Trek America

mias

Myself and two friends are planning to go on trek america from LA to New York in July, I am just wondering did anyone ever go on a trek, if so what are they like - people, craic, travel?? Or would we be better to go cross country ourselves?

paulcr

What's a trek? Is it a planned trip by an agency? What's craic?

Sorry if these questions are stupid....am american.

Fionn_McCool

A trek basically means, going from town to town, on there way from L.A to NY

craic means, a good time

paulcr

Why would they asking about going cross country by themselves then?

mias

sorry if I didn't explain myself properly - trek america is a company that does bus tours - www.trekamerica.com, so basically I it would involve being holed up in a bus with 13 other people for three weeks when we travel. We're thinking that it will be a good way to meet others, but just want to know what others experiences were like!

paulcr

mias wrote:

sorry if I didn't explain myself properly - trek america is a company that does bus tours - www.trekamerica.com, so basically I it would involve being holed up in a bus with 13 other people for three weeks when we travel. We're thinking that it will be a good way to meet others, but just want to know what others experiences were like!

Do you mean 13 other people from Ireland?

It would be safer....I'm thinking of the larger cities. Smaller towns etc. you wouldn't have any problems. US is a fairly large country and three weeks isn't that much time to see everthing between NY and LA. But you'd make better time get from NY to LA.

San Francisco is beautiful, San Antonio has a very nice downtown area and is fairly closer to Mexico to get a nice feel for that country. St. Louis has the arch which is always nice to see. Minneapolis is beautiful in the summer and the guys/gals are very easy on the eyes.

If you could do it yourself it would be great...how old are you (if you don't mind)?

Did they give you an itinerary?

The_Thing

Hi mias,

I've just spotted this thread and decided to reply as I've been on three of these trips with Trek America and I can honestly say I had the time of my life.

For starters there will be an American driver and 10 to 12 other people which will be split roughly 50% male and female.
The ages of the people usually range from early twenty to early thirties with the majority of them being from Europe, Australia, and some from England.

My three trips took place in:

'93 (4 weeks) http://www.trekamerica.com/tours/pdl.html
'95 and '96 (3 weeks) http://www.trekamerica.com/tours/rmh.html

and took in most of the states west of the Rocky mountains.
You'll know from the brochure or Trek's website that it is an adventure holiday you are going on and as such you and your friends will get out of the trip what you put into it. It is a very active and rewarding type of holiday - no lying around wasting the day.

There will be a rota over four nights where several people cook dinner for everyone, several others wash up, and several others will clean the minibus, while the others will have that night off.
Those who cooked the first night will wash up the second night and clean the van on the third night and so on. On most mornings everyone is expected to be up around 7:30 to get a good start. During stop-overs in the cities everybody will go to a resturant for dinner each night.

Some of the highlights of my trips include hiking to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite, white water rafting on the Snake river, hiking in YellowStone, mountain biking and helicopter ride over the canyons in Moab, Utah, overnight horseback ride with the Navajo indians in Monument valley, hiking down to the river in the Grand Canyon, and sky diving in Las vegas.

You mention your plan is to travel from coast to coast, how long will that take? 3 or 4 weeks?
Personally my only concern would be that perhaps that might be a little too short a time to try and cram as much into the trip as possible and still having to travel to the next stop but overall I would definitely reccomend a trek to anyone with a spirit of adventure, and it's a great way to meet members of the opposite sex with whom you'll have something in common. Go for it you lucky so and so!!!

All the best, regards,

The Thing.

mias

Thanks for all the info the thing! It sounds great. The brochure makes it sound fantastic - we are hoping to go on the southern sun trek http://www.trekamerica.com/tours/sl.html , the major concern at the mo is exactly that three weeks is too short a time to cover all that ground! What was the travelling like on the other treks? our major worry is that we will be stuck on a bus for hours on end.

Thanks for the tips Paulcr, I'll be 22 by the time I go on the trip. And as you probably get from the thing's post it will be people from all over the world going on the trip. The only reason we are planning to start in LA instead of NY, is because we know some people in NY and are hoping to just chill there for a week at the end! Unfortunately if we go on the trip we won't get a chance to see San Fran- but I suppose there is always the next time. The itineray is roughly:
Washington DC
Washington DC
Tennessee
Alabama
New Orleans (H)
New Orleans (H)
Texas
San Antonio
San Antonio
Del Rio
Carlsbad NP
Arizona/ New Mexico
Monument Valley
Grand Canyon NP
Grand Canyon NP
Lake Powell
Zion NP
Las Vegas (H)
Las Vegas (H)
Disneyland
Los Angeles
Tour also departs from Los Angeles.

The_Thing

Hi mias,

Having looked at your planned trek from the link you provided it is almost definitely too ambitious for three weeks. I would advise you and your friends to look at some of the other shorter treks that are on offer and pick one that suits your requirements. Have you considered getting an internal flight from somewhere on the west coast to NY after finishing a trek?

On my 2nd and 3rd treks I flew from Dublin to NY, and on to Seattle via Chicago, Trekked from Seatlle to LA on the Rocky Mountain High trip and had a few days in LA before flying out of LAX to NY where I had a few more days before coming home.

I remember actually having a conversation with the Trek leader on my third trip about some of the Treks being too ambitious for the time alloted. He agreed with me and went on to say that he was planning to start his own adventure company that would take things at a slower pace - I don't know if he ever did or not.

Bear in mind too that the southern states will be very hot at that time of year, many Americans travel north up into Canada for the summer months and then return south in the winter time so having to spend a lot of time travelling in that heat will be trying to say the least.

Regards,

The Thing

jank

Man i would love to do one of them. My dream is to travel to ALL 50 american states. Needless to say it would cost abit but if I was to do it id rent/buy and camper van with a few of my mates and away we go, at our pace and our time. Any tips and ideas on the cost of it all?

The_Thing

Hi jank,

On several occasions in trailer parks where we had stopped over for the night I saw RV's (camper vans) - some of them are a big as a bus - with a map of the US depicting the state boundaries on their sides with the slogan SEE ALL OF AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL written underneath. The idea was that as the owners of the RV travelled around the country they would colour in the states they had visited which I thought was a nice way of documenting their travels.

On a Trek admissions to the national parks are included in the Trek price, I might be wrong but I think that the entrance fee to YellowStone was around $35 - $40 per day if going privately when I was there last.

I never looked into hiring or buying a camper van when I was there but I've just googled and found this:
http://www.cruiseamerica.com/rv_rentals/faq/default.asp#4

jank

Yea cheers found out about this trek http://www.trekamerica.com/tours/tl.html

Looks great but I think it would be exhausitng. Would like to try out a small one for 5-7 days first before id consider something so big

The_Thing

Hi folks, have a look @ http://www.trekamerica.com/expax.html for other peoples experiences.

mias

cheers for the info the thing, still looking into it at the moment, but I can't wait to head off on some trek over the summer! It's really good looking at everyone else's experiences!

I see what you are saying about the camper van though jank, that would be deadly but the driving would kill me in the states! I think going on a trek will be really good for meeting loads of others - which I think is the best part of going on hols! Although I suppose we are taking a chance on that too - hopefully everyone will get along!