Hi Everyone
My husband and I were on the March Peru trip and I wanted to thank everyone for their comments and trip reports. I don't have time to write a full trippie, but wanted to give back to the DIS community, so here are some thoughts and also some tips for those going in the upcoming months.
Firstly- What an Amazing trip. Just Wow. If you are thinking of booking, just book it! We are a couple in our late 20's and like some of the other posters in this thread, we were a little hesitant of doing an organized group tour. We are used to planning and travelling by ourselves. We fell in love with the itinerary and reviews of this trip and that is why we booked. Well, it did not disappoint- the guides are wonderful at making sure everyone is involved and as strange and cliche as it sounds, we did feel like one big family at the end.
Ok, onto the trip itself:
Our group- There were 22 of us, made up of 6 families. We had a great mix of ages- I can go into this in more detail if it helps, but we had 6 junior adventurers (under 12's) as well as some older teens (18ish) and another girl in her 20s, like us. We also had two sisters travelling together who were in their 50s/60s. The children were well behaved and it was fun having the mix of ages.
Our guides were Mike Hague and Rudy. They were both superb! Funny, friendly and always upbeat. Rudy is doing several more Peru trips this year, so for those doing the trip in 2015, he may be your guide. Ask him lots of questions- he really is a local expert!
Airport- We had read Bobo's trip report several times (thank you
) so we were a little concerned about finding the person with the welcome sign at the airport. Our lady was directly in front of us, as we walked our of the baggage area. She had a sign with 'ABD' and our names. No need to walk through the crowds. Hopefully this is the same for others going.
Pre-day- We had a pre-day, which I highly recommend if you can. The pace of the trip is fast and it involves several very early starts. My understanding is that most USA flights land in Lima around 9pm at night. It took us a good few hours to get through immigration, collect our bags (we then had to put them through a security scanner again before we left- we didn't know this, so a heads up to those going) and get to the hotel, so it was 1am when we made it to our room. Lima is a beautiful city, so we woke up late the next day, relaxed, explored and took it easy on our pre-day. We met in the lobby the following day at 6am for our flight to Cusco. Only one family flew in the night before and like us didn't make it to their rooms until 1am. They had 4 hours sleep, which is not ideal.
Almost everyone in our trip suffered from altitude or travellers sickness at some point. We took Diamox and were fine. Things that helped us were drinking lots of water, as well as the coca tea which was freely available throughout the trip. Around day 3, my husband and I both suffered from diarrhea. We have no idea what caused it and it remained with us for the rest of the trip. Others in the group also suffered and our guides told us that this is common for visitors to Peru (different foods?). We took Imodium and painkillers which really helped and we didn't miss any days. We underestimated this when packing, so make sure you bring these. I also wished I had packed some saltines/ crackers, as well as those sachets with electrolytes in them, for the days that we didn't feel 100%. Whilst we are on the subject, bring sunscreen and insect repellent. Wear them every day, even if you don't think you need it! We did this after following advice from this thread. However, some of our group got very sunburnt and one person was bit by a bug and needed a shot to make the swelling go down.
Food- on the trip was incredible. 5 star meals, especially at Sol y Luna. We were stuffed every night.
Hotels- All three were amazing. Again, 5 star hotels and we felt like royalty in all of them. They all had plenty of bottled water, shampoo, conditioner etc. hair dryers and plenty of towels.
Excursions- We loved them all! Great mix of culture, exploring and fun things. When the children looked as if they were beginning to switch off, one of the guides would get them involved in something else, so the adults could learn about the sites in more detail. My husband is a history buff and felt the guides were brilliant.
Machu Picchu- Simply incredible! Everything was perfect and seamless. Again, we had read Bobo's trip report and based on her advice, we did not hike to the moon gate. This was the best advice! We were the only people who did not do the hike, so we had the local guide (a happy, knowledgable man called Diante) all to ourselves. We basically had our own private tour guide for 3 hours- it was one of the highlights of our trip. In the morning, you only get to see a small part of the site, so we still had plenty to see in the afternoon. We also went to the guardhouse in the afternoon, where you take the classic photo. Those who went to the moongate, missed out on the guardhouse and the rest of the ruins, as there was not enough time afterwards.
Postday- We booked an extra night at the end of the trip, as we weren't sure how fast paced the trip would be. We didn't really need this day and would have been happy to fly back at the end of the trip. The pace of the trip changed quite dramatically when we moved to Cusco, it was more relaxing and we had much more free time.
Disney magic- There are several disney references throughout the trip, but it was subtle. It was more about having a great experience and we really did! I am not going to ruin it, but we had several small surprises
Please let me know if you have any other questions. I am happy to help!
Tammy
Most larger hospitals have a Travel Clinic set up to give vaccinations needed for the area you are to visit. They usually are listed under the Infectious Disease subspecialty dept.
