Mini Tour of Kerala Add-on

This tour can be taken either at the beginning or at the end of your holiday in Kerala. Single travellers and couples may not always travel as a group. If the hotels detailed are not available alternatives will be used of a similar standard. The tour may also be reversed but all sites mentioned & content will remain the same.

If booking more than 12 weeks before departure a deposit of £295.00pp will need to be paid at the time of booking with the full amount payable at 12 weeks prior to departure. The deposit applies to adults and children. If you are within 12 weeks of travel then the full balance of the holiday will be payable.

A visa is required for entry into India. British Citizen Passport Holders will need to obtain a tourist visa. You can apply for an E-visa here no more than 30 days in advance. Alternatively, you can visit The Indian Visa Application Centre in London: 142-148 Goswell Road, London, EC1B 7DU. We also work closely with The Travel Visa Company who will be able to arrange your visa on your behalf. Please call them on 01270 250 590 and quote 'Mercury Holidays'. Your passport must be valid for at least 6 months before you enter India. Visa requirements are subject to change and obtaining a visa is the responsibility of the traveller and not Mercury Holidays. We recommend you check with your destinations' Tourist Board or Embassy prior to departure for the most up to date guidelines regarding visas and passport validity.

Please note that final flight details will be confirmed on your e-ticket and final documentation which will be sent to you approximately 21 days before departure. Check in baggage is included with your flight. Weight restrictions will be finalized on your final documentation. Should you wish to take additional luggage you will need to pay extra at check-in. Check-in should be at least 3 hours before departure. If you wish to arrange Airport car parking or accommodation at preferential rates, we recommend you book this in advance with Holiday Extras on 0333 188 0407, quoting HX313.

Flight Times

Depending on flight times, an extra night may need to be spent prior to the tour at the first hotel. Please dicuss with one of our Customer Experience team for more information.

We strongly recommend that you and all members of your party are suitably insured as soon as you book your holiday. It is a condition of booking that you must have suitable travel insurance. It is important that you purchase travel insurance that suitably covers your participation in whatever activities you may undertake at the time that you make your booking. To assist you with this, we have arranged travel insurance in partnership with Holiday Extras. To arrange your travel insurance with Holiday Extras, please call 0333 188 0407 and quote 'WK830' for preferential rates. Please ensure you provide us with the name of your insurer, policy number and their 24-hour emergency contact number as soon as possible. Mercury Holidays will not be liable for any costs incurred by you due to your failure to take out suitable travel insurance from the date of booking.

It is your responsibility to check any health and vaccination requirements applicable to your booked arrangements. We can only provide general information about this. Health and hygiene facilities and disease risks vary from country to country. You should take health advice about your own needs as early as possible and in good time before your departure. Sources of information include; www.fco.gov.uk, http://travelhealthpro.org.uk/, www.hpa.org.uk, your General Practitioner or a specialist clinic.

This tour is accessible to most people with a good level of fitness and normal mobility. It involves climbing of steep stairs and getting on and off coaches, boats and 4x4 vehicles. This tour is not suitable for anyone with walking difficulties.

The currency in India is the Rupee or Rs. The Rupee is a closed currency and officially you are not allowed to take any cash out of India. US Dollars and GBP are also widely accepted in India should you wish to keep an alternative currency on you. There are restrictions on taking Indian rupees into India. Visitors, including tourists, are not permitted to take any amount of Indian currency into the country. You can take cash or travellers' cheques (in pounds sterling or another foreign currency) and/or a bank card with you and exchange or withdraw rupees once in India. Cash machines will also be available throughout the tour in order to withdraw money in your local currency. It is important that you budget carefully and ensure you have the right form of currency before you arrive in the country

You will need to take extra money with you to cover any dinners where these are not mentioned on your itinerary and personal purchases. Approximately £300-£400 per person should be sufficient for the duration of your tour.

Tipping

It is customary to tip your guide and driver. This is at your discretion, but we recommend allowing approximately £3 per person daily. It is asked that you tip in pounds and not local currency, please do not give coins as these are difficult to exchange. If you want to tip your bell boy, porter etc this is at your discretion.

There is no minimum number of passengers required to run this trip. If we are not able to operate your departure date for any other reason, then you may be asked to change to a different date and a full refund will be made available to you should this alternative not be suitable

For your Add-On, guests will be met by drivers who are fully trained as driver guides with a wide knowledge of each destination.

Your accommodation is selected for convenience, location, comfort or character. Hotel accommodation is generally rated as local three to four-star standard, but please note there is no international classification system for hotels, and differences in facilities and quality do exist between the UK and India. All group tours hotels have private bathroom facilities and air-conditioning, where needed. Rest assured that all accommodation used by Mercury Holidays is regularly inspected by our staff and partners to ensure that standards meet your needs.

Breakfast is always a combination of Indian and western style and served in the hotel each morning (sometimes a packed breakfast depending on train journey). Lunch and dinner where applicable will be taken in hotel/wayside restaurants. A variety of restaurants are visited giving you the chance to experience a range of dishes and flavours.

There are some dry hotels in India, and some hotels where alcohol can be consumed on the premise but must be brought in from outside. Your guide will pre-warn you of this and if anyone in the group would like to purchase drinks before getting then he will arrange for you to visit a local shop and get what you need wherever possible.

Please contact Customer Experience for questions about other dietary requirements or allergy information. Vegan, vegetarian and non-spicy meal options are available, all meal requests need to be sent over to our suppliers before travel.

It is not recommended to drink the tap water, even in developed countries water may contain unfamiliar elements that can cause upset stomachs. In less developed countries water is not filtered in the same way. 2 bottles of water are supplied per person per day on your tour.

Dry days are when the sale of alcohol is not allowed. Most of the Indian states observe these days on major national festivals/occasions such as Republic Day in January, Independence Day in August and Gandhi Jayanti in October. Dry days are also observed during elections in India. In Kerala the liquor shops are closed on the 1st of every month and public holidays.

During visits to Churches/Temples please note long trousers or skirts should be worn to cover knees, long sleeved tops should be worn to cover shoulders and ladies should bring a scarf to cover your head.

On your arrival in Cochin or Trivandrum, you will be met by a representative from our local agent, Jayasree Travels & Tours, holding a sign displaying: “Mercury Holidays”. The Mercury Holidays/Jayasree Travels & Tours representative will show you to your transfer vehicle. Your guide will be able to answer any queries.

Jayasree Travels and Tours Contact Number: +0091 9526188860

Email Address: biju@jayasreetravels.com

Telephone number 24 hr:

Biju Unnikrishnan +0091 952 618 8860,

Ms Jayasree Vikraman +0091 974 700 5888,

Mrs Samitha Azhar +0091 974 471 3380,

Mrs Rekha Anil 0091 9744813380,

Mr Amit Bhardwaj +0091 995 898 8719

E-mail: biju@jayasreetravels.com