To do it or not to do it, this
was the question I kept toying with for three days as I scanned every piece of
review on the internet for doing a west coast tour in the US. I really wanted
to see the west coast but only had 7 days and there was no time to take the
advice, research and plan travel to each destination by myself.
The bus tour was too attractive
to ignore. The price was very good for the inclusions. But then one does get
wary when there are caveats of “we reserve the right to make changes at the
time of travel”. After going through all the negative feedback, I realized that
it was more hypothetical as to why would one want to travel on a group tour vs
feedback through actual experiences. So I decided to take the plunge. I booked
myself on a 6 night 7 days tour of the west coast. The only thing I got on
making the booking online was an e-ticket confirming the tour name, the price
paid and a customer care number. The fun begins’, I thought to myself. I just
blew up $800 and all I get is a call center number!
As the date got closer my anxiety
increased till I got down from the cab at the pickup point. It was a shopping
area which was desolate at 7 in the morning. I was the only person as far as I
could see with an occasional car whizzing past. Finally when I couldn’t take it
anymore, I called up that customer care number. They picked up in two rings and
gave me the number for the tour guide, Hao. I called up Hao and was happy that
he was an English speaking guide. They were on their way and within two minutes
the bus arrived. ‘Not bad’ was my first
reaction as I noticed that the bus was big 50 seater and there were just 20 odd
people so lots of space. I had just plonked myself on the seat when Hao
announced that I was the only English speaking audience on the bus and everyone
else only spoke Chinese. However before
I freaked out, he added that he would repeat everything in both English and
Chinese even if there was only one passenger speaking the language. Phew! Some
respite.
Our first destination was the
Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. It took us about 4 hours to reach LA including
a couple of stops in between. The place was as crowded as a walk through Lajpat
Nagar in Delhi or a pavement in Andheri in Mumbai. Amidst the crowds, as we
walk through the Hollywood Walk of Fame, people were looking for the names of
their favorite Hollywood artists embedded in the sidewalks. It was actually fun
to discover them. The moment someone would call out a name, many people would crowd
around. This continued till we reached the Dolby Theatre Museum which has been
hosting the Academy Awards since 2001. The columns at the theater have the names
of the Best Picture winner for each year. Hao specially looked out for me in
the group to show me the name of “Slumdog Millionaire”. I had to show some rush
of adrenalin at this to keep up with his enthusiasm. You can also get a great
view of the Hollywood sign on the Santa Monica mountains from the Dolby
Theatre. After a stroll past the TCL
Chinese Theatre and taking some more pictures of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, we
headed to LA downtown just to get a feel of the city. It felt like any other
city, nothing great to talk about. The day was getting to an end and we were
also a bit tired. More than anything, I was still apprehensive of where we were
going to stay. I was just praying that it did not end up being a shady place.
All my fears were put to rest
when our bus parked itself at the Knott’s Berry Farm hotel. This is on the
outskirts of LA but a huge property. It was right next to the Knott’s Berry
theme park and I could actually view the rides from my room. The cartoon
character Snoopy roaming around the premises was a cute surprise.
The next morning we headed to San
Diego. This time it was a mini bus as the San Diego tour was optional and not
everyone had opted for it. There were some new people in the bus though quite a
few were the same as on day 1. This time there were a couple of English
speaking people as well. Our first stop was the San Diego harbor. Looking at
the statue of the Sailor Kissing the Nurse flanked by trees on both sides reminded
me of the Bollywood actors romancing around the trees. A cruise along the
harbor was very insightful as they showcased the US naval fleet. San Diego was
quite warm at this time of the year (September). From the Harbor we went to Coronado Island. The
ride over the Coronado Bridge gave us some great views of the blue seas. After
enjoying the beaches on the Coronado Island we moved to the old town California
which felt like we had entered Mexico. Our last stop for the day was Balboa
Park. One day is not sufficient for Balboa Park. It’s a huge park with great
flora. The Botanical Gardens had some amazing types of flowers. It’s definitely
worth the visit. We came back to our hotel in LA, tired but satisfied with a
day well spent.
Our third day was scheduled for
the Universal Studios. Again, this was an optional tour and we went there in
the mini bus. The tour guide took us to 4 key rides which he absolutely did not
want us to miss before letting us explore the place on our own. All the rides
there are fun though the Jurassic Park and the Return of the Mummy were the
ones I enjoyed the most. The Studio tour
was fascinating as the tram meandered through the sets. The musical show at the water world was the
last one for the day and it truly felt like watching a movie live. 
