3 weeks back I was checking my holiday list and saw that 26th Jan (Republic day) was falling on Thursday. It had a been quite some time, we had gone for any trips as a family and decided to make some plans. I decided to apply for leave on Friday and checked with Naveen who was also willing to put leave. So we had 4 days in hand and the place had to be decided. Pondicherry had been on my mind from past few months and January was the best time to visit since it wont be too hot there. But when I did research about this place, I found there isn't much to visit there for 4 days and then I found Mahabalupuram was close by and can be covered too. So I decided to visit Mahabs and Pondi. While I was still thinking about this place, I got a call from my best friend M. We both were best friends since my college (+2) and have done lot of mischief together (want to post about it sometime). 4 years back, around same time we both made a trip to Ooty along with our hubbies and it was a great memorable trip. My hubby and hers share same frequency and became friends easily. I asked her if she wants to join for Pondi trip and she was willing to. She too has a kid who is 9 months younger than Anvith and we thought the kids can have some good time together. Last time we both families traveled as a couple and this time with a kid. Then I told my hubby about the trip and my friends family joining and he was also excited about it. He never says no for such trips since he gets opportunity for some good photo shooting. So we confirmed on the dates and I started looking for resorts.
We wanted to choose a beach resort and also got some 30% off from cleartrip and booked for 1 night@Mahabs and 2nights@Pondi. It was a little expensive but really worth. We shed around 22K just for the rooms for 2 families. The rooms were booked, the route was decided and we planned to travel by our car since both me and Naveen wanted to get our hands on the wheels of Blore-Krishnagiri road which was too good for driving. I started packing 4-5 days before the start date and I realized I had too much of luggage since I had to carry lot of clothes, swim suite, beach toys etc for Anvith and lot of dresses for me too. Anvith had developed cough since few days and needed to use nebulizer machine everyday and that had to be carried too. I called up my friend to check how much luggage she is having and she too said she has too many. I discussed with hubby and we felt our car might not accommodate so much of luggage. Hubby spoke with my friends hubby P and they both decided to rent a big car Qualis. It would be better for kids too since it has ample space. P took care of booking the cab and everything was decided.
3 days before the booking I called the resort@Pondi to confirm our reservations done they told there was only 1 room booking under my name. I had booked 1 room via cleartip and another via travelocity since cleartrip had only 1 room available. The resort folks said they see only the booking done via cleartip and not the one done via travelocity and told me to check with the folks at travelocity. Immediately I called their call centre who upon checking told me that they were not able to book the room there since the resort had some bulk booking. I literally shouted at them saying why did they confirm my booking and charged my card and just 3 days before they are doing this way. They didn't have an answer and tried consoling me saying they will give a room in different resort. I was pissed off and told him I was traveling with 2 families and already booked 1 room which was confirmed and there is no point if they give me another resort. They told they will try if they can do something and told me to call after 24hrs. When I called them the next day, they didn't confirm my booking and told me they want more time. Only 1 more day was left for us to leave and the resort booking was not confirmed. I called them and yelled at them again and explained we had a toddler's with us and also threatened to write bad reviews about their website etc and they said they want me to co-operate with them. I was loosing my patience and just disconnected the call. In the evening, my hubby decided to call and talk to them again and surprisingly when he called they said they sorted out the issue with the resort and the room was booked for us now. I was relieved. Though I did the booking 3 weeks before our travel, the room booking was confirmed at resort only on previous day. It was a lot of tension I went through but at last everything went fine. Wednesday night we finished all packing, bought stuffs needed etc and went to bed looking forward to the next 4 days. I hardly could sleep for 2-3 hrs due to the excitement.
More to come in later post. Just leaving a pic here of me and my best friend M which taken at our resort in Pondi on our last day -
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