Last November, we were the lucky bunch that flew in from Mumbai for a family friend’s wedding. Those in Kerala would remember that wedding, the hotelier Ravi Pillai’s daughter Aarti’s wedding that was held in Kerala in the month of November 2015. As we had another wedding also to attend soon after this one, we decided to book cheap Kerala family tour packages that involved only the travel part as the accommodations were all arranged by the family who daughters were getting married. But this was unlike any other Kerala family tour package as there were 2 weddings to attend and both were 3-day weddings unlike the traditional 10 minute Kerala weddings that I have witnessed earlier. I have always wondered now 2 individual’s fate changes within a matter of 10 minutes! We were invited to the luxurious wedding which was the first one to attend because my father supplies north Indian spices and special spice mixes that flavour up the dishes in his esteemed restaurants. We were booked in a posh hotel next to the backwaters, very close to the wedding venue during our family tours in Kerala.
The bride Aarti looked very pretty with simple makeup, dressed in a saree and decked up with jewellery for the wedding. The venue looked extravagant and we learned that it was set up in an open ground by the art director of Bahubali. It looked fabulous. The main ceremony was in a Mandap which was in the shape of a large blooming lotus. The entire venue looked royale. The wedding celebrations began the previous day and there were the typical North Indian Sangeeth and Mehndi ceremonies we all enjoyed a lot. Apparently, quite a few movie celebrities attended the function though we were not able to recognize any popular faces. I have not seen a single Malayalam movie and so just missed the entire fun of meeting those celebrities! In fact, most of the ladies were so impeccably and fashionably dressed that we could never have made out whether they were movie celebrities or not! Someone told us that the one of the graceful dancers who performed was a famous actress too who retired after getting married and was planning to come back to movies now. I managed to recognize Sobhana who had acted in a Hindi movie Mitr a few years back and enjoyed her gorgeous performance.
The music that followed kept changing its pace from melody to fast numbers and then some soulful blues too. We realized that the guy who was doing the fusion music was also a celebrity here. He looked handsome and was very talented. These events were followed by a grand buffet dinner where we tried all of the typical Kerala style food which tasted yummy. The next day morning, we reached the wedding venue (the travel arrangements too were taken care of by Ravi uncle’s family!) and as soon as we reached, the groom and his family were received by some beautiful ladies of the bride’s family with lamps and flowers. Then the bride and her parents came to the stage welcomed by the same set of ladies. In another 10 minutes, the wedding was over which was a big surprise for us. What followed was a grand feast with 10 Kheers or Payasams as they call it down south. It was the most amazing food I have ever had in my life and I owe it all to Ravi uncle who invited us and made all the arrangements such that we got no idea of our family tour packages in Kerala with price.
After this magnanimous wedding, we had to reach Trissur to attend a cousin’s wedding too the next day. So the next day early morning we left to Trissur by car which took us around 6 hours to reach because of the traffic. We passed by Kochi which was supposedly the best destination on Kerala tour packages for couple but did not have enough time to stop by. We reached our hotel in Trissur which was hardly a few minutes’ walk from the wedding hall. Now this was a typical Brahmin wedding which usually lasts for a couple of days and involves many rituals. We were all happy to see our relatives after a long time. One of my cousins settled in the UK also came on the pretext of their Kerala tourism honeymoon packages to attend the wedding. This was a rather normal wedding to attend and a very colourful one too. What excited me the most was the Munnar trip we had planned for a couple of days soon after the wedding. My father’s brother and his family were also joining us in Munnar. The wedding was a lot of fun as we all cousins had a gala time enjoying another live performance with a lot of popular Hindi and Tamil songs by demand. We all danced for the Baraat and pulled our aunts and uncles too who all joined happily. After all, we will have to wait for the next generation now as the bride was the youngest of our cousins in the family and the last one to get married.
The 2 days of wedding got over and both nights none of us slept. We cousins were catching up with each other and were sharing the memories of our childhood spent in the same city many years back. But the city has changed a lot and has become quite modern. The next day morning, after the wedding, we left to Munnar by car though we left our wedding luggage with our uncle here. We are to come back and stay here for one more day, visit Guruvayoor, collect our luggage and get to the airport for our flight back home. But that was a couple of days later! Though Munnar is a popular destination on amazing honeymoon packages for Kerala, it is as enticing for the families too. We could see many tourists there with family and were happy we chose to visit this beautiful place. The place is serene and has a great climate throughout the year. We reached here in the first week of December and it had just started to get cold in Munnar. The evenings and early mornings were very cold and misty. My uncle and family arrived a few hours after us and we all got settled in the resort, had our lunch and then were out sightseeing. As we roamed around the beautiful landscapes and waterfalls in Munnar, we realized why it is so popular for honeymoon packages. The Mattupetty dam and the dairy farm was a big surprise to my uncle who owns a dairy farm in Gujarat. Though he seldom goes there, he enjoyed visiting this farm and learned a lot of new techniques from the authorities here which he said he will implement in his farm also.
I liked the tea estates the most in Munnar. They were totally mind-blowing to see and to experience. We tried our hands at plucking the tender tea leaves but it went in vain! I would suggest Munnar to be the best destination for tour packages in Kerala as it offers so many flavours of Kerala. There’s adventure, there’s serenity, there’s fun and there’s sheer luxury to experience here. The Ayurvedic massages are extremely good for your mind and body to relax and refresh. It is, in fact, one of the highlights of Kerala honeymoon packages. We had a couple of days more left and hence we decided to visit Thekkadi which was a nearby location. We visited Wagamon on the way enjoyed the cool meadows and the beautiful lake. We moved on to Thekkadi which was pretty cold as our resort was in the middle of a rain forest and it was raining as we reached. Thekkadi was a completely different experience. It was all about forest and wildlife. Since we reached before lunch, we checked into our resort, had our lunch and then also enjoyed the boat ride through the Periyar Reservoir.
We saw a few elephants grazing and saw some colourful birds in the reservoir. We learned that Thekkadi and Wagamon too were popular destinations for exciting Kerala tour packages for family. The wilderness is truly attractive and we all enjoyed the wildlife safari to the fullest. The 2 days went fast and soon it was time for us to go back to Trissur. We reached Trissur and decided to spend the day at home chitchatting with family. The next day early morning, we visited the famous Guruvayoor Lord Krishna Temple and did some shopping there. The place was very crowded but we managed to get a good Darsan and blessings. We were back home by noon and my uncle took us to a beautiful restaurant nearby who served only vegetarian food. We tried Chinese and it was good! We spent the evening shopping for some sarees and dresses at some of the most prestigious saree showrooms in Trissur. The people here had a great sense of fashion as every piece of cloth shown to us was amazing. We bought some clothes and came home and packed our bags. We had an early morning flight the next day and we reached home by noon.
