How Our Dream Trip Happened: The Story Behind the Journey
Visiting the magnificent architectural wonder of the Taj Mahal and exploring the deep historical streets of New Delhi has been a massive, lifelong dream of mine for a very long time. My wife, Sabeera, also carried a deep, deeply personal wish in her heart. Long before we had our children, she always firmly believed that once a baby officially enters our family, we must visit the holy city of Ajmer together with our child to seek blessings. Personally, I do not usually think too much about such traditional beliefs, but I saw her heartfelt wish as the absolute perfect opportunity to finally turn our grand travel dreams into reality! Sometimes, if you attempt to plan a massive, multi-city trip without a strong, underlying reason, parents and extended family members might worry unnecessarily or create a lot of logistical objections. But since this specific trip fulfilled a highly meaningful family wish, absolutely everyone was incredibly supportive and genuinely happy to let us go.
As soon as we collectively decided to go, luck immediately favored us. I started meticulously looking for budget flight tickets and miraculously found an incredible, unbeatable deal with Air India. A one-way flight ticket from Kozhikode directly to New Delhi was available for just Rs 4,500! Even better, our lively little boy, Shabil, had only a few short days remaining before officially completing his second year of age. Because he was technically still under two years old at the time of booking, he qualified perfectly for the special airline infant category rate, which cost us a mere Rs 1,000! It was an amazing, highly unexpected financial saving that set a great tone for the trip.
📌 Ishabil Fact: Maximizing Infant Fares
Most major airlines generously allow children under the age of two to travel officially as infants for a very small, discounted fraction of the full adult fare, usually sitting safely on a parent's lap. Strategically booking a family trip just before your young child turns two can successfully save you a massive amount of money on domestic and international flights!
The only small, totally manageable catch was that this incredibly low-fare flight was not a direct, non-stop route. It had two short, scheduled layovers—the first one at Coimbatore and the second one at the bustling Mumbai airport. While some busy travelers might look at a multi-stop flight as an exhausting, unnecessary hassle, I actively looked at it as a beautiful, disguised blessing. This was going to be the very first time Sabeera and little Shabil were ever going to physically fly in an airplane. I quickly realized that instead of just experiencing one routine takeoff and landing, these multiple stops would allow them to repeatedly experience the thrilling, magical feeling of flying high up into the fluffy clouds and landing safely back down on the tarmac! It turned out to be an absolutely wonderful, highly entertaining introduction to modern air travel for them.
TRIP AT A GLANCE
I safely booked the non-refundable return tickets and carefully planned a perfect gap of exactly 5 nights between our outbound and return flights to thoroughly explore the historical wonders of North India. Next, I desperately needed a highly reliable, structured holiday plan. While casually reading the local daily newspaper one quiet morning, I excitedly spotted an attractive advertisement for Malabar Travels. They were actively organizing a standard, comprehensive Golden Triangle group tour. I eagerly contacted their office to see exactly what they could offer us.
After a short, highly productive discussion with their agents, they generously gave us a fantastic, personalized itinerary upgrade. Instead of forcefully putting us on a noisy, crowded tour bus filled with dozens of strangers, they delightfully offered us a customized, fully private package. They guaranteed a dedicated, air-conditioned car entirely just for our family, a friendly, highly experienced Malayali driver who fluently spoke our native language, and excellent, highly-rated hotels with delicious breakfast and dinner buffets completely included in the price. We gladly and immediately accepted their generous offer, and our big travel plan was officially set in motion!
Our comprehensive travel package made absolutely everything incredibly easy and stress-free. It seamlessly included wonderful 3-star hotels to stay comfortably in each city. Every single morning, we thoroughly enjoyed a delicious, hot buffet breakfast at our hotel, and every night, we were warmly treated to a rich, tasty dinner spread. The absolute best part was securely having our very own private car accompanied by our wonderful, ever-smiling driver named Sabu. The inclusive package also fully covered all the annoying highway road tolls, state taxes, and monument parking fees. This essentially meant we did not have to spend a single, frustrating minute worrying about navigation directions, handling exact change at money counters, or managing complex travel logistics. We just focused entirely, 100 percent, on making happy, lifelong memories together as a family.
Day 1: Leaving Home and Flying High in the Sky
The highly anticipated big travel day finally arrived! We woke up very early in the dark morning with massive smiles stretching across our faces and hearts absolutely full of vibrant energy. To properly start our journey, my helpful cousin Sheref came directly to our house with his trusty auto-rickshaw. He had kindly offered to drive us safely to the Kozhikode airport, which is conveniently located just 18 kilometers away from our home. The early morning auto ride was incredibly cool, fresh, and wonderfully breezy. Little Shabil looked eagerly out of the open window with wide, excited eyes, absolutely loving the fast-moving, blurry sight of the tall trees and glowing streetlights whizzing by.
