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| - I did the Grand Deluxe Tour on an airplane. It was worth the money for sure.
I chose the 7-8 AM slot, which meant catching a 4:45 AM shuttle. We picked up a few more people, and the driver had to wait 15 minutes for a family to show up. Once we found them, we all boarded a bigger bus to Boulder City airport, which was a 30 minute drive. Then when we got there, we waited. I got a breakfast burrito. We eventually filed onto a small plane. The seats were assigned based on some pre-built list. Even though I checked in last for my plane, I still got a mid-plane window seat. This might have been because I reserved weeks earlier.
The flight was about an hour. The sun was just rising which was beautiful. We were out on the tarmac when the sky was still twilight-blue, but flying with the sun. The headphones had an awful volume and tinniness, but the view was beautiful. My ears hurt a little from the pressure but what can you do? We flew over the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, and watched the landscape transition from red clfifs to scrubby desert to snowy pines. When we landed, it looked like Lake Tahoe.
We waited briefly at the airport before boarding our shuttles. My tour guide was one of the nicest people in the world. Gosh. Seriously. He was so happy to be doing this job, like showing people the Grand Canyon and seeing it every day was the biggest privilege of his life. I'm from NYC so this kind of genuine sincerity is rare. He offered to take some pics of me since I was traveling alone, as did another solo traveler. He chitchatted with us, was very friendly, just really a nice guy.
We drove about 15 minutes to the Grand Canyon with a little explanation about the town, the wildlife, the location. We saw some mule deer along the way, just crossing the road! When we arrived, we had 1 hour at Bright Angel Lodge. We received breakfast - orange juice, a banana muffin, yogurt, and a granola bar. 1 hour went by fast. There were several buildings, gift shops, and... the view of the Grand Canyon!
A squirrel tried to climb into my purse to steal my muffin. All the warnings are true. What irritated me is that tourists were awwing and taking photos, and I was trying to get him out of my purse with my tripod. They were RIGHT in the squirrel's face, inches away, and I was afraid if I poked him too hard, he'd attack them (and he had the attack stance). I really didn't want him in my purse, though, so I was stuck. Please take the warnings about wild life seriously.
After an hour (with a 10 minute buffer for late people), we drove a few minutes over to Mather Point. This was much better than Bright Angel's Landing, because the view was SO wide. It was truly stunning. We had about 50 minutes at this location.
Then we were done. Until we saw.. the elk! They were just sitting in the woods, calm as could be. We stopped for a minute to take pictures from the van. I've never seen one so close before in the wild.
Then we drove back to the airport, waited our turn, and then we flew back. Every single person except me and one younger man fell asleep. It had been a long day! We waited for a bus to take us back to Vegas and I was back in my hotel by 1-1:30.
For a bit over $200, I saved a 10 hour drive, got to meet some friendly people, saw elk up close, fought off a squirrel, and saw the Grand Canyon. I've traveled extensively, and I had just seen the Valley of Fire and Zion earlier that week, so the Grand Canyon wasn't worth an overnight stay to me. I think this tour offered the perfect amount of time - 2 hours of private time to understand its immensity, plus some time with a guide. 5 stars for convenience, all the way.
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