not done the trip with archers,its nice to see they take in carmel and monterey with a relaxing time instead of most trips who just stop an hr or 2,its a shame they dont stop at hearst castle on the way,amazing place that,looking at the trip you should only have a couple of early starts with long travelling,you dont spend too much time in LA,all depends what you want to see whilst you over there,there shouldnt be too much walking if you dont want to do it,normally the coach will drop you off at all the attractions you visit,i notice alcatraz is included in the the trip which is very good,but its a long steep walk to the cell house when you get off the boat,there is a buggy/car which can take you up but can get busy,i wouldnt worry about the hotels on a coach tour only in there 1 or 2 nights...the 3 night stop at las vegas you are stopping in a decent position but depending on time of the year you go,your mum might find walking differcult in hot conditions..distances are deceiving in las vegas,if you do go enjoy your trip.

Hi there,

Thanks for the reply,
do you have any idea what cash to take? all dollar travellers cheques or mostly cheques and some dollars? I was a bit worried as you mostly have to carry all your spending money with you.
Especially in Vegas as not all hotels have a room safe

Thanks, jeanette

I would say a small amount of dollars cash and the rest in either USD travellers cheques or on a cash back in dollars SEE HERE

TC's are very easy to us in the US as you use them like cash to pay in shops and restaurants and get your change in cash. I prefer TC to a cash card as I could never keep track of how much was left on the card, but some people prefer them.

Most hotels have safes in the rooms, but if they are not in the room you can usually find them at reception. All Vegas hotels have safes and almost all are free to use.

The Tropicana is quite far south, but you can buy a 24 hour pass for the bus that runs up the strip for $7.

The Carlton in San Fran is OK and we walked everywhere from there, but may be slightly too far out for someone with walking difficulties so may be worth getting a taxi.

luci

Thanks for reply

I think i will do that, and have the safe either in the room or in reception

Jeanette

I know this isn't your trip but it may help with your thoughts on Archers. We did the parks and canyons 16 day trip last year and thought it was great, and we had a 2 day extension in Las Vegas. The hotels were all of a good middle of the road standard and would stay in every one again,the standard coach was very modern and had good leg room, trip had a very good director with lots of information, we are mid sixties but had no trouble keeping up or joining in ,but that has to relate to the person.Lots of people on the trip had been with Archers before and we are about to book a tour of Morocco with them.

Thanks for the reply,

I am either going with archers, or we might push the boat out and go with jetsave, which has a similar holiday and duration for about £80 to £100 more, but flying with British Airways!

We might also go with world traveller plus, but will have to see.

I was wondering if there is a big difference with the upgrade?

Thanks again,. jeanette

Hi Jeanette not want to put the damper on things but BA I believe are still very unsettled with rumours of them striking on the Royal Wedding day for one, or maybe Easter. I know no flights are guaranteed to be trouble free but maybe it's worth bearing this in mind.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/8251882/Len-McCluskey-would-not-pick-Easter-strike.html

The date i was thinking of was the 25th May? Do you still think there will be any trouble then?

Jeanette

No idea Jeanette - just something to bear in mind.

I went on a similar trip with Travelsphere 13 years ago and it was very tiring although very enjoyable.
It was their National parks tour and we travelled 4,700 in 14 days.
We did stay a couple of nights in 3 places but most mornings we had to get up quite early and put our suitcases out so they could be put on the coach.
We literally lived out of our suitcases and I seemed to spend each evening sorting out what we were going to wear the next day,while hubby watched TV!
The hotels they used were also used by other coach companies such as Titian etc and were quite nice but some were on the outskirts of the town where we had stopped.Most had restaurants but we did prefer to walk into the town for our evening meal.
I dont know if your mother would get tired because some of the places we visited involved quite a bit of walking.
We travelled with Northwest Airlines from Gatwick.

Thanks for the reply,

Was also thinking that it might be a bit tiring, and you have also to live out of your suitcase a lot!!!

So now might be looking at a two centre holiday in San Francisco and las Vegas, 7 night in each, then we can do how many trips as we want

Jeanette

Just My View This....dont think you need to book 7 nights for san francisco i reckon how expensive the city is that is too many nights you could book up a day trip with an hotel which takes you to carmel etc...so that would be 1 full day...i reckon really all you need is 4 nights in san francisco....have you thought of a few nights in LA to finish of holiday...say 4 nights SF,6 nights vegas,4 nights LA...just my view thats all,i know some on here love las vegas and some go for 2 weeks.but 4 nights is enough for me,but if you havent gone before 6-7 nights always something to do.

thanks

I will have to think of that, it sounds good, but as i am taking my mother who is 76, she wanted to have a break between day trips, so the holiday wouldn't be as tiring.

thanks again, Jeanette

Jeanette,Do you particularly want to go to America?
My cousin did a coach tour of Italy last year and she said it was better than the American ones as you dont travel great distances between towns.It will be a shorter flight obviously for your mother and It will also be cheaper for insurance as travel insurance for the USA is very expensive for anyone over 65.

Why not do SF/LA/LV but drive yourself instead of going by coach? It will be more expensive because of the car rental and having to pay for gas but there are some advantages:

1) You can make your own timetable... take your time at one place if you like it, or leave earlier if you prefer.
2) You aren't tied to wherever the coach is scheduled to take you.
3) It will be quicker travelling between cities. I realize we're still talking about a 6-7 hr drive between LA and San Francisco (or 4 hours between LA and Vegas...in theory...) but a coach will take even longer than that. At least if you are driving, you can stop whenever you want and aren't cooped up with a bunch of strangers.

Alternatively, if you don't want to drive, you could just book flights between SF/LA/LV. Just a thought!

Thanks everyone,

You have given me loads to think about.

Will have to look at everything and see.

Jeanette