I would recommend going to Washington - it's a beautiful city with so much to see. It was highly uncomfortable watching him approach each group in turn, knowing that he was basically pushing for money. He noted that since we'd had 2 drivers, we must tip BOTH of them, AND himself. The end of the tour was most awkward, as while most of is dozed or tried to relax, the guide made his steady way down the aisle of the bus asking for tips. By the end of the night, said children had made such a mess that it was impossible to leave the bus without getting dirty ourselves. I'm sure this is illegal, but no mention was made of this behaviour. Some guests had very small children, and while they were given child seats to use, the children did not sit in them at all, instead roaming the bus freely. This was highly unprofessional, and downright creepy. This was further exacerbated by the fact that, on "reprimanding" these people, the guide proceeded to buy their children small favours, ice cream and lollies. These incidents were met with jokes by the guide. Also, the guide was not particularly firm with some customers who were late in returning from activities, which meant that the same people were late on multiple occasions, holding up the entire group and lengthening our trip. Directions were poor, and meant that we just stopped listening. When leaving the bus, the tour guide would set off without waiting for those of us who were nearer the back, and on more than one occasion this meant that we were lost without a guide, and did not know the meeting points and times for the group. This, coupled with the monotonous drone of the tour guide (who, every half our or so, would mention that he'd "let us rest" before launching into lengthy descriptions of what we would see on the tour) made for an uncomfortable journey wherein sleep was actively prevented, and relaxation was impossible. The drive itself is long, and while gray line boasts of wifi it is pretty nonexistent on the bus. The tour starts at 7am departing New York, and documentation lists the run time as 13 hours by the end of our tour we had been with the bus for 15 hours. Our tour guide was Michael, and he was the single worst part of this tour, from beginning to end. Washington DC day tour from New York At best, I can say that this tour was good DESPITE the efforts of the tour guide. Overall this was a fantastic way to see and learn about the city on our timeline. We usually did not have to wait too long at the stops for a bus to show up. We wasted about half an hour trying to wait and see if anyone would show up the answer was no they never did. How can we have a free bike when you have to use your credit card. It is self service but to do that you have to use a credit card. Needless to say when we walked about 2 blocks there was the bikes but no way to get them. We got off along with another couple at the location they told us, followed the guides instructions as to where to pick the bikes up plus it was on our receipt. They also said this package included a free bike rental near Central Park. Yes some guides were better than others and easier to understand but they did a good job. Another nice part of this was every time we got off to visit something and got back on we never had the same guide and each one would expand on something that the other ones did not. We bought the 48 hour package which included Uptown Loop, Downtown Loop, Brooklyn Loop, Bronx Loop and Night Tour for $59.00 a person. We wanted to see as much as possible and be able to get off and on at points of interest. After reading reviews we felt that the Gray Line would work best for us. This was our first time visiting New York City.
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