Planning on eloping to India!- Help needed ,South India itinerary!

danelam

Hi all,

Well, my fiancee and I have decided to elope and it's a dream of mine to go to India. The culture and heritage of the country fascinates me. I loved reading the Age of Kali and Ashok Banker's Ramayana series plus Life of Pi and God of Small Things and really want to experience this country first hand. So I was wondering if people have some recommendations for how to go about this.

Firstly the eloping part and legalities of being married in India?

Secondly, there's not alot of time to spare (not too much money either) and it's most affordable to fly in to the south for us, either: Bangalore, Chennai or Kochi and then travel out from there. We could even fly into one and then out of the other.

We would like to experience the culture and different cities and regions while still having time to relax. Can anyone recommend tours, accomodation, itineraries etc. Is Hyderabad out of the question? It looks amazing. We would have between 7 - 10 day to travel in and a budget of maximum US $200 per day for accomodation.

Your advice would be most appreciated. It's a complicated country!

Thanks in advance for your help

Dane

zoltan

Well... let's start off with the eloping part.

I have no idea on that, so I'm afraid that I can't help you there.

Next, where to arrive & what to see & where to depart - all reasonable questions.

I would suggest that if you may want to fly into and out from Chennai. There are a lot of interesting places to see in that State.

As you only have 10 days max. it would also help to know exactly what you want to see /experience - helping by refining your query will get a lot more insightful information.

> US $200 per day for accomodation
That's a packet to drop on a hotel room. You could even cut that by half and still have a superb room in most hotels in the South.

To help you a little with finding your way around, have a look at this on-line map (I found it really helpful in planning my journeys there): www.mapmyindia.com

Cheers
Zoltan

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machadinha

<cross-posted with Zoltan>

That's too short, but it will have to do then

At 8000 Rs. for a room alone, I think you wouldn't have to worry about too much

I'm sure others will fill in some details for you, or browse around this site some.

(What's Life of Pi have to do with India btw, except the protagonist's from Pondy? Am I missing something?)

What period are you thinking of btw? This could well matter.

You'll find some threads here on foreign tourists doing a marriage ceremony of any designation in India if you look around. From what I've seen it's more of a ceremonial thing for your own pleasure I think.

ps

Yes; you may find the India For Beginners sub-forum helpful, but then any forum might really, you'll find them all on the Forums page.

See also this handy thread: How to get the most out of the Itinerary section.

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danelam

Hi Zoltan,

Thankyou so much for your advice and the links. To anyone else, links are most welcome also, I'm not trying to be spoonfed, just pointed in the right direction.

I'm very glad you say $200 is too much for a hotel - I'm a poor student but was willing to splurge for this eloping.

In terms of our interests, we would like some time at the beach as well as experiencing temples and other cultural sites. The food is a must of course.

I see you're from Australia. I'm an Aussie too, but studying in New York.

tacita

another new member of the "gotham gang"! welcome to indiamike, and congratulations on your impending marriage.

* NB: as i just mentioned in another thread, to another new member from gotham, we observe a tradition () that the newest group member traditionally buys the first round. ? under the circumstances, i guess we'll have to let you buy the second. it's a concession we'll just have to make. we wouldn't think of denying you that very special honor.

have a great trip, a great wedding, and an beautiful, enduring marriage.

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danelam

Hehe, thanks for the great privilege of buying the second round...

tacita

oh, you are most welcome indeed!

seriously, though, have a wonderful trip--i hope those more knowledgeable than i about your questions will be along soon with answers.

danelam

do you think it will help to post in another forum?

nadreg

I would suggest posting in the Itinerary subforum. Your post will get more attention there. I would definitely suggest reading the post Mach suggested. Plus... this isn't the peak traffic time on the site.

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tacita

perhaps one of the mods can move your thread to the itinerary forum, and it helps if you can narrow your inquiries and supply as much specificity as possible. narrower questions tend to get more replies. and, yes, this is not a peak traffic time because of the time differences, so don't be discouraged by the dearth of responsive replies, as opposed to inane drink-buying replies.

capt_mahajan

Moved to 'Itinerary' and edited title.

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brownboy66

Hi Danelam, welcome to IM - and congrats on the impending wedding. I'll let others comment on the travel - but with the wedding you may need to find out what is required to ensure the wedding is recognised in the US. For some countries - nothing less than a ceremony held on the grounds of their respective embassy or consulate will suffice (i.e - the ceremony has to be on sovereign territory to be legally recognised). Others are a bit more flexible.

good luck.

Nick-H

Welcome and congratulations!

If you want honeymoon luxury --- and at least a couple of days would be nice, eh? --- then my American friends tell me that five-star hotels in India are not much cheaper, if at all, that USA. My personal favourite is Coconut Lagoon, Kumerakon, Kerala. Belongs to a group called CGearth, and I'll have to leave you to google, as I'm going out soon and don't have time to find the site. But they are expensive and you can certainly be more than comfortable for much less.

Marriage: Hmmm.... There are companies that organise these things. Seven to ten days is just about enough to begin, by yourself, getting acquainted with the bureaucracy of the thing . You will also have to live the rest of your lives (I asume in USA?) with a marriage certificate that everybody will scrutinise and some may doubt. My suggestion is to do the formal, legal, but in your home country. You can do any sort of ceremony or celebration that you wish here in India, anything from a kiss under the moonlight to horses, elephants, whatever you want, can afford, and can manage to organise!

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puchoo

Heres the link to coconut lagoon,
http://www.casinogroupkerala.com/htm...ut_lagoon.html

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edwardseco

Good advice from Nick. In that short period I was wondering how you would get things organized. India isn't Vegas so expect everything to be more complicated (like marriage). For a registered marriage it usually requires a waiting period. 30 days wouldn't fit in. With someone local to make arrangements that can be adjusted. I think I had 5 in country days. Registered definitely is what makes it legal in the US so Nick's idea is probably best. For the Netherlands it appears to take an act of Parliament. Note that for an American visa its considerably more involved. For a religious ceremony or such try a marriage hall or a decent hotel. I went this route but my neice went the Bengali budralog marriage hall tamasha.
Maybe they can refer a pundit to perform an abreviated ceremony..