Most Inspirational Moment
Hard to choose, thoroughly enjoyed the cycling, seeing a variety of Indian life and cuisine, however the unexpected bonus was the amazing wildlife we saw on the safari. Two leopards AND a tiger, plus an elephant in the wild on our jeep transfer. We were especially lucky as it wasn't the best time of year to see exclusive tiger. The house boat was also a great experience, very relaxing and tranquil.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Safi was fantastic, as were Shibu (mechanic) and Franklin (driver.) Even though this was the first trip since the pandemic Safi had everything so well arranged. He organised an amazing variety of dishes for us to try when meals were included and always had excellent recommendations when not included. He even quickly realised that "least spicy" in Tamil Nadu was still a little too hot for myself and another member of the group and even got a couple of places we were staying to adapt their usual menu to ensure there was tasty food for everyone. The food in Kerala is generally milder and I found this fantastic. He arranged numerous local tea/coffee/drinks stops where we could try local delicious snacks or Franklin provided fantastic fresh fruit and snacks. When leaving we arrived at the airport at 1am Safi( who had taken a couple earlier) miraculous appeared through the crowds the instant the driver dropped us off and quickly whisked us through door security. He even went back to the airport at 4am to rescue 2 of the group who had their flight rearranged.
Advice for Potential Travellers
I am a road cyclist and bought some half and half cleats and shoes with inset cleats. These made cycling in traffic much easier as I could cycle unclipped, but cycled clipped in the majority of the time, especially on the climb! The shoes meant I could easily walk around at stops and when looking round villages, temples etc during rides without my usual road cleats that would have been slippy and noisy. I was very glad I had done some training beforehand, it definitely paid off on the climb. I adapted the Exodus training plan, doing some cadence and interval training as well as hill sessions on the turbo trainer. It is only the climb that really makes this a four. The rest of the days felt like a three. I did a mixture of the level 1 and level 2 strength exercises too. Ensure you have paper and electronic copies of all documentation. Get your visa in plenty of time and remember to do the self declaration form a day or two before hand. You also need to fill in a paper form before you go through passport control when entering India. These weren't obvious, there are some booths at the back of the hall that you get them from. A card like, Chase, is also good as we found it was readily accepted. However it did sting us on the ATM fee, fortunately we had taken cash as well as the exchange rate at money exchange was much better. ATMs weren't that available and the one outside the airport had run out of cash when we arrived, perhaps we were just unlucky.