On the 4th day it was
time to pack our bags and head for the much awaited part of the tour- Las Vegas!
We had a new tour guide. Her name was Sophie and she was pretty well versed
with California. She gave us a lot of insights throughout the journey. The ride
through the Mojave Desert into the state of Nevada was awesome. There were so
many shades to the desert, beautiful colors of sand. Sophie checked options
with us on the bus itself as to what would we like to in Vegas. She highly
recommended the night tour which would take us across the major attractions of
Las Vegas as well as also included a musical show. I opted for that. We checked
into The Excalibur at Vegas which, like all other hotels there, was massive. Walking
just to our rooms felt like eternity. One can easily get lost in the hotel
itself. The entire ground floor of hotel was a casino and all of the first
floor was a food court. After checking
into our rooms, we headed out for the night tour of the city. Sophie was our
guide on the tour too and she took us to all the major attractions including
the Venetian, the Bellagio, Caesar palace, the musical fountains, the high
roller and the Fremont experience. We also saw one of their legendary musical
shows before calling it a day. Beyond that- what happens at Vegas stays in VegasJ.
The 5th day was the
high point of the tour. We went to see the Grand Canyon; Arizona State. It was
Sophie’s day off so we had a new guide called Angela. Angela was fun to be
with. She had a good sense of humor and kept the group entertained with her
quips. She booked the helicopter tour for us for those of us who wanted to do
it, before we reached the Canyon. The helicopter tour is only available at the
West rim of the Grand Canyon and takes you to the bottom of the Canyon where
you can enjoy a short boat ride on the Colorado River. The ride down took 3-4
minutes. The views of the Canyon are much more beautiful on the way up than
while going down.
The Canyon is huge and while it is mesmerizing, its massive
size is also scary. There is no fencing at the canyon. You can get to the
absolute edge and look down from the top. Take care not to look down too much
to fall down the canyon. Once you are done with the helicopter ride, there are
shuttles that take you to various scenic spots of the Grand Canyon. The helicopter
ride ticket also includes lunch and a certificate from the Hualapai tribe as a souvenir
of your visit to the Grand Canyon. It is important to keep track of time as you
roam around the Canyon to be able to get back to your bus within the given
duration. On the way back from the Canyon we stopped at Hoover Dam though I did
not find it much exciting, especially after the insight that that the amount of
concrete used to create the Hoover dam was equivalent to what would be required
to build a road from California to New York. The evening back in Vegas was free
for us to explore the city.
Our 6th day was a long
journey back to California. We reached Fresno in the evening where we parked ourselves
at the Holiday Inn. The long ride had been tiring and all of us called in early
as we had a lot to cover on our last day at Yosemite National Park.
Now a few more insights about the group tour:
- The tour will not have the same people
throughout. Based on what itineraries people have chosen you will have new co-
passengers every day. I only had 3 people who were with me throughout the 7
days.
- The guides are very helpful. If you have any doubts, questions, please ask them. Keep their phone number with you. There is a mandatory tip of $6 every day per passenger for the guide, but it’s truly worth it. They want everyone to experience as much as possible and if they are rushing you, it’s because there is more to see that they don’t want you to miss. Considering I was travelling alone, they specifically took care that I would not get lost and even when we reached back; the guide helped me strike a deal with the van operator to drop me to the hotel for much less than what the cab would have cost me.
- The bus stops nearly every couple of hours for nature breaks and food. They are huge Volvo buses and normally have half the seats occupied so there is plenty of space for everyone.
- They also stop a couple of times at factory outlet malls if you are interested in shopping.
- A couple of times they stopped for lunch at a Chinese buffet but it is not imposed. There are other joints there as well if you don’t want to have the buffet but it had so much variety and was such great value for money that everyone on our tour opted for it.
- When on a group tour, you need to have respect for other people’s time so that everyone enjoys the tour. While they are all strangers, treat it just like you would treat your family. I made some good friends on the tour which made the journey even more enjoyable. Some of them did not even speak English and I did not speak Chinese yet we could communicate and got along well.
Lastly I can only say that this
was one of the best decisions I took to travel across the west coast. It saved
me the hassle of researching and figuring out places to stay all by myself. The
quality of the services, stay and itinerary was great value for money as well
as very safe. If you are on your own and want to explore US, this is highly
recommended!
