Catherine & Claire share their USA holiday story with us

Catherine and Claire travelled on our National Parks Discovery escorted tour. Here's what they had to say:

My friend Claire and I went on a trip to California and the national parks in July 2015. This was my fifth trip to the states and Claire's third trip. We chose this escorted tour trip to USA to celebrate our 50th birthdays and it included all the places we wanted to visit on our bucket list. This was my first escorted tour and at first I was a bit hesitant as I knew I would be travelling in a group of people  I didn't know but I needn't have worried as everyone was so friendly especially our driver and guide Alex, these people all helped to make our trip memorable.

I liked the fact that the itinerary of the trip meant that we travelled no longer than 2 1/2 hours without stopping for a visit to another exciting town or park and I liked the fact that I knew where we were heading at all times and the commentary from our guide was informative and amusing. The pace of the tour was quite hectic when visiting the parks as a lot of walking was required in very HOT weather, but the majestic sights and scenery made this worthwhile.

The highlights of this trip were flying over the Grand Canyon, seeing the sights of Las Vegas,  wandering along the piers in San Francisco , seeing the eruption of Old Faithful geyser at Yellowstone park and strolling down the Hollywood walk of fame and looking at the stars on the pavement. There were so many amazing moments but my WOW factors were, seeing my first glimpse of the Grand Canyon from our plane trip, the stunning Teton mountains, the breathtaking scenery in Yosemite National Park, spotting bears in Yellowstone and discovering Bryce Canyon, hadn't heard of this park before my visit but my goodness, it is AMAZING !!

My favourite place was San Francisco as it seemed so calm and quite compared to the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles and Las Vegas but there was still plenty to do and see.

This holiday more than exceeded my expectations due to the amount of WOW factor places we visited and the excellent services and help from our tour guide Alex, who went out of his way to make this trip so memorable by taking us on excursions not listed when he didn't have to give up his time but he knew we wanted to see the e.g. Hoover Dam and Bear World, thanks for that Alex, everyone appreciated it.

Before this trip I could only imagine what Vegas would be like and it was a lot busier and so much more OTT than I ever thought but definitely a must visit place.

The thing that the others on the tour found funny came at my misfortune/ embarrassment when we were so far from toilets in Yellowstone park, I had to find some hidden bushes, this amused everyone and I was then constantly asked if I needed to find some bushes at the other parks too. This shows how friendly we had all become.

We ate in a lot of nice places but the two that in my opinion were outstanding were Christopher's steak house and the Roof Restaurant buffet in the Joseph Smith Memorial building, both in Salt Lake City. It was not only the food that was excellent but the staff were so attentive and friendly. Also loved the huckleberry ice cream in Montana, that's a must try if you are there.

To anyone thinking of booking this type of holiday, please don't hesitate I enjoyed every minute from beginning to end and the 19 days flew past and I felt I was going home to soon. I. Would definitely use this company again  since every aspect of my trip went so smoothly and before departure I contacted company on a few occasions with questions and asking to make slight changes and nothing was a bother for the staff, who were polite, courteous and friendly at all times. In fact we enjoyed our trip so much we are planning to visit Some of these exciting places again next year. Go ahead guys book a trip and enjoy it as much as we did.

We would like to thank Catherine & Claire for sharing their story with us and hope to welcome you on another holiday soon..

If you would like to provide us with your own holiday story please contact [email protected]