1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?

The grand canyon and the camping and the group; the contrast between Las Vegas and the national parks.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?

Need to be fairly fit and not too fussy on food.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?

To a certain extent.

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?

The holiday was basically as indicated in the information sent. However, we felt the guide with us had rather too much to do. We felt that it would have been better for us and him if someone had shared the driving and other duties of his role since towards the end it was obvious to all that he was getting really tired. also although the camping was very educational and fun, perhaps a couple of nights in motels could have been slotted in as well towards the end of the holiday, again purely from a rest aspect, perhaps as an option that you could book as an extra in place of the planned camping. The children enjoyed it enormously and would go again tomorrow! Anywhere!

Read the operator's response here:

Thank you for your correspondence regarding the above tour. We note your comments regarding the duties required by the Tour Leader. We would like to take this opportunity to explain that it would certainly be the case that the role of a tour leader and the associated duties expected of them would not be appealing to everyone. The job is demanding and requires leaders to work long hours to extremely high standards. This will appeal to only a small minority and it is for this reason that our selection process is rigorous; the interview procedures and subsequent training programme are particularly intensive and the demands of the job are emphasised at every stage.

The co-founders of the company worked themselves as tour leaders and understand the satisfaction our tour leaders have of being employed in a career which offers responsibility, control and the excitement of meeting new people and working in different areas of the world. In developing Explore we have endeavoured to keep that motivation and challenge to the fore.

We would like to assure you that we have passed your comments onto our Operations Manger responsible for this tour. Each Tour Leader will have a de-brief meeting at the end of each tour, when they have the opportunity to discuss any concerns. If we feel that the duties required are too demanding then we will review the possibility of providing another guide for the tour.

Thank you for your suggestion to include some nights in a motel to provide a rest from camping. We have passed this onto our Operations Manager to consider for future tours. Thank you, once again, for taking the time to write as it is only with such constructive comments that we are able to monitor and hopefully improve all aspects of the tours we offer.