Holiday Conundrum : Where to go?!

Come March and most families with children start looking for holiday options around the world. Specially for India, where most schools declare holidays for session change. In a smaller world, all wives wish to travel "abroad".

While the well heeled will travel to the popular choices like switzerland, south africa, European destinations like Italy, France, Egypt. Australia and New Zealand seem to have gone a little lower in the favoured destinations off late.

Close home popular choices are Dubai, Thailand(Bangkok, hua hin, pattaya, phuket),Singapore, malaysia, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong etc.

However, the dramatic increase in air fares internationally has increased travel costs by a 30%-50%(average rates of Kolkata-London fare has increased from 30 odd thousand to 50 thousand.) Addition of low cost airlines like air asia was a welcome change for SE asia travel, however, with the government tightening norms for them to operate, Air Asia has gone less aggressive in India than before.

Hence, husbands grapple for finding a balance in cost & spouse happiness index(CHSI), before finally arriving at the Holiday this year (HTY). I am trying to put together few holiday choices to make things easier for poor husbands:

(Considering 5 days Holiday, with 5 star accomodation & comfortable fun!)

Budget upto 2 lacs(Family of 2+2) :Thailand(Bangkok, Phuket, Hua Hin, Pattaya,Crabi,KohSa Mui), Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai, Egypt, Nepal,
Budget 2-5 lacs (Family of 2+2) : Hong Kong, London, Switzerland, European Countries, Beijing, Japan, South korea
5+ lacs : Pretty much Anywhere in the world!

I have also found it is cheaper to book hotels from their corporate websites than travel booking sites internationally. This is specially true for well known luxury hotel chains. My favourites are:
Starwood hotels, Intercontinental/Holiday Inn

The travel website Tripadvisor offers good insight into hotels through reviews. Another useful choice is to try to maximise offers given by different credit card companies while booking the offers. Also, it pays to book
by linking through the offers tab in each hotel group site.

Always book your airport pickups & drops through the local online Airport pickup service. While booking, just be careful on the government approval, and avoid shady looking websites!

The above are all the choices that I could think of. I would love to hear additions from my readers!

It would also be interesting to have my readers comment on your dream destinations where you would wish to go someday!

Cheers!
Saurabh

My first travelogue. I am on a Medical tourism to Kerela for my wife's treatment using the ancient Ayurvedic Medicines & treatment procedures.

No wonder people call it God's own country. the lush green trees; balmy weather; happy, traditional, god-fearing people and the beautiful locales. It also offers a different view to travelling. There are no distractions to the lovely surroundings and natural beauty(Non Human ;)).

I have been ensconced in a Ayurvedic hospital at Kottakkal about 60 kms away from Calicut, with hardly anything to do. So I decided to utilise my time and paid a visit to one of the oldest temples in India, Guruvayur.

Its a temple of Lord Krishna, albeit in a different form. People tell me its older than the Tirupati temple, it has become more famous than Guruvayur only because of their marketing tactics & people friendly policies. One of the cardinal rules in temples still being practiced in Kerela, you have to wear a lungi/dhoti (unstitched) to be able to enter the temple. All males wearing any form of stiched clothing are not allowed inside the temple.
I understand once even the President of India had to change his clothes and get in an unstitched Dhoti to be able to get in the temple.

Anyhow, we couldn't even visit the lord's deity as there was a huge rush. in spite of it being an off day, and having seperate lines for women, elderly, vip and males. The VIP line itself kept expanding to leave little room for others to get in. So we decided to call it quits after standing over 2 hours in the line & our kids getting mauled in the mellee of kids, women & the elderly. Moral of the story : you need to have a reference letter in order to see God.

Another interesting feature is the presence of the divine elephants in the temple. They are made to move around the lord thrice while performing puja before any human is allowed inside the "garbha griha". It is quite interesting to watch and actually made it worth our while to be there as our children were overjoyed at the sight of Elephants performing puja.

From here we went to see a beach close to the temple. The beach was surprisingly clean and the people quite helpful.

Experiencing the Kerela weather in Dec-January is probably the best time and its unfortunate I didnt have the opportunity to explore more. The next blog is going to be a coverage of the Auto Expo in New Delhi. Keep reading!