Trek America is for 18-38 years old and Grand American Adventure is for any age as long as over 18 years old except family tours. Trek America is known for a camping tour operator but a half of the tours are mixed of camping and hotel stay depending on the places and circumstances. Now they have BLT which means a Budget Lodge Tour as well. Their repeat passengers became over 38 years old and have family, so they started Grand American Adventure used to call Footloose. They use better van and camping equipment. They also have more lodge tours. My interest in Grand American Adventure tours is their hiking tours. It’s not only just for a few hours as an optional tour like most of the Trek America tours do. Those hiking tours have 2 guides and can be divided two groups and have a different level of hikes.
A good friend of mine used to work for Trek America and he used to be a tour leader. I think all the staffs in the office are also ex-tour leaders so they know well. They use American leaders for North American tours. They have to pass hard training and everybody is so reliable & tough but funny. I had a chance to hear all the stories from my friend as well as his co-workers. I visited him a couple of times in London when he was working in UK office and we went out with his co-workers. It was fun to hear the story of their trips.
One of the guides, he seems to be a quite crazy guy and love party. But no matter how much he drinks at night with passengers at the camp, on the next morning, he wakes up early and get some milk for passengers. My friend was the best tour leader in the company because he is not only funny & reliable but also he has a great sense of observation and looks after people. One time he had a Japanese girl who was very shy and could not mingle with others. One day he saw she was wearing a volleyball tournament T-shirt. So he got a volleyball from the store and set up a game among the passengers. After that, she was popular in a group and enjoyed her trip.
This kind of story goes on and on. Actually I have never taken Trek America tour before. I had a chance but my boss did not allow me to take time off ( It was 10days trip and he said it is too long! It’s a Japanese travel company. If this is a Canadian company, they would allow me ) so I could not go.. But I feel like I have been on many tours because of these stories and the feedback from my clients. Well, as a matter of fact, my dream may come true this year! I am planning to take a tour goes around Grand Canyon in September or October. With the tour goes to Grand Canyon area, you can do hiking and you have a chance to stay at a Hogan and a Ranch to experience the life of cowboy or to learn Indian culture. Plus isn’t it nice to wake up with the view of Monument Valley from the tent ?? Also I love to see the Cirque Du Soleil show in Las Vegas. I saw ” O ” last time. I want to see ” KA ” next time!!
Many Canadian and American are not interested in this tour but I think anybody can enjoy it. Especially somebody does not have a car. A public bus does not go to the many places they visit. Optional tours are expensive from the each cities to go outside of the town. Many European, Aussie & Kiwis are joining on this tour. So it’s like an international travel in own country.
