I am looking at doing a Contiki tour late next year, and I am someone that stresses about what to pack WHEREEVER I go.
I found a thread in the general Contiki forum about what people wish they had brought on tour, and things they didn’t n need ect. But most of the posts where in regards to the European tours. So I thought it might be nice to start a discussion but for the USA tours.

SO if you have been on a USA Contiki what:
Do you wish you had of packed?
Couldn’t have lived without?
Brought with you but didn’t need?
And so on...
Post Away???

US tours are bus heavy so I wish I had packed a travel pillow and a bottle opener for all those room parties that spring up.

The rest you can buy as you go.

I agree with the bottle opener, we seemed mainly to do room parties and we were always chasing down the one person who had a bottle opener!

I dont go anywhere without my travel pillow so i was fine there.

I was happy that my mum convinced me to take an extensive first aid kit coz alota ppl were coming to me for stuff, and also my brother got food poisoning at the Grand Canyon, so all our pills came in handy then.

I couldnt have lived without my thermals (I went in winter)

And i really didnt need my dress that i packed, everyone says you need it for Las Vegas, but most girls on my tour just wore jeans and a nice top.

i did the eastern discovery in the summer. im glad i took:
- a posh dress for miami
- first aid kit. i did need to buy some bite cream cos i got bitten quite badly
- lots of shorts/vest tops
- clothes that can mix and match for going out. i took 2 skirts and just wore different vest tops
-plenty of memory cards for my camera.
-a few cheaper tops/shorts/underwear, so i could throw them away before i came home to save space for my huge shopping trip in new york that i did!

things i took and didnt need:
-clothes that i thought i'd wear but never did!
-hair straightners, my hair was straight for about 5mmins but went curly in the humidity!

things i should have taken:
-a beach towel. i ended up buying one from a shop on the beach. on a few stops the bus stopped at the beach for a few hours before going to the hotel so we couldnt use hotel towels. i would take one you dont mind leaving behind.
-more money, you can never have enough money, you will be surprised at how much you will spend on food, snacks and drinks for the bus etc.

im glad i did all the optionals, even if i wouldnt do them again. the only one i wouldnt recommend was the cooking school in new orleans. it was so boring and lasted forever, but im glad i did it otherwise i would have regreted it.

cant think of any more for now!

A travel Pillow is a great idea Im so glad I took mine! and a light jumper/sweater for the bus because the air con can get quite cool..

I really didn't need my straightner my roomie had one anyway and I didn'e even use it, it takes up much needed space same goes for hairdryers, most of the hotels will have one..

my packing tip is, pack the clothes you want then once your done HALF IT trust me, I didn't wear alot of the clothes I took cause I shopped and then I wanted to wear my new things lol I lived in my jeans but it was fairly cool when I went so pack according to the season..

Thanks for the tips guys.

I am shocking when it comes to packing, always over pack and consider things that are likely to not ever happen.

I love my hair straightener, but I really don't know if I should take it or not.

Also, where do most of you get your travel pillows from???

For the hairdryer and straightener I think if you use it everyday (or so) at home, then take it, maybe invest in a travel one. If it's something you use once in a while, leave it home.

Most hotels have irons, hairdryers, shampoos, shower caps, soap or have them available. If it's something you might use but not at that hotel, then take in case the next one doesn't have it. also, there are drug stores everywhere - they will have meds, makeup, food, and lots of other stuff you might need. There are also Target, WalMart, KMart all over the place so if you don't have or run out of stuff you can find it at one of these places. The grocery store also has a long list of non-food items too.

Debit cards and credit cards are accepted pretty much everywhere.

If you have an iphone or other like device maybe a tip calculator to make tipping easy.
Along the same line maybe a converter for temps and metric.