USA Coast to Coast Classic, 12 Nights

Arrive at JFK, clear immigration — allow a good hour, the queues are real — and meet the group transfer to your hotel in Midtown or across the river in New Jersey. The evening is deliberately free to sleep off the flight; the ambitious walk to Times Square, which never looks better than on your first jet-lagged night.

The ferry from Battery Park to Liberty Island, with time on the island and the skyline view back across the harbour that every camera in the group will fill up on. The afternoon covers Wall Street, the Charging Bull, the 9/11 Memorial pools and a walk across a stretch of the Brooklyn Bridge.

A guided loop of the city's greatest hits: Fifth Avenue, St Patrick's Cathedral, Grand Central's ceiling, a proper walk in Central Park. At dusk you go up Top of the Rock, chosen over the Empire State deliberately — because from here the Empire State is IN your photograph.

Nothing scheduled, on purpose. The shoppers take the coach to Woodbury Common outlets; museum people split between the Met and the Natural History museum; families like the High Line and Chelsea Market. Our tour manager books Broadway tickets at face value for anyone who wants an evening show.

The Amtrak from Penn Station runs down the eastern seaboard in about three and a half hours — faster door to door than flying, and a better view. After check-in, an evening drive covers the White House, the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial lit up, which is the best hour Washington has.

A full day on the National Mall, where every Smithsonian museum is free. The Air and Space Museum — with the Wright Flyer and Apollo hardware — and the Natural History Museum are the two everyone should see; the guide sets meeting points and lets each family go at its own pace.

A morning flight crosses three time zones to Las Vegas — you land almost at the hour you took off, which the children will enjoy explaining to you. The evening walk down the Strip takes in the Bellagio fountains, the Venetian's canals and the Eiffel tower replica, all free and all absurd in the best way.

The day the whole trip is secretly about. A coach day-tour to the Grand Canyon West Rim, with a stop at the Hoover Dam on the way out. At the rim you get long, unhurried time at the viewpoints over the Colorado River; the glass Skywalk is bookable on the spot for those who want to stand on air.

A free day. The premium outlets are twenty minutes away; the pool earns its keep by ten in the morning; and the evening belongs to a show — our desk holds Cirque du Soleil allocations for the group at face value. The old Fremont Street light canopy downtown is the free alternative.

A short morning flight to the coast. The afternoon introduction drive climbs Twin Peaks for the city laid out below, winds down Lombard Street — the crookedest block in America — and ends at Fisherman's Wharf, where the sea lions at Pier 39 have been hogging the pontoons since 1989.

Across the Golden Gate Bridge with photo stops on both sides — the fog usually burns off by late morning, and the guide times the crossing for it. Lunch in Sausalito, the harbour village on the far side, then back by bay cruise past Alcatraz Island for the story of the prison nobody escaped from. Officially.

Ride a cable car end to end, walk Chinatown's Grant Avenue, or take the optional half-day coach south past Stanford University into Silicon Valley — the engineers in every Gujarati family will insist on the photograph at the Apple Park visitor centre. Pack tonight; the airport run is early.

Breakfast, check-out and the group transfer to SFO for the flight home via the Gulf or Europe. With the date line working against you, you land in India a day and a half later by the calendar — plan the office return accordingly, and blame us freely.