7th March 2014
So like many of you already know and the others who don’t will (after they have finished reading the next 17 words), I HAVE WON A PLACE ON THE #KERALABLOGEXPRESS ROAD TRIP ORGANIZED BY THE KERALA STATE TOURISM DEPARTMENT!
The tweet that made it official!
Tomorrow evening, I will board a train from Kannur and reach Trivandrum the next morning at 7 to begin a two week journey with 26 other travel bloggers from around the world. Exploring the beautiful land of Kerala, traversing across its length and breadth in a bus full of crazy travellers I am looking forward to meeting, sounds like something to be excited about.
What began as a shot in the dark at the end of 2013 has now morphed into probably a life changing experience. I say life changing because every time I set out to travel, I believe I have changed a bit. More than anything, there are three big reasons why I think this will be such an epic journey.
1) MY FELLOW TRAVEL NINJAS
So this was one of the biggest reasons that got me to spam bomb so many inboxes (perhaps yours too). When I put my name into the hat for the voting, there were probably about 60 odd participants but then in about a week or so after that, the numbers started shooting up. I read many participant profiles posted on the Kerala Blog Express website and realized that this was a phenomenal list of travellers!
And did Kerala Tourism do a great job of picking up the final 27? Oh yeah! 14 countries in a bus, that’s got to be right. J Here’s a list of the awesome people who will be on the #KeralaBlogExpress road trip with me. If you are reading this, you must at some level love travelling and this is a dream list of travel blogs and twitter handles to follow ;)!
Gaia Passarelli, Brasil
http://twitter.com/gaiapassarelli
http://gaiapassarelli.com/
Osiemstop, Poland
https://twitter.com/osiemstop
http://osiemstop.blogspot.com.br
The Tiny Taster, India
https://twitter.com/roxannebamboat
http://thetinytaster.com
DesiTraveler, India
https://twitter.com/desiTraveler
http://desitraveler.com/
MyGreedyBackPack, India
https://twitter.com/greedybackpack
http://www.mygreedybackpack.com/
DuaRansel.com, Indonesia
https://twitter.com/DuaRansel
http://www.duaransel.com
Disgiovery, Indonesia
https://twitter.com/duabadai
http://disgiovery.com/
SameSame, Brasil
https://www.facebook.com/samesamenews
http://samesame.com.br
MauOscar, Brasil
https://twitter.com/mauoscar
http://mauoscar.com/
A World to Travel, Spain
https://twitter.com/aworldtotravel1
http://www.aworldtotravel.com
Anita Bora, India
https://www.twitter.com/anitabora
http://www.anitabora.com/blog
UnaIdeaUnViaje, Spain
https://twitter.com/UnaIdeaUnViaje
http://unaideaunviaje.com/
TheSyracusas, Italy
https://twitter.com/Thesiracusas
http://thesiracusas.com/
EdinChavez.com, USA
https://twitter.com/edinchavez
http://edinchavez.com/
AwaySheGoes, USA
https://twitter.com/DeliaMary
http://awayshegoes.net/
JustinWasHere, USA
https://twitter.com/JustinJones
http://justinwashere.com/
MilesToMemories, USA
https://twitter.com/milestomemories
http://milestomemories.com/
EazyTraveler, Philippines
https://twitter.com/eazytraveler
http://www.eazytraveler.com/
ThePinaySoloBackPacker, Philippines
https://twitter.com/pinaybackpacker
http://www.thepinaysolobackpacker.com/
IvanHenares, Philippines
https://twitter.com/ivanhenares
http://www.ivanhenares.com/
Stephania Van Lieshout, Netherlands
https://twitter.com/SvanLieshout
http://stefaniavanlieshout.com/
Shinimichi, Denmark
https://twitter.com/shinimichi
http://shinimichi.blogspot.com.br/
NelsonCarvalheiro, Portugal
https://twitter.com/NCarvalheiro
http://nelsoncarvalheiro.com/
ShaveTheWhales, Germany
https://twitter.com/rocarocar
http://shavethewhales.net/
LosSaboresDeMexico, Mexico
https://twitter.com/sabormexico
http://lossaboresdemexico.com/
Meruschka Govender, South Africa
https://twitter.com/MzansiGirl
http://www.mzansigirl.com/
2) THE DREAM ROUTE
So when someone says Kerala, what comes to your mind is Kovalam or may be Wayanad or even Fort Kochi. Imagine doing Kovalam, Varkala, Aleppey, Kumarakom, Thekkady, Munnar, Athirappally, Cheruthuruthi, Punnathur Kotta, Wayanad, Bekal and Fort Kochi, all on one trip. That’s how awesome this road trip is going to be!
Check out the route map here.
https://keralablogexpress.com/user/route_map
3) THE BEAUTIFUL HOSTS
Rutavi & Kenney (Photo by: Gaia)
I’m sure you would agree that a great host makes for a great travel experience. Where do you find a better host than the Kerala State Tourism Department! Winning national and international awards for its initiatives and leading the way in India, I am sure the winners of the #KeralaBlogExpress trip will only have great things to say about Kerala Tourism once the journey has ended.
Moreover, as I write this, the first participant Gaia Passarelli has already reached Trivandrum and shared her initial experience of meeting the hosts. Rutavi Mehta from PhotoKatha and Kenney Jacob make a great hosting team and get a big nod of approval from her!
All in all, the ingredients seem to be perfect and all that remains is to begin the experience of tasting! 😉
Be a part of this journey with me as I will be sharing my experiences across multiple social media platforms and here.
