Despite what you may read, we found that the exchange rates for money at the airport were better than anywhere else we encountered on the entire journey, so don't be afraid to change cash there (especially as the guide telling you where to exchange cash doesn't happen til Inle Lake and you'll definitely need kyats before that!).
Be aware that our initial Yangon part of our trip was stressful and disorganized, but that once we arrived into Heho, our proper guide was waiting, we got a proper introductory briefing, and all was fine thereafter. So don't get too stressed by the initial chaos - things are likely to improve rapidly. They seem to outsource the Yangon portion, and on our trip the Yangon guide was confused and spoke minimal English. There was an hour of chaos that could not be called a briefing by any stretch of the imagination. If it remains the same, my advice would be to make sure he has your plane tickets, and not rely on the tour for your evening entertainment (or cash exchange).
The flight from Yangon - Heho on day 2 was booked for 2pm, meaning we didn't get to the hotel until about 4:30pm and therefore the cycle on the first day clearly couldn't happen happen. Most people were unhappy about this, but we dumped our stuff, grabbed our bikes, and had a happy half hour self-guided cycle along the canal-side path.
At Inle Lake, visiting the Red Mountain Winery isn't on the tour, but it's open til 6 and you can get a tuk tuk there and back (about 15 mins). There's a pleasant bar with an open air section at the top of a hill overlooking the surrounding area - lovely for sunset.
Bring a wifi-enabled device: finding computers for the internet is a hassle; finding free wifi is not.
When visiting key sights, take a guidebook with you as the information our guide provided was minimal.
We always had hot water in our rooms but others repeatedly didn't - so if you don't, consider asking to change rooms.
At the rest stops, most snacks were candy-based so if you want fruit type items, you may want to bring your own (or be more explicit with the guides at the beginning). We had lovely bananas the first day, but not thereafter, for instance.
Be aware that the distances are estimates - due to the extreme heat, despite us setting off at 6:30am most days, we had to trim down the distances every day as it became far too hot by noon - and even so, some people got heat stroke. Keep hydrated! Note the bikes get a lot of punctures but they are rapidly repaired by the tour team, who follow behind usually on bikes and always in a van. The mountain bikes are quite good.
There are slightly more costs than you might expect so bring a little extra money, in small dollar denominations (we only brought $100s as I thought that's what I'd read on the trip notes, which was inconvenient). We were all expected to pay $30 for the kitty (for snacks, water, and teahouse stops), $50 for tips (which covered everyone but our main guide), $30-ish (for the main guide's tip at the end), and then, other than the optional things of course, and our meals, we had to pay $5 to enter the Inle Lake area and $10 to enter the Bagan area, which were bizarrely not covered in the tour despite being clearly non-optional (our hotels were in those areas!). Worth noting through that we spent less than the estimate for meals, and had we not opted for some fancy meals, we'd have spent much less. Pretty much every dish is under $5.
Your guide will try to direct you to certain restaurants, or to the hotel restaurant, which is fine if repetitive, but will also try to disuade you from others. The meals we had when we rebeliously went off-piste and used Lonely Planet and Tripadvisor were our best meals of the holiday. At Inle Lake, we loved the rather fancy but not especially expensive Viewpoint Restaurant (make a reservation), in Mandalay, Rainforest Cafe was simple but fantastic, in Bagan the Black Bamboo was casual but delicious, and in Yangon Monsoon was posh and excellent (again, make a reservation), and Traders upstairs bar was great for posh-for-Yangon food and drinks.
If you like white wine, we thought Aythaya was much better than Red Mountain.
The cycling is every day, and I found it more difficult than described, being a fairly weak cyclist (good cyclists zoomed on happily and had no such qualms about the heat and the hills and the distances - but mostly it was the intense heat, and the fact that the guide often underestimated the distances we were cycling, or decided to keep going, leaving me exhausted). I felt like I needed a rest day and regretted that I didn't follow some of the others who cycled to U Bein Bridge near Mandalay, then took a taxi back to the city and spent the day sightseeing alone while we cycled in the heat onwards. (note the U Bein bridge cycle didn't happen at sunrise - it was en route for the rest of our cycle so we got there around 8).
On the last day, the cycling finished around 9:30am, check out from the hotel was noon, and the bus to the airport was at 4pm. Plan an activity accordingly if you want - most of our group ended up sitting in the hotel lobby for hours.
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