We had a dreamy wedding after our planning that took like 5 years. I and Riya met during our college days. Even though we were coming from different states and were enrolled in different departments, we met and became good friends. It took us no time to know that we are best for each other and thus our love story began. I flew to London for my job after studies and Riya got placed during campus selection at Pune, her native place. We had a grand wedding ceremony in Delhi with our close relatives and friends, we were planning to make our honeymoon another grand period of our life. We wanted to visit an exotic location in India and after much thoughts, we finalised that it would be Kerala. I had to fly back to work in a month and Riya had only 3 weeks leave, so we had the best place in India itself for our honeymoon.
The wedding preparations itself were done after a lot of juggling. It was at that time that I told my friend Rajat that we have plans to select Kerala as our honeymoon spot. He suggested me to avail the help of a travel operator to plan out the trip in advance and even suggested Dream Holidays. We checked their tour packages from Delhi and both of us were quite impressed with the packages and services they were providing. The booking was done and on July 14 we set out for our trip at 6 in the morning and it took us only 3 hours to reach the Cochin International Airport. From there, they picked us at the right time and took us to the No. 18 Hotel at Fort Kochi which took more than one hour to reach because of the traffic. We had asked them specifically for this place because we have heard quite a lot about this place and it was easy to travel around the popular streets at Fort Kochi and Mattancherry.
Riya is a great lover of art and always used to talk about the art exhibitions happening in these areas. The Kochi-Muziris Biennale was something she missed as could not take some days off from her work because of the project she was supervising. We were lucky as other painting and sculpture exhibitions were happening at Kochi. The Kashi Art Gallery had some brilliant photography exhibition going on. We had some great food at the patio of the Kashi Cafe. At night we went to the Farmers Cafe at Fort Kochi itself and had the best organic food in the colonial setting.
Our favourite locations at Kochi include the Fort Kochi Beach, Cherai Beach, Hill Palace, Bastion Bungalow, St. Francis CSI Church, Mattancherry Palace, Jew Town, Dutch Palace, and many more. The list can go on because it is such a great place with great ambience. The colonial architecture of the buildings and even its streets tells the story of Kochi’s history. Our guide had great knowledge of the places and I was more than happy to see Riya getting lost in conversations about the city’s history with him.
We then went to Alleppey and we loved the view of the palm-fringed shores more than the view of the Chinese fishing nets that we saw from Fort Kochi beach. At Alleppey, we were taken for a houseboat cruise in the backwaters which had furnished bedrooms with AC and a clean attached bathroom. It was when we reached here that we could see the continuous set of coconut groves – the usual image that we get when the place Kerala is mentioned. We had taken only the local ferry when we were in Kochi and that was a fascinating ride. At here, the Alleppey backwaters charmed us with its beauty and the serene and clear backwaters. The houseboat voyage and dinner at Farmers Cafe are our favourite honeymoon memories. Our guide said that a trip to Alleppey is not complete without visiting Kuttanad. Kuttanad surprised us with the farming that is done below sea level. A village tour in this rustic village listening to nature’s voices far from the noise of the cities filled us with happiness. We even tried canoeing from Kuttanad. Punnamada Lake is now one of our all-time favourite places. The seafood varieties served at Alleppey region is totally a trump card to lure more visitors to Kerala. We had some toddy (a kind of wine made from coconut) and the guide also took us to a place from where studied a bit about toddy tapping. We also visited Pathiramanal, Krishnapuram Palace, Alleppey Lighthouse and Marari Beach at Alleppey.
Riya always wanted to try trekking and paragliding and we were excited when we reached Munnar to try both of these. This popular hill station in Kerala has got many tea and coffee plantations which added the beauty of this lush green area. We had a trainer who helped us with the adventures. For trekking, the best spots are the Kannan Devan Hills, Chokramudi and Chummar. We could see the mighty landscapes of Munnar while soaring high during paragliding and the view was all about greenery – from the bird’s eye view as it is popularly known. The misty light breeze added the soothing effect that Munnar gave. The next time we are coming to Munnar to get an ayurvedic therapy as we could know that this place has a great record of perfect ayurvedic therapies done at its spas and resorts. We also visited Anamudi Peak, Mattupetty Dam, Eravikulam National Park, Echo Point, Pothamedu View Point, and so on. On our last day at Munnar, we took long strolls through the tea gardens where some of the scenes from my favourite movie Life of Pie was shot.
We headed back to Delhi after our ten days trip in Kerala with a lot of photos and many memories that will always top the best memories we had after our marriage. I think all of the newly-weds should take a trip like us and have a hassle-free trip with your loved one by availing the benefits of honeymoon packages to Kerala.