Soon enough, we pulled up directly to the bustling Kozhikode airport terminal. We warmly thanked cousin Sheref, exchanged our happy goodbyes, grabbed our heavy luggage, and walked inside. The airport was vibrantly alive and bustling with eager travelers, but our airline check-in process went surprisingly smoothly. After successfully completing our mandatory security checks, we walked happily down the long corridors toward our assigned boarding gates. Sabeera and Shabil were both literally bursting with visible excitement. For a young, observant child, absolutely everything in an airport looks exactly like a giant, fascinating magic show, and Shabil simply could not stop pointing his tiny fingers and giggling joyfully.
We happily boarded the large aircraft and comfortably settled into our assigned seats. The very first brief stretch of our multi-stop flight was simply from Kozhikode to neighboring Coimbatore. This was an incredibly super short hop, taking only about 40 minutes in total air time! Because it was such an extremely quick flight, there were very few paying passengers currently on board. It honestly almost felt exactly like we had rented a large, luxurious private jet entirely all to ourselves. When we landed smoothly in Coimbatore, the plane came to a complete halt on the hot tarmac for a short while. A significantly large crowd of eager new passengers quickly boarded the plane here, and within mere minutes, almost every single seat in the cabin was entirely full.
Next, the captain loudly announced our imminent takeoff from Coimbatore heading toward Mumbai. This specific leg of the journey took roughly about two full hours. Since it was a significantly longer flight, the wonderful, highly attentive airline cabin crew graciously served us a warm, incredibly delicious meal. We truly, deeply appreciated the hot food because our early morning breakfast had completely worn off, and we were rapidly starting to feel quite hungry. The professional air hostesses working on this flight deliberately went out of their way to take excellent, extra care of us. Because Shabil was officially traveling in the delicate infant category, they constantly kept checking in on our row, promptly brought us cups of warm water whenever needed, and actively did absolutely everything possible to keep our baby content and smiling. It made us feel incredibly safe, valued, and welcome.
😄 Ishabil Fun: The Triple Takeoff
Because our highly unique flight route literally went up and down three separate times, Sabeera hilariously got the ultimate, full "frequent flyer airplane experience" all packed into just one single ticket! By the time we experienced the third and final takeoff from Mumbai heading to Delhi, she was already casually sitting back like an incredibly seasoned, bored frequent flyer, while little energetic Shabil genuinely thought the massive airplane was just a giant, highly entertaining jumping toy built specifically for him!
We soon landed heavily at the massive, sprawling Mumbai international airport. We fortunately did not have to leave the cool aircraft cabin during this brief stop. We stayed entirely relaxed in our comfortable seats while the highly professional, uniformed cleaning staff came rushing inside to quickly and efficiently tidy up the cabin spaces. We watched them work together with amazing, coordinated speed to make absolutely everything neat and spotless for the next wave of flyers. Some departing passengers warmly said their goodbyes and left the plane, while a completely fresh, bustling group of travelers quickly joined us for the final flight segment. Our absolute last journey was from Mumbai directly to New Delhi, and this specific flight was absolutely, completely packed with people. We were highly and pleasantly surprised to receive yet another nice, warm meal on this flight too. Happily eating delicious food and gazing dreamily out of the scratched window at the beautiful, fluffy white clouds made the long travel time simply fly by.
Finally, our large plane touched down incredibly safely at the sprawling New Delhi airport. The air completely outside the terminal was distinctly warm, and the modern airport building looked incredibly grand, featuring massive glass walls and beautiful architectural designs! We walked eagerly out to the busy arrival gates, where we very easily met our designated driver, Sabu. He was patiently holding a printed paging board with our names and instantly greeted us with a massive, highly welcoming smile. He immediately and kindly helped us load our heavy, bulky suitcases directly into the car's spacious trunk. Sabu then expertly drove us through the bright, glittering, fast-moving city lights of nighttime Delhi and dropped us off safely at the Pluto Hotel. The Pluto Hotel is a beautiful, highly maintained 3-star property featuring incredibly clean, highly spacious rooms and very soft, inviting beds. We went straight down to the elegant dining hall, thoroughly enjoyed a wonderful, spicy hot dinner, and went to sleep very early. We desperately needed to fully recharge our bodily batteries because Day 2 was promising to be a very long and highly spectacular road trip deep into the desert state of Rajasthan.
