travel companies on line, one happened to be to Vihaar Hospitality and Leisure. I received numerous phone calls from a wonderful lady called Suja, who asked many questions in order to gauge what we really needed for our trip. I extended the number of days, changed the agenda more than a few times and finally after many days we arrived at an agenda that suited our needs and timeframe. She was never angry that I asked more questions, if I wasn’t too happy about a hotel, she offered several other options, etc. etc. I never needed to call her back, she was always attentive and called when she said she would. I paid the deposit as agreed and then received immediate feedback about the balance payment and the “vouchers” to give to hotels, etc. A day after the due date, she called to ask if I had paid the balance, I was actually travelling but I had the check and was in the process of looking for the bank to make the payment when she called me. After the payment was made, I sent a photo of it and within an hour, I received a thank you mail to confirm the full payment was received as well as a phone call. Several days before our trip began, Suja called to advise that as it was Easter time and very busy, we should think about buying our tickets in advance so that we would not be disappointed. She offered that an agent could do it for us, and provided a web link so that we could do it ourselves on line. This was very nice pro-active thought and much appreciated considering the crowds when we arrived in Munnar. A day before the trip, as promised, we received indication of the car #, driver name and telephone number. After our arrival in Cochin, I received a call from Suja to ensure that our flight was OK and if we were with the driver (we were still in the airport at the time), after an hour of being in the car, she called to ask if the car and driver was OK, etc. etc. She called several times during our trip to ensure everything was OK. I have never received such attention from any travel agent anywhere, and I mentioned, everything was great, but our car was particularly hot because it was a dark colour and because seats were dark and plastic, she immediately called the driver and asked him to arrange some cloth covering for the seats! This was done for the next day of travelling, which was great because although distances are small, it takes many hours to cover. I would certainly have no hesitation to recommend Vihaar Hospitality and Leisure and in particular Suja for any Kerala holiday. A HUGE THANK YOU Suja for making our Kerala trip even more memorable. This is also a write up that I put for the Forest Glade Hotel. Highly recommend a stay at this hotel. It is ideally located in the middle of the tea plantation area; the open veranda restaurant overlooks the tea plantations, we enjoyed our breakfasts and lunches looking out at the scenery. In the evenings we enjoyed the misty air coming in and then enjoying the clear views/full moon and lights from the village after the mist cleared. There is a great variety of food, and although I am a veggie, I am allergic to capsicum/peppers, I only mentioned it because I was unable to partake in the buffet, but it seemed that all the staff were instantly aware that I was allergic. Instead of the buffet, I selected a veggie combo meal, thinking it would be like a small Thali, however, it was like a feast for 2-3 people. I felt embarrassed as I was unable to eat even half of it. It was all delicious but just too much of it. It was certainly value for money. All the staff are very polite, well-trained and friendly. The rooms are quite large, we stayed in a room on the upper floor which had a small balcony, and the lower floor rooms have little garden, which looked nice. The rooms have a safe and tea-coffee making facilities and they replenish the bottled water every day. At the back of the hotel, from the top floor, there is a little walkway so that you can walk a little way into the forest area behind the hotel, not too far, but a nice little walk and to get a higher view of the scenery. Another nice touch is that early evening 4.30-6?pm, the hotel offered free tea-coffee and snacks, we had a samosa, again, we enjoyed this on the veranda/balcony overlooking the tea plantations. Another plus point is the hotel is just a few minutes walk (although be careful of the traffic) away from the Kathakali and Kalaripayattu performances held at 5 & 6pm most evenings. Hope this is adequate. Best fishes/Carole

rk

r my next South India trip

ned for some time and as a result in the last moment our houseboat was changed.Everything should be crystal clear from beforehand so that the people don't get unnecessary Harrassment for the inconvenience caused. Please work upon that Munnar sight seeing was very great.

ional park in Munnar. N ticket booking is accepted only via the e-ticket kiosk for which we wasted almost an hour trying to do the bookings. Their wi - fi there never worked. If the trip advisor could Inform travelers in advance which network works well specially in Munnar then may b the travellers could arrange for a sim before hand. Also there is an option for ticket booking for the wild life boating online. But not all travelers r aware of the same. That could b also informed so that the tickets can be booked Atleast 1 day in advance. Overall experience was satisfactory.. also the waterfalls in summer r dry. This is not mentioned to the travellers so sight seeing to these places r not worth it. Something better can be planned instead Have taken back some good memories from the trip. The back water house boat experience was good. The boat had wooden carvings.. our driver also was very cooperative n took good care of us during the trip. Would recommend the same driver to more passengers travelling in the future.

r. Vinu informed us that Many sightseeing and Safari locations mentioned in the travel itinerary planned by Mr. Robin like Soochipara Waterfalls, Wayanad Muthanga Wildlife Safari, Kuruvadweep Island, Thusharagiri waterfalls were closed due to Forest Department issue. He suggested that we cannot go to these places as they are closed for many days. Ideally, we would expect the travel booking manager to inform us about such temporary closure of sight seeing areas before we reach Wayanad, so that we could have planned and booked tickets for other Wildlife Safari's and sight seeing like Bandipur National Park, Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, Sulthan Bathery. We only realized that once we reached there. We even tried to book online Safari tickets to Bandipur when we reached there, but the tickets need to be booked atleast 3-4 days in advance. The price of the overall trip (Resort stay + Cab) could have been more competitive given a lot of tourists had skipped coming to Wayanad in May 2024 due to heat wave (hot weather conditions during day time). Most people were local Keralites. Overall, it was a decent experience with hotel stay, food and travel arrangements. Mr. Robin is prompt in answering queries through call / message making an interactive booking experience.

vy handled all the small small things very professionally right from picking us from Kochi Airport on first day to dropping us at Trivendrum Airport on last day. Breakfast provides by the hotels was very hygienic. Overall I will rate 10/10 to the service provided to me by the travel agent & all my further trips will plan from Travel Triangle only. Visit to Eravikulam National park at Munnar Elephant ride & Kalaripayattu at Thekkady Houseboat experience was best at Alleppey Kanyakumari & Padmanabhan Swami temple visit was the best part of the trip .