hi everyone!

so as i said before, me (20) and my brother (tyler, 18) are doing this tour, and we are also booked on LA to the bay on jan 7 !

It would be awesome to talk to anyone before the tour, especially anyone from melbourne, to get to know people before we leave!

Btw, we have booked into the marrekech (lol i cant spell that) for the night before the tour starts, we did it a couple of months ago through our travel agent!

If anyone wants to talk add us on myspace or facebook:

katie_bear89@hotmail.com katie - 20
shkipp_1@hotmail.com tyler - 18

cheers

lol i spelt my bro's email addy wrong:

shkippy_1@hotmail.com

WOOPS!

Hi, I am booked onto this tour. My name is James, I am 23 from London. Am really looking forward to it.

Sarah, I have not booked into the Contiki hotel before or after the trip as they were unable to get me a price when I was booking the trip.
I ended up booking direct with BA after alot of searching. Who my flights are with as their prices were better than the rates I was getting direct though hotels. As to get sensible priced flights I have to stay an extra night at the start and end of trip.

The 2 hotels I am using are called New Yorker and Park central I had never heard of either hotel but they seemed well reviewed online.

My email address is james.m.arnold@gmail.com.

Hi James, thanks for responding
I think you might be the first non-aussie to post here (apologies to anybody I overlooked).
I did some research and found I can get a room independantly at the Marrakech, but it would be $300 for the night. I decided to stay at the HI hostel 1 block away instead for about a 10th of that
It seems decent enough, especially considering I'll probably just sleep there and then leave.

what is everybody else doing for pre/post tour accomodation?

cheers
Sarah

Hi Katie, I just noticed you siad it will be your birthday. I will have a birthday while on tour as well. What date is yours?
Sarah

Hi Sarah,

My birthday is actually between my two tours! its on Jan 5th, so ill be in anaheim for it! when's yours, we'll have to have a big night out for it!

btw did you see someones post in the advice section, apparently the merrakech still have a bed bug problem, they had a really bad one a while back, but hopefully they fix it up by the time we get there!!

Katie

Hi everyone!

I'm also booked on this tour - so excited! My name's Helen, I'm 25 from Sydney. Like a few other people on this forum, I'm also doing LA to the Bay, but I'm on the December 10th tour. Doing Disneyland after that, then touring around the North-East on my own for a few days before hitting NY on the 29th.

I'm staying at the Marrakech the night before as I arranged it through Contiki at the time of booking. As for post-tour, I should hopefully be flying out of NY the morning the tour finishes. Want to spend a few days in Hawaii on my way back to Sydney.

Helen

Hi Katie,
Yeah I hope they fix it too. The idea of bed bugs freaks me out!

My b'day is on Dec 31, so it will be a big one for sure.

Only 5 months to go now...but who's counting -LOL

Sarah

Hey Sarah,
We booked a hotel for the night before, but it wasn't a contiki one. Lol i'd like to limit my time with the bed bugs if I can!! haha it's going to be hillarious.. I read so many view, and about 90% of the people said there were bed bugs, soo maybe we should prepare 4 that!!
Can't waitt!!!

(by the way, if anyone is really keen, like me, there's a facebook group called new york new year 2008/2009 if you wanna add). =]

Sounds like you have found a good place to stay there Sarah.

Is useful to know the name of the hotel as I did not know the name until I read it here.

Hi everyone.

My soon to be husband and I are doing the New York New Year tour as well as part of our honeymoon. Really looking forward to meeting new people and sharing our trip with others! We are also doing the Southern Adventure tour starting in New Orleans on the 6th January. These are just two of the things we are doing as part of our 6 week honeymoon. We also are staying at the Marrakech for 2 nights prior to our tour, our travel agent is trying to organise some Broadway shows for us so that we can make the most of our time in NY!
We are also Australian, living in Tom Price, WA (it's up north in the Pilbara).
So yeah, that's a bit about us. Can't wait for it all to come around and to get to meet all of you :-)

Hi everyone,

My wife Michelle and I are doing this tour after a few other bits and pieces. Been to New York once before and looking forward to seeing it again.
When I booked it we were told by Contiki that the Marrakesh had no availability the night before the tour, but when I contacted the hotel direct, they did have rooms. Not sure what that's about? Anyway, hope that bed bug problem is well and truly sorted before we get there!
Can't wait to meet everyone....

Phil

Hi Phil,

The reason contiki might have said they were full but not the hotel is because contiki has a certain amount of rooms prearranged with them at a cheaper cost!! (or thats how i understand it anyways!)

definately looking forward to the trip!

Katie

Me!! My name is Emma, I'm 24 and I'll be doing this tour. I'm from Melbourne too, and doing the reverse of what most of you are, heading to San Fran and L.A. after this tour so I'll be asking you all for hints and tips!!
Definitely counting down as well!

Hey Emma!

Good to hear another person on board!

there's a few people from melbourne

are you doing a tour or anything in LA - what dates are you there? im there straight after the tour till the 7th until my next tour starts !

so cant wait!