In August of 2023 I went with my friend on my third Contiki trip, this time it was LA to the Bay, exploring the American southwest.

It was such a great time, but of course, I’m here to share the good, the bad and the ugly.

Before we knew it, we were arriving at the last stop on our LA to the Bay Contiki trip – San Francisco. 

I’d never heard of Bass Lake before taking the LA to the Bay Contiki trip with my travel bestie, Sophie.

We’d be travelling from Las Vegas to Bass Lake, spending a night in a cabin, and then heading to Yosemite National Park for a day of hiking and gorgeous views.

I never really had a desire to go to Vegas, until I visited with our LA to the Bay Contiki trip.

Then I caught the Vegas bug and wanted to go back.

Getting to visit the Grand Canyon for a couple of days with my travel bestie and our LA to the Bay Contiki trip truly was an incredible opportunity.

I’d never thought about travelling to Arizona. And then it was a destination on our LA to the Bay Contiki trip.

Now it’s one of my favourite states, and I can’t wait to go back one day.

I’d never had the desire to go to San Diego before my LA to the Bay Contiki trip, but friends, I get it now.

We had met both travelling solo for 3 weeks across Canada, but instantly became close friends, and we knew we wanted to do it again.

So we looked at some overlapping bucket list destinations and chose to go on Contiki’s LA to the Bay trip together.

The Grand Canadian (now Ultimate Canada) 3-week journey across Canada was my second trip with Contiki. 

Vancouver would be the final stop on our cross-Canadian Contiki trip.

It had been a long three weeks, but it was full of adventure and I was really bummed that it was coming to an end. 

Banff was probably the stop on our cross-Canada Contiki trip that I was most looking forward to visiting.

It was somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit, but never got around to it. Now I’d be driving through National Parks and seeing iconic Canadian landscapes with other solo travellers.

As a person who doesn’t drive myself, I don’t know if I’d ever have had the chance to explore Jasper, if I didn’t go with my cross-Canada Contiki group. But the advantages of having our tour bus and a group of new friends to travel with were undeniable.

The drive from Whistler to Sun Peaks was a long but gorgeous one.

Our Contiki bus hit the road, and immediately I knew that day’s activity would be watching the scenery. We lost phone signal as soon as we drove into the Rocky Mountains, forcing everyone to talk to one another.

I was so excited when the plane landed in Vancouver and our Canadian Contiki tour would continue through the West Coast.

I’ve been to Vancouver and Victoria before, but was so looking forward to driving through the Rocky Mountains and seeing a whole other side to my country!

I actually loved being a tourist in my hometown of Toronto for a couple of days on our cross-country Canadian Contiki.

Some activities I would join the group, other times it was fun to take my friends on local-guided tours of neat areas.

When our Contiki bus pulled into Montreal for our cross-Canada tour in 2022, my plan was to take a Contiki break.

I’ve been to Montreal a handful of times with friends and work, so I felt quite comfortable there.

I’d visited Quebec City a couple of times before – once as a grade seven class trip, and once on a road trip with my grandparents when I was 20 years old. 

When I tell people I went on a Contiki trip across Canada in the summer of 2022, non-Canadians seem confused. “Aren’t you Canadian? Why would you take a Contiki in your own country?”

I’ll tell you about the trip logistics, so you can determine whether or not a European Contiki is the right travel style for you.

I don’t know if I’d ever tell anyone the entire story of what happened in Amsterdam. But I’ll give you the gist.