Day 2: The Green Road to Rajasthan and Visiting Ajmer
Our highly anticipated second day started very early in the bright morning. Sabu was already professionally parked outside the hotel lobby and patiently waiting for us with a completely clean, shiny car. We hurriedly packed our small day bags, grabbed a very quick, energizing bite to eat from the breakfast buffet, and enthusiastically hit the wide open highway. As we drove swiftly away from the borders of New Delhi, we smoothly passed straight through the highly modern, booming corporate city of Gurgaon. I was completely, utterly amazed looking out of the passenger window. Gurgaon is absolutely filled to the brim with towering, ultra-modern glass skyscrapers that look exactly like they are physically touching the clouds! There were giant, incredibly luxurious shopping malls featuring sleek glass walls literally everywhere. It looked incredibly modern, highly advanced, and completely different from what I had expected.
After swiftly leaving the concrete jungle of Gurgaon completely behind, we smoothly entered the beautiful, agriculturally rich state of Haryana. Here, the entire visual view completely transformed in an instant. The towering concrete and glass buildings completely disappeared, suddenly replaced by lush, incredibly green agricultural fields stretching out as far as the naked eye could possibly see into the horizon. Local, hardworking farmers were already out working diligently in the moist soil, and the cool morning air felt amazingly crisp, pure, and refreshingly clean. A little while later, our speeding car finally crossed the official state border, bringing us directly into the majestic state of Rajasthan.
Before officially making this grand trip, whenever I vividly thought about Rajasthan, my mind always automatically pictured a highly dry, unbearably hot desert land completely covered in endless, rolling yellow sand dunes and populated by wild, wandering camels. But as our trusty driver Sabu drove us significantly deeper into the state's interior, I was completely, utterly shocked! There was absolutely no dry, barren sand to be seen anywhere; instead, there was surprisingly beautiful, highly vibrant green scenery thriving everywhere. The massive farming fields were bright, healthy green, and tall, leafy trees beautifully lined both sides of the smooth, paved highway. It looked incredibly vibrant, remarkably healthy, and intensely picturesque.
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Right around prime breakfast time, Sabu thoughtfully stopped the car at a highly beautiful, impeccably clean roadside highway restaurant. This specific restaurant wonderfully featured a lovely, well-maintained green garden park situated right next to the outdoor seating area. We happily sat down by the large glass window and immediately ordered a highly classic, highly authentic North Indian breakfast. The waiters promptly brought us plates of steaming hot, incredibly fresh Rajasthani-style aloo parathas. These are exceptionally delicious, thick flatbreads generously stuffed with warmly spiced, perfectly mashed potatoes. They served them beautifully alongside small bowls of cold, soothingly creamy curd and a highly tangy, deeply spicy local pickle. The traditional food was incredibly, deeply satisfying. After completely finishing our heavy breakfast, we spent some valuable time walking slowly around the small garden park to properly stretch our cramped legs while happily letting little Shabil run around energetically on the soft, dewy grass. Soon enough, we eagerly hopped back into the car to excitedly continue our road journey.
We drove smoothly and continuously for a few more hours. We successfully managed to entirely bypass the notoriously heavy, polluted city traffic of Jaipur by smartly using the newly built, highly wide outer ring road. Our absolute main driving target for the early morning hours was to directly reach the highly revered holy destination of Ajmer. Finally, at precisely around 11 o'clock in the bright morning, we pulled slowly into the city limits. Sabu expertly navigated the car through the highly lively, incredibly bustling, narrow streets and safely dropped us off right near the famous, historic Ajmer Sharif Dargah area.
The Spiritual Peace of Ajmer Sharif Dargah
From our designated drop-off point, we had to physically walk a relatively short distance to finally reach the main holy shrine. The extremely narrow, winding lanes leading directly up to the Dargah were absolutely filled to the brim with thousands of eager, chanting people, highly vibrant local shops selling incredibly colorful cloths and souvenirs, and the deeply lovely, intense sweet aromas of burning holy incense and mountains of fresh red rose flowers. We securely held each other's hands tightly and moved very slowly, respectfully through the massive, swaying crowd. Sabeera carefully wrapped a highly beautiful, modest scarf completely over her head, and we gently, respectfully tied a small piece of clean cloth securely around little Shabil's head as well.
⭐ Ishabil Tips: Visiting the Dargah
When you plan to visit the holy Ajmer Sharif Dargah, always remember to wear highly modest clothes that fully cover both your shoulders and your knees. Also, make absolutely sure to carry a clean handkerchief or a large scarf with you, because absolutely everyone must strictly cover their head out of deep respect before officially entering the inner holy area.
