the Planning :
We decided to go in January - February because the weather would be most pleasant and it was convenient for our schedules. This left me plenty of time to research and plan our itinerary. Last time, in 2003, Mom and I had started a new travelling MO - we would spend only part of the time visiting relatives, and part of the time travelling to cool destinations outside the usual places - last time it was Karnataka, including Bangalore, Mysore, Belur, Halebid, and most memorably, Hampi.
This time, we decided the cool destination would be Kerala. There was no shortage of useful information about kerala tourism on the internet. It has become quite a popular tourist destination with the local government's encouragement, and there is pretty good infrastructure for travelling - eg plenty of hotels and decent roads. We're not the roughing it types, especially with Mom, and Danny the couch-potato who's never been outside the US. I decided we would have to see the backwaters on a houseboat, the mountain town of Munnar, and some beach location, all of which were supposed to be marvellous places to visit. I had read that the Kovalam area was getting kind of crowded and touristy, so I was thinking we'd go to Varkala, or some lesser known beach instead. I checked out some hotel web sites and was surprised to see that they were almost comparable to US hotel prices, often over $100 a night, not nearly as cheap as the places we'd stayed at in Karnataka a few years ago. I figured the internet rates were inflated for foreign tourists, and according to people on Indiamike, you can get much cheaper rates if you know where to look. I'd also always found the thought of staying in posh resorts in India kind of distasteful and pointless, defeating the purpose of experiencing India. I was hoping we could stay at some more down to earth, but clean and comfortable, place where we could easily experience the local culture. Mom suggested that I ask my uncle in India to suggest places.
Abu Mama took our request to a travel agency, and contrary to my intentions, they sent us recommendations for more expensive resort type hotels. I was seriously considering re-directing them to find us something a little humbler, but after looking into their recommendations a bit, I was seduced. They had scenic locations, comfortable rooms, nice restaurants - with alcohol! What the heck, why not splurge a bit to stay at a fancy place for once. It's certainly cheaper than anything comparable in the US or Europe. Who knows, we might even enjoy the spa treatments. I was most concerned that the resorts would be too isolated from local population, or snooty and discouraging guests from meeting local people. Once when we were staying at a nice, but not too posh resort place in Karnata, I tried to go for a walk in the rural surroundings. Shortly, a young man drove up to me on a scooter - he had been sent to guide me by the worried hotel manager who didn't think a tourist should be walking around in the village (which from my experience was populated by very nice, friendly people).
Anyway, we ended up creating an itinerary with our choices of hotels from their list. We would arrive in Mumbai late on Jan. 14, drive overnight to Pune, and spend two days at Abu Mama's. Then we'd drive back to the Mumbai airport on the 16'th to fly to Trivandrum, and drive to the Coconut Bay Beach Resort about 30 minutes away, a few miles away from Kovalam, to stay for 3 nights. Next we'd drive to Alleppy and spend 24 hours on a backwater houseboat cruise. Next, we'd drive to Munnar and spend two nights at the Tall Trees Resort, then drive to Cochin, spend a night at the Avenue Regent, then fly back to Mumbai. We would have a single car and driver with us for the whole trip. Yes, we would be spoiled American Tourists.
We decided to go in January - February because the weather would be most pleasant and it was convenient for our schedules. This left me plenty of time to research and plan our itinerary. Last time, in 2003, Mom and I had started a new travelling MO - we would spend only part of the time visiting relatives, and part of the time travelling to cool destinations outside the usual places - last time it was Karnataka, including Bangalore, Mysore, Belur, Halebid, and most memorably, Hampi.
This time, we decided the cool destination would be Kerala. There was no shortage of useful information about kerala tourism on the internet. It has become quite a popular tourist destination with the local government's encouragement, and there is pretty good infrastructure for travelling - eg plenty of hotels and decent roads. We're not the roughing it types, especially with Mom, and Danny the couch-potato who's never been outside the US. I decided we would have to see the backwaters on a houseboat, the mountain town of Munnar, and some beach location, all of which were supposed to be marvellous places to visit. I had read that the Kovalam area was getting kind of crowded and touristy, so I was thinking we'd go to Varkala, or some lesser known beach instead. I checked out some hotel web sites and was surprised to see that they were almost comparable to US hotel prices, often over $100 a night, not nearly as cheap as the places we'd stayed at in Karnataka a few years ago. I figured the internet rates were inflated for foreign tourists, and according to people on Indiamike, you can get much cheaper rates if you know where to look. I'd also always found the thought of staying in posh resorts in India kind of distasteful and pointless, defeating the purpose of experiencing India. I was hoping we could stay at some more down to earth, but clean and comfortable, place where we could easily experience the local culture. Mom suggested that I ask my uncle in India to suggest places.
Abu Mama took our request to a travel agency, and contrary to my intentions, they sent us recommendations for more expensive resort type hotels. I was seriously considering re-directing them to find us something a little humbler, but after looking into their recommendations a bit, I was seduced. They had scenic locations, comfortable rooms, nice restaurants - with alcohol! What the heck, why not splurge a bit to stay at a fancy place for once. It's certainly cheaper than anything comparable in the US or Europe. Who knows, we might even enjoy the spa treatments. I was most concerned that the resorts would be too isolated from local population, or snooty and discouraging guests from meeting local people. Once when we were staying at a nice, but not too posh resort place in Karnata, I tried to go for a walk in the rural surroundings. Shortly, a young man drove up to me on a scooter - he had been sent to guide me by the worried hotel manager who didn't think a tourist should be walking around in the village (which from my experience was populated by very nice, friendly people).
Anyway, we ended up creating an itinerary with our choices of hotels from their list. We would arrive in Mumbai late on Jan. 14, drive overnight to Pune, and spend two days at Abu Mama's. Then we'd drive back to the Mumbai airport on the 16'th to fly to Trivandrum, and drive to the Coconut Bay Beach Resort about 30 minutes away, a few miles away from Kovalam, to stay for 3 nights. Next we'd drive to Alleppy and spend 24 hours on a backwater houseboat cruise. Next, we'd drive to Munnar and spend two nights at the Tall Trees Resort, then drive to Cochin, spend a night at the Avenue Regent, then fly back to Mumbai. We would have a single car and driver with us for the whole trip. Yes, we would be spoiled American Tourists.
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