“The man who goes alone can start today, but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.” Like the quote says, it is best preferable that you travel alone so that you can simply travel at your own comfort. Solo travellers could always explore most of the hidden beauty even in the most explored travel destinations in the world. I am such a solo traveller who loves to explore the beauty within ‘the beauty of nature’ that is yet to be explored or touched. One of the other secret reasons why I prefer travelling alone is that it is one best way by which you could keep the travel expenses under control. Here we are free to choose all our mediums of travel and accommodation. We are free to choose the ways by which we want to explore and traverse. It would be completely what we want the way we want it. Most of us are people who actually love to travel but is mostly the situations, the lifestyle or mostly the travel package rates that becomes a roadblock for our trip. Even though there are a number of travel operators like Gogeo Holidays that offers the travellers and the tourist with lists of best tour packages at a cheap price, the travel expense remains high for the budget travellers. In this blog, I will share with you my first solo trip to the southernmost end of India; Kerala.
Exhibiting the best of nature, climate, cuisines, festivals and cultural heritage, Kerala is a state that I would say to be the perfect destination from where one could start their low budget or call it a cheap trip alone. Unlike all the other states in India, the gods own country has all of the best elements that a traveller would love to explore. It was during the peak season that I travelled to Kerala. Even though the state is known to house a moderate climate throughout the year, the month from September to March is best preferred for a holiday in Kerala. And thus the travel rates to the place were really high. Now what I had to do was to explore most of the travel attractions which are best known among the tourists at cheap rates. Being a resident from Chennai it was easy for me to save in travelling as I choose to enjoy a night ride. To be very precise it took a whole night for me to cross Walayar and to get into the borders of Kerala and another 3 hr to reach Kochi, the metropolitan city best known for its hidden natural beauty and historic charm. By the time I reached the city, all I could think of was food and some sleep. After having to enjoy a straight drive from Chennai it was rest that I wanted the most. Now choosing for accommodation in this time of the year is one of the best hectic things, but then there are different apps available like Oyo where you could search for the best budget modes of accommodation where you could enjoy a luxurious and comfortable stay. I, after reaching Kochi and having food from a Dhaba at just 50/INR checked-in at a hotel named ‘Greenland Residency’. Located in the centre of the city this was one of the best places where I could stay cheap and could connect with almost all of the best travel destinations in the city with ease. After taking a very refreshing nap at the hotel I woke up by around 4 pm, which was the perfect time for me to start with a small tour of the city. The places that I actually explored at Kochi were the Mangalavanam bird sanctuary, the Marine Drive, and Fort Kochi.
The Mangalavanam bird sanctuary was one of the very first travel destinations in Kochi that I explored. Exhibiting the pristine beauty and charm of the wild and nature, this place was one of the best explored spots in Kochi, yet the travel rates to the place were just nil as there are no entry tickets. One of the main attractions of the place was the mangrove plantations. The place also has a treetop watchtower from where you get to enjoy the best of the beauty in the area. The place is home to a wider verity of birds and thus it is always the best to speak softly. Trust me this place is the best for budget travellers who are in search of natural charm. After being at the place for a while taking some pictures I moved on to the next travel destination which was the marine drive. Not just Mumbai, but Koch too has a drive which is the best spot in the city where one could enjoy the beauty of the sea and the flavours of the street foods in the area. The best part of taking a walk at drive was that I was able to taste Kulukki which is a special drink in the city, pineapple and such fruits which are soaked in salt water and many such things. By late evening I travelled to Fort Kochi which is mostly referred to as the city that never sleeps. It is mainly during the night that you could see the rush of travellers in this place and most of the shacks and shops are open till early morning. The best of attraction in the area would be the sunset that at the Fort Kochi beach where you can also enjoy the beauty of the Chinese fishing nets. To the end of the day, the one thing that I really noticed was my travel expense which was very low. Even after being a peak season for travellers my expense in the place was much less than 3000/INR. It was around 11 pm when I reached back to my hotel and dozed off as the next day morning I was to travel to Munnar, the misty hills to the western ghats of the south.
Even after exploring the misty hills of Kerala the next day my travel expenses remain much lower and cheap than tour package cost which is organised by the travel operators in the land. Let it be any type of trip to any part of the world, according to me what one should look into the most to reduce the travel expenses are to be a bit conscious while selecting the destination, the season in which you travel, the places you choose to stay, the modes of transportations that you want to use and the type of food that you wish to taste. By taking a bit of extra care in such things one can reduce the travel rates to a greater extent. But yes if you are a foreigner and has no clue about the destination of interest, it would be best to go for a budget travel package as it would reduce your travel stress allowing you to enjoy the best of the trip with ease.