For first time travelers to the US and Canada, this tour is an amazing option to get a grasp of the culture and attractions the two countries have to offer. Larry (tour guide) was excellent! He really knows about his stuff and is always willing to accommodate any of your concerns. He's also willing to answer any questions you have regarding anything (and I mean anything, regardless of whether your question involves the tour or not). However, I would not recommend this tour to those which struggle to walk moderate distances and those who find stairs difficult as this tour heavily involves these activities. Also, it is also important to keep in mind that walking in the pouring rain is inevitable so better to come prepared and bring a waterproof jacket, a cap, an umbrella and shoes which can get wet. With regards to meals, there isn't really a lot of options for breakfast and their meals severely lack vegetables, but they do offer fruits. Food servings in America is excessive as compared to those in Asian countries so it would be best to just share food if you don't have a big appetite, so as to not be wasteful. I also recommend bringing your own refillable water bottle because most of the places have water refilling stations if you keep your eye out for them. Refilling water in hotels during breakfast is also an option.
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.
Saw so many cool sights and places and travelled through so many states it was amazing. Everything was planned really well and had a great group of people and amazing tour guide (Mike Manship) that made it so much better. Loved Mike’s added entertainment on the bus and historical info for each place we went