My First Stop - Adelaide

After I had booked my tickets through Malaysian Airline, I got a mail stating that we might get upgraded to Business Class based on the amount we bid and we would get to know only 48 hours before departure. Bidding was done and my son & mother-in-law got upgraded. 

Feb 11th - Flight departed from Chennai at 11:45 am and we reached Adelaide on Feb 12th 8:15 am (local time). Hubby travelled in business class on behalf of my son, since he refused to sit there without me. The flight journey was brilliant. The crew from Chennai to Kuala Lumpur took very good care of my son. They were constantly smiling and trying to satisfy all our needs. The crew from Kuala Lumpur to Adelaide were less friendly when compared to the previous flight. But my hubby said, the staff at Business Class were extremely attentive and took very good care. I had requested for Hindu Veg Meal and the food option was quite good. My son preferred my veg meal to his child meal.

Feb 12th - We took the big taxi from airport. The taxi driver was an Indian and he was making fun of our luggage (Yes, I don't travel light). Actually in my defence, I was carrying a 30 kg suitcase, for my son & me!!! That's not bad. We were staying at Istay Precinct (also knows as Oaks Precinct). I got a fabulous deal from makemytrip, which was a 2 bedroom apartment, for 4 nights and it costed about Rs.36,000. I just couldn't resist the offer and I booked it. The only problem was there was no housekeeping service and it had a single bathroom. Since we reached the apartment by 10:00 am, they couldn't offer us the apartment immediately. But upon seeing my child, they gave us the apartment.

The apartment was decent sized and had all the basic amenities. The only problem was the 2nd bedroom, didn't have an air-conditioner. It was quite stuffy for the people, who were sleeping in the bedroom. We freshened up and set out to see the Gleng Beach. The tram station was about 10 minute walk from the apartment. The food around the place is just brilliant and the beach was nice as well.

Feb 13th - I had booked my Barossa Valley Tour through Taste the Barossa. Honestly I don't drink wine, but we were doing it just for my husband and neighbour, who wanted to do wine tasting. The guide was very informative and showed us everything that we knew on our way. I saw apple, pear and grapes on the way. I just wanted to pluck the apples and eat it, but I was just behaving myself. We first stopped at the Whispering Wall. When you whisper something on one end of the Wall, you can hear it crystal clear on the other side. All the vineyards were fantastic to look at. I did eat the grapes at the vineyards and they were super yummy. We stopped at about 5 vineyards and they had a good time drinking.

Feb 14th - I had booked my Zoo tickets online, since I thought it might be crowded because of the World Cup. But actually, it was not necessary. It was very hot day. We were able to see all the animals,which was nice. There is no point in taking a stroller for the kid, since they can't see anything from it. They anyways have to be carried. The zoo was nice, but I wasn't really excited by it. Probably it you have a kid, otherwise you can skip the zoo here. There were so many festivals happening. After zoo, we went to do some shopping. The whole place was just buzzing with music, skits and dance. The atmosphere was just electrifying. We did a mini shopping spree, before we headed back to our apartment. Here, all shopping places shut by 5:00 pm.

At night, we went to experience nightlife and casino. The place was filled with Indians & Pakistani. There were these cheers coming from all around, each one supporting their team. Fantastic time to be there.

Feb 15th - I was super excited about India - Pakistan match. I don't know what exactly it is, but something just kicks in. The weather was initially hot, but soon enough it started cooling. My 2 year old son just enjoyed himself to the core. I was super thrilled about the result. I rushed back to my apartment an hour earlier than the match was to end, since my son was getting super hungry. Sad thing was the television in the apartment was not working. Was upset that I couldn't see the final wickets falling, but I knew the result while I was leaving.

The experience of watching the match live was just FANTASTIC. We packed our bags and were good to leave the next day early morning to Tasmania. The Indian Taxi driver had shared his number. So he picked us up and dropped us to the airport.

My Big Aussie Holiday

I recently came back from a 2 week Aussie trip. I have been planning this trip for almost a year. It all started when hubby said he wanted to go for Australia for 2015 World Cup. We managed to get the tickets for India-SA at Melbourne and India-Pakistan at Adelaide. We were initially to do this trip with friends, but due to various changes, we did it with MIL and neighbour.

Australia is huge and we wanted to do just a 2 week holiday. The number of places to visit at Australia are too many but we had less time. I certainly didn't want to go about visiting all the places, without really exploring it. The main places that I wanted to visit was Adelaide (because of the match), Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Brisbane and Great Barrier Reef. With a toddler, I knew it would be difficult to do the activities at Gold Coast and Great Barrier Reef. 

My travel agent, then told me about Tasmania. After reading about it, I felt I had to visit the place. I then narrowed down my list to Adelaide, Tasmania and Melbourne. Everyone were surprised that I left Sydney and Gold Coast. I just thought this itinerary would do justice to the number of days that I had. I roughly saw the places of interest in each place and I had calculated 3 nights at Adelaide, 5 nights at Tasmania and 5 nights at Melbourne. I then saw a deal on makemytrip for Adelaide hotel and I got an extra night free for the same price. So I was finally doing 4 nights at Adelaide, 5 nights at Tasmania and 5 nights at Melbourne.

Around August, we wanted to start booking our flight ticket. Malaysian Airline had put up a sale, with each ticket costing us Rs. 45,000 return. Now that was super cheap, when compared to Singapore Airline that I was getting at Rs. 65,000 return. By this time, we had decided to leave the little one with my parents. I was not confident about my decision, but I thought it would be better for the little one, considering the amount of travelling to do. And I really didn't book his ticket as well!!! 

