there were 2 rooms that were unoccupied on the ship and we were transferred to one of them thanks to Janice being right there to help! We have nothing but praise for her help when needed and her wonderful personality! Would take another trip if we could have her with us! Bruce and Karen Schramm

The excursion to Hubbard glacier was awesome I’m not sure I would ever use Colette again. The tour was fine, but the airfare on all three trips that I have done with Colette has been horrendous. I wouldn’t mind paying a little bit more and leaving out a Hartford instead of Boston and not having the long layovers and at one point arriving at 3 AM and having to be upgoing at seven. You do great on your tours, but horrible on your transportation.