USA Western Dream

USA

The United States of America is a melting pot of cultures all thrown together 200 odd years ago by the mass immigration to the ‘New World’ by pretty much everyone; Europeans, Asians, South Americans and so on. Throw in the customs of the African Americans brought over by the slave trade and the Native Americans and you’ve got the world’s current super-power.

Made up of 50 states including Alaska and Hawaii the USA is pretty huge! With this hugeness comes a whole variety of geological features, for example, the Great Lakes in the North, the desert of Nevada, the Grand Canyon, the rolling prairies of the Midwest, the Rocky Mountains and the subtropical marshlands of the Everglades in Florida. You have a bit of everything in the USA- including the most famous and cosmopolitan cities New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Miami, breathtaking National Parks- Yosemite and Yellowstone, right down to the quaint colonial towns and low populous central and Midwest states full of ranches and farms. You can get involved or you can get away, there really is something for everyone and oddly enough because American Culture is so thoroughly known around the world, its all bound to be somewhat familiar. Why not explore this continent a little further and find something a bit different?

Time
The USA has four time zones (not including Hawaii and Alaska) all of which are behind the Greenwich Mean Time. They are:

• Eastern time; five hours behind GMT (New York)
• Central time; six hours behind GMT (Chicago, Texas)
• Mountain time; seven hours behind GMT (Rocky Mountains, Southwest)
• Pacific time; eight hours behind GMT (California, Nevada)

Don’t forget to take Daylight Saving Time into account from mid-March to early November.

Getting There

You should arrange your flight to arrive at San Francisco, and your return flight should be arranged from Los Angeles.

Programme Changes
Please note that all tours are subject to change up to eight weeks before the date of travel. It is advisable that you do not book flights or extra nights at hotels until eight weeks before travel. If you do choose to book flights or hotels you will be liable for any changes that need to be made if the tour dates or hotels change.

Climate

This is really dependent on where you are! Generally though, the temperature throughout the USA is temperate. As a general rule it is hotter the farther south you go (you can still go to the beach in Florida and Southern California in the winter!) with more extreme weather the further North and the further from the coast you are. The USA encompasses all six of the major climate zones from polar through to tropical humid- the only country in the world that does.