Around last week of October, I booked my internal flight from Adelaide to Hobart in Qantas Airline. The ticket was charged Rs. 12,500 per person. Around the same time, I booked my flight from Launceston to Melbourne in Virgin Australia Airline. The ticket was Rs. 4500 per person. After a month passed, my son tells me that he will not stay with my parents and he would also travel with us. I called each airline and booked his ticket as well. Luckily for internal flight, it was almost the same price. But his ticket at Malaysian Airline costed Rs. 62,000 return. Now for a child, that was super expensive!! I was almost paying what I was paying for myself with internal flights!!

The next post will have details of all my bookings and what I did at Adelaide.

Lessons learnt from Maldives trip

There were quite a few hitches that I faced while planning my Maldives trip. Just jotting it down, so that I don't repeat the same ones again.

1. Ask many travel agents at once. This will help in analyzing cost and also one can get a better deal. I made the mistake of contacting just makemytrip.com and my air fare increased by the time they responded.
2. I always thought it's best to book by oneself but travel agents do give a better deal. I made my booking directly at Four Seasons. I was surprised by the deal I got from my travel agent. 
3. It's better to work with people who are flexible. While working with big companies like makemytrip.com (Mentioning only their name since I've personally interacted with them), they work on fixed time like 10 am to 6 pm and only on weekdays. Getting the quotation and making the booking becomes difficult once it's weekend. My experience with Fernweh and my previous travel agent(who made my booking for Bora Bora) is they are flexible with timing. They work anytime during the day (and night), you can contact them anytime. They treat every customer like king. They come home to pick up documents and other details required. You end up having a personal relationship with them and this goes a long way. I'm definitely going to check the rate with Fernweh, every time I go for my vacation.
4. Never book indian airlines. At least in my case, they had no benefit at Spice Jet like front row for babies. Good thing the flight duration was small. The variety to choose meals is limited unless you pre-book. 
5. Indian airports are not that great. I'm not talking about Delhi, Mumbai or others that I'm unaware of. But Cochin airport was very bad. There is no way one can while away time there. Not many stores, the international airport wore a deserted look. In the domestic terminal, while we were returning to Chennai, the check-in process would not happen before 2.5 hours of flight departure. There was no place to eat inside the airport. We had to request the airport authorities to let us out of the airport, so that we could eat and relax at the food court at the airport. Also, there was no baby room near the check-in counters. The restroom facility that we have in our Indian airports are pathetic. The restroom facility at new terminal of Chennai airport was so bad that it was full of water. 

New destination - Maldives

The quest for a holiday started after I delivered my son. We couldn't go on our birthday holiday, since my son was too young. Post new year we decided we could go on a family holiday with my MIL as well. Our initial plan was to go to Singapore & Bali and made plans around my MIL's birthday. We decided to surprise her and changed the destination to Maldives (She had been wanting to visit Maldives for a long time). For hubby and I, it would be a similar experience as Bora Bora and there is bound to be comparison in our head.

While I was making the plan for Singapore & Bali, I had contacted makemytrip.com. I later informed them about changing the destination to Maldives. There was so much confusion in our head between Four Seasons, Kuda Huraa and Mirihi Island. Since we were taking my MIL to an exotic location, we thought we'll take her to Four Seasons. The makemytrip agent was giving me very good deal. Upon confirmation, she would say it is not available. I would have hardly taken couple of hours to confirm. I was fuming mad as to how it could not be available. She answered saying this was the quotation and upon confirmation from my side, she would check for availability. That seemed absolutely absurd. I did post a complaint at their website. The makemytrip team did apologise but I guess it didn't really matter then.

I had three flight options. A direct flight from Chennai to Male provided by Maldivian airline. The flight timing was inconvenient, so we had to let go of this option. The other one was Sri lankan airline and Spice Jet. I remember Sri lankan airline to be much more expensive than Spice Jet. So we went ahead with Spice Jet (Later when I did check, Sri Lankan airline was cheaper). Anyways I had booked and I didn't want to worry about the difference.

I contacted Four Seasons, Kuda Huraa for reservation. I informed that we would be 3 adults and an infant travelling and I would require the Sunrise Water Bungalow. The price quoted by the team was pretty expensive and I made the reservation for 3 night. It was just a Bed & Breakfast deal and I didn't get any deal that I got at Bora Bora. I was going to be charged close to $5300 for just 3 nights!!! The tax is a killer here, where in you are paying 18.8%+GST. I personally feel, Maldives is much more expensive than Bora Bora. But when you are in a holiday mood, I don't mind splurging once in a while.

All booking made and we were waiting for April 15th to come. During the course of time, my MIL got to know about we travelling to Maldives and the whole surprise got spoilt. A week before we were leaving, I pinged my friend, who is a travel consultant and owns a company called Fernweh. I had completely forgotten about her while making the booking. I casually asked her what is the best rate that can be offered to me and she gave me a quotation of 300$ lesser than that was offered by Four Seasons and an extra night. Now that was a bonanza and I immediately accepted the deal.

Now the painful process was shifting my confirmation from Four Seasons to them, but Four Seasons did do the needful and my plan was changed accordingly. In the last minute I had to change my flight detail and we were geared up for the much awaited holiday :)