Most Inspirational Moment
I'd have to highlight the morning walk in Madurai with guide Rishi - an optional extra excursion which involved getting up painfully early but so well worth it. The tea plantation trek ( not that strenuous at all - more of a longish stroll really with a bit of an optional climb at the end) was also delightful. And I loved the afternoon boat trip on the backwaters - again and optional excursion but very well worth doing. The 'putting Shiva to bed' ceremony and the Madurai Temple and the Kathikali show (again both extras) were a touch puzzling - not through lack of explanation but just because they were so different - but made a tremendous impact. Loved all the temple visits - we actually got prayed for twice, which is not something you can put a price on! And I loved our guide Biju's many talks on the coach - he is such a natural storyteller and has such a sweet way of explaining things. A couple of minor low-lights. The rooms in the homestay were definitely not 'cosy' - more spartan and grim - though our hostess Grace was cosy, and gave us the best breakfast of the whole trip. It was a pity that our final night meal together in Kovalam was the deeply uninspiring and over-priced hotel buffet when there were so many lovely restaurants around offering lots of choice for everyone. And the houseboat trip - see below.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Superb. See above - he was massively informative and entertaining. But he also looked after us like a mother hen. If anybody showed the least sign of concern about anything - the slightest change of expression - he would be at their side sorting things out in an instant. How he managed to eat while makiing sure everyone else had everything they wanted I can't imagine. And he just seemed a naturally sweet-natured guy. A tremendous advert for Kerala, Hinduism and of course Exodus. I'm not sure how to vote him 'Guide of the Yea; or whatever it is, but he totally has my vote!
Advice for Potential Travellers
Pack something warm - a fleece and maybe a scarf or shawl. The air conditioning can be surprisingly fierce, particularly on the coach! We also hit a couple of serious days of rain. I'd packed a plastic mac but an umbrella might have been a better choice - the locals often carry them anyway to use as sunshades so you won't look out of place. Bring lots of cash - at least £200 to cover excursions and tips as well as enough for food each day and for shopping. My group all did nearly all the excursions and they're not expensive but do need to be paid for in cash. ATMs will only let you take out £100 at a time, and you get a much better rate by exchanging sterling . The 'shoulders covered' for women advice wasn't followed as much as I'd expected, though it's probably worth carrying a scarf if you're going to be bare shouldered a lot of the time. Do leave space in your packing for stuff - like tea, spices etc - you'll end up buying. Bring a beach towel if you intend to go on the beach - hotel with swimming pools provide towels for this Hotels provide a coffee-making in the room, usually with powdered milk and often just tea only. Coffee is served weak, and often milk is included flasks of both tea and coffee . Nobody'd heard of decaff so it's worth taking your own if this is an issue.
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Reply from Exodus
We are grateful to Alison for taking the time to leave a review and are thrilled that she enjoyed her time in India overall and particularly the performance of her tour leader, Biju. On the other hand, we were regretful to learn that she was disappointed with elements of the houseboat cruise. Unfortunately, due to the composition of Alison’s group, which featured a disproportionately large number of solo travellers, we had to hire more boats than usual, some of which were supplied by a different company. Whilst we are satisfied with the general quality of these boats, we accept that the service they provided varied somewhat from that of our standard boats, which we recognise is not ideal. We discussed this at length with our local operator and put measures in place to prevent a similar situation affecting future groups. We hugely appreciate Alison’s feedback, as it has allowed us to look to make changes to this tour and ensure that it is as organised, informative, and enjoyable as our customers expect from Exodus, though we remain apologetic that this was not her experience on day 11 of the trip.
Sarah Puttnam, Product Manager
