This is my first travelogue; bear with me in case I make mistakes, Iam not great at writing stuff.
It all started this Sept; good friend of mine gave a call from Australia to let us know his travel plans to India. It’s been almost 2 years we met, so plan was to make the meet a memorable one.
His travel schedule was from 15th Oct till 15th Nov, and glad that he was flexible in planning for a meet. Wow, cool then it should be the first week of Nov, decided the time and made few calls to all the buddies to see if they could join. Destination was yet to be decided.
6 of us planned for the meet.
Planning Date:
No much worries here, every one where keen on first week of Nov as it’s a short working week. Date finalized, it would be 30th Oct till 1st of Nov as Diwali had to be celebrated at home with families.
Destination:
Following where proposed, as most of them were inclined towards sea and clubbed with water sports if possible
Within India - Pondicherry
- Goa
- Lakshadweep
Outside India
Out of India was ruled out right away.
Destination finalized to be Lakshadweep as most of us didn’t visit the place.
With Families or alone:
Then a big dilemma, whether to plan this with families or without!!! I know there would be many questions on this. Primary reason being, guy from Australia is coming alone due to some urgent works, since he is not with family we thought the best would be alone as we can spend some quality time with him. So finally thought was to plan alone.
Next tough thing was to get approval from home ministry
, before I could ask my better half; her brother had an occasion which required her presence in Hyd so approval was like a cake walk for me.
Not all could get approvals.
Booking and rest
Initial plan was for 6 of us, 3 of them dropped. Hmm it was bit disappointing, we decided then to stick to some location near Bangalore. But three of us (roomies when bachelors) decided to stick to Lakshadweep.
One friend had good contacts in Lakshadweep due to his business; he was the one who planned all. We were just intimated the details. He had been to Lakshadweep in the past; he proposed that Bangaram Island should be on the list. Unfortunately there were not ships traveling during our dates. He then planned to get permits so that we can go on our own speed boat (hired though).
Passport Size Photos, few scanned copies, address and contact details were sent. Got permits, and speed boat was confirmed. But it would only be us on the boat; this didn’t inspire me much. As it was my first long journey in open sea I was bit worried in a small boat. Calls made and could convince him to plan by ship rather than boat. I was more inclined to fly, but then no new experience.
Ship it is, tickets were booked in first class Cabins, and following was the schedule
30th Oct – 11:00 AM Ship from Cochin
31st Oct - Minicoy Island Visit
1st Nov - Kadmat Island Visit
2nd Nov – Back in Cochin by 12:00 PM
Stay would be on the ship itself, we need to visit the islands trough out the day and return to ship in the evening.
Tickets for the trip to be collected in Cochin
Meeting Point:
Common point was Cochin where the journey to Lakshadweep starts.
Reaching Cochin:
I need to start from Bangalore, one from Hyderabad and another from Mangalore.
Early flights on 30th to Cochin from Hyd were neck to neck, so it was too risky hence planned to reach Cochin a day before.
BLR – COCHIN flight ticket booked for 29th Oct
HYD – COCHIN flight ticket booked for 29th Oct
MANG – COCHIN train ticket booked for 29th Oct
COCHIN - HYD Return flight tickets booked for 2nd Nov
Hurdle was to get additional leave on 29th for me, as I would be off for the entire first week of Nov (2 till 4th I took off). But, no issues got a green signal, wowooooooo
To be Continued...