Mideast USA Tours & Trips

The trip was so enjoyable that I had to go back again in December haha! Niagara Falls is a one of a kind beauty!

Hello! To whoever may be reading this or considering doing this tour, I just wanted to say that yes, it's worth it but there are some caveats and serious considerations I would take into account. Firstly, it is quite a wild ride and lots of things happening but of course, that's what happens on such a short limited time. The benefits and highlights to this are that you do get to see some great things and a real quickstop of great places/monuments particularly with New York and Washington D.C. In Philadelphia, it's almost way too short (30 mins tops!) to enjoy it but at least in those two other major cities, you have a decent amount of time (washington could easily be a whole other day though). The accomodations are all great, with most surprisingly having breakfast included (sometimes even when we didn't expect it). It's a pretty well-run tour with some tight logistics that all managed to work out well in the end. However, I do want to add some constructive feedback for the future and it's part of why I'm tempted to give the tour 3 stars but since I still enjoyed myself from the vivid highlights, I'll leave it at 4 stars. But for those doing this tour, and for the tour operators please note: -I wish that communication was far more responsive beforehand in terms of understanding the logistics and timeframes a bit better. Though the site has a seemingly detailed itinerary brochure (which mostly matches), we didn't really receive a confirmed schedule/booking/meeting points and times until almost 2 days before. I think even the day before. It was kinda stressful to say the least. -There were times the operator/booking agent got back to me fairly quickly but other times not so much. I'm unsure if this is consistent with others but it could be hit or miss when it comes to communication. However, they were always incredibly friendly and did incredibly well to resolve our issues with some things. -Beware the additional fees involved. We were charged a fuel fee (that later was retracted back thankfully because it was added in after we had already paid for the tour). There are services fees involved and these are per day and per person and to me, not cheap and should really be included in the original price of the tour. I would have much preferred to have known the initial cost beforehand before paying for this later. But regardless, $15 USD per day per person is to me, highway robbery. -Though there's alot of optional activities, just be careful you dont get roped into doing one without really knowing about it. In washington, we were sort of following the group and got involved on a tour of the capitol and later we were charged for it. I was happy to pay for it as it really was incredible but it did feel a bit misleading and unless I missed this being explicitly told, I think somehow it should have been advertised better before we went in. -Niagara falls is only on the American side and it's not the beauty that you might think of it from the Canadian side. It's still nice but definitely not what we were expecting. -There is alot of time on the bus. Sometimes from 7am and then getting back at 9pm or even 10pm. We skipped the last day because of this but it is what you sign up for so just beware. I'd somehow want to break this up better or reduce lunch hours but that's just part of the tour package so just a heads up. Some days were incredibly long. -Our tour guide Sammy was incredibly friendly but I must admit as in the kindest way possible, he did have tendencies to be quite loud and shout alot. To me, he was a little bit intense but that's just his personality. I do wish the microphone on the bus was quieter and despite sometimes him changing his voice to accommodate me, for the most part it was just crazy loud and I resorted to my headphones. -It's still bilingual but there is an obvious influence towards the Chinese speaking demographic (particularly with some restaurants). Not too much of a problem as there's plenty of food going around and I love the culture but the main tour company is run for this market. Personally, I didn't mind it at all and they were all very friendly and lovely. It just made speaking english to others a bit difficult haha. -Oh, there is another tour company employed by InterTrips to run this. Which might explain the sometimes delays in communication. So, just a heads up. Overall, still an unbelievable trip and well worth it for the 6 days they manage to squeeze alot and I mean, alot in. It's not a relaxing trip. But it is a crazy adventure and hopefully one that you'll love. I certainly still did. Thank you Intertrips!!!

The tour guides were very helpful and informative. However, just with communication with the places we stayed as I believe the staff were not informed of the earlier breakfast one morning and one of the drivers that took us to join the next tour was driving dangerously fast! I know the tour were waiting for us but I think safety should be first. Perhaps bottled water could be provided also. Overall, a great tour. Thanks