Booking the trip was so easy and I loved the pre-departure tips and checklist as well as being able to speak to people on my trip beforehand! Although the trip was really expensive, it allowed me to travel hassle-free after camp and pick a trek that suits me. The trek itself was incredible! I visited 15 states in 21 days and was lucky enough to have a great group of people. I chose a camping trek which suited me and thought the idea of the food kitty was perfect. The campsites were all lovely (bar one, which we only stayed in for one night) with showers, wifi, laundry and sometimes pools. We had a lot of free days to choose what we wanted to do, which was great since we didn't have to follow the group. My biggest let down was the tour leader. He focused a lot on drinking, making sure we always bought alcohol and sometimes left activities earlier than the group wanted so we could go back to the hostel/campsite and drink. The food kitty was not used how it was described to us- we were not given a choice whether to use food kitty or eat out or even a choice on where to eat out. Meals became very expensive since he chose very nice, but very expensive restaurants and we only made 5 dinners for the whole 21 day trek. There were many other complaints including unacceptable relationships with trekkers, staying up late drinking then driving us early in the morning, leaving drunk people on the floor to look after themselves, texting while driving and giving us very little information on things to do locally on our free days, particularly free things to do. The trek leader on the other group also regularly got lost (despite using google maps), got stuck in the sand (so the trekkers had to push the van out and lost an hour and a half of their day) and spoke badly about the other group. This review is not to put people off the trip, which was INCREDIBLE. I line danced in nashville, hiked the grand canyon, went on a party bus down the vegas strip and spent many evenings playing cards and drinking by the fire. This review is to make people aware of the negatives of my experience so they can consider it before booking. When reading reviews I found that people only included positives, whereas I wanted to have an inclusive review to consider before booking. Also, I hope that this review, and my complaint email will make trekamerica train/hire staff with more care.
Response from TrekAmerica:
Thank you for reviewing this tour. I am pleased to hear that you enjoyed the itinerary and were able to make the most of your time in the amazing locations visited on the Southern Sun. It is disappointing to hear that your tour leader did not provide the level service we expect at TrekAmerica.
Our expectation is that our tour leaders will help enhance the tour with the knowledge of the places visited, as well as suggestions for optional activities on offer in each location. It is good to hear that your tour leader chose to include themselves in activities in their free time but it sounds like, at times, they took this too far.
Please note we take any allegations of driving under the influence or driving dangerously very seriously.
The food kitty is managed by the tour leader and offers value by splitting the cost of communal meals across the tour. I am sorry to hear you felt this was not managed correctly and you had to eat out on a number of days.
It is good to hear that, despite the performance of the tour leader, you were still able to take wonderful memories way from the Southern Sun tour.