The Ajmer Sharif Dargah is a profoundly, deeply holy place recognized around the world. It is the highly sacred, final tomb of the world-famous, deeply revered Sufi saint, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti. The exact moment we stepped past the massive main iron gates and into the large, open white marble courtyard, an absolutely incredible, overwhelming feeling of deep calm and spiritual quiet instantly came over us. Even though there were literally thousands of passionate devotees walking constantly all around us, the core atmosphere felt deeply, intensely peaceful. We saw ordinary people from all kinds of vastly different cultures, backgrounds, and religions standing peacefully side-by-side, praying quietly together in absolute, beautiful harmony. Some people were openly weeping emotional tears of deep devotion, while others sat perfectly silently meditating on the cool, polished marble floor. We slowly walked closer to the ornate inner shrine, offered our deeply heartfelt prayers, and humbly asked for healthy, long-lasting blessings for our family and our little growing son. Physically feeling that highly unique, charged spiritual atmosphere was an intense, emotional experience we will undoubtedly cherish forever.
📌 Ishabil Fact: The Saint of Ajmer
The highly revered Ajmer Sharif Dargah specifically belongs to the legendary 13th-century Sufi saint, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti. It is widely and deeply believed across India that absolutely anyone who visits and prays here with a completely pure, honest heart magically gets all of their deepest wishes completely fulfilled.
Enjoying the Cool Breeze at Ana Sagar Lake
After deliberately spending some highly peaceful, deeply meditative time reflecting inside the Dargah complex, we slowly and quietly walked back out into the loud, colorful market streets. We easily hired a loud, rattling local auto-rickshaw to quickly take us back to the main designated parking zone where Sabu was patiently waiting with the air-conditioned car. However, before entirely leaving the beautiful city of Ajmer behind, we collectively decided to take a very short, highly scenic drive to see another completely beautiful, famous local attraction called Ana Sagar Lake.
Ana Sagar Lake is a truly massive, completely breathtaking body of shimmering water located beautifully right in the very center of the bustling city. It is an incredibly ancient, highly impressive artificial lake, which incredibly means it was painstakingly crafted entirely by human hands nearly a thousand years ago! When we finally arrived at the paved banks, the stunning, expansive view immediately took our breath away. The bright, sparkling blue water stretched out incredibly wide, with highly beautiful, rocky Aravalli hills rising gently and protectively in the distant background. Situated right next to the rippling water, there are several highly elegant, brilliantly carved white marble pavilions and a highly beautiful, well-maintained green garden widely known to locals as Daulat Bagh.
We thoroughly enjoyed taking a very slow, highly relaxing stroll along the smooth stone pathways while a wonderful, incredibly refreshing, cool breeze blew directly off the rippling water. It felt absolutely, unbelievably incredible after walking for hours through the highly warm, crowded, and sunny city markets. Little Shabil absolutely loved closely watching the tiny, splashing ripples forming on the lake's bright surface and excitedly pointed his tiny little hands at the elegant white birds flying gracefully low over the water looking for fish. We happily took some completely gorgeous, memorable family photos with the highly sparkling blue lake shining brightly behind us. It was the absolute, undeniable perfect scenic spot to sit down, completely relax, and rest our tired feet before officially starting our next long highway drive.
Driving to the Pink City of Jaipur
After our highly relaxing, incredibly breezy lake visit, we eagerly hopped right back into our comfortable private car with Sabu. Our very next major travel stop was the wildly famous, incredibly historic royal city of Jaipur, which travelers all across the world fondly call the Pink City. Along the massive, winding highway connecting Ajmer directly to Jaipur, we happily pulled over at a highly nice, incredibly clean local restaurant to thoroughly enjoy a classic, traditional Indian lunch. The incredibly spicy, mouth-wateringly fresh food gave us plenty of much-needed physical energy for the long afternoon journey ahead of us.
As we finally neared the bustling outskirts of Jaipur as evening approached, the main highway suddenly became incredibly, overwhelmingly busy. The wide road was completely filled with a massive, chaotic stream of honking cars, highly decorated heavy trucks, massive passenger buses, and thousands of speedy local motorbikes. Sabu brilliantly showed off his truly excellent, highly experienced driving skills by carefully navigating the car entirely safely and completely smoothly right through the incredibly heavy, unpredictable traffic. As the bright sun began to finally set, beautifully painting the sky with orange and purple colors, and as dusk finally fell over the massive city, we smoothly pulled up right to the front doors of our highly lovely, pre-booked accommodation, the modern Peppermint Hotel.
The highly rated Peppermint Hotel looked incredibly beautiful, exceptionally modern, and deeply welcoming. The highly helpful, incredibly polite front desk hotel staff processed our paperwork and officially checked us into our incredibly cozy, perfectly quiet room within mere minutes. We were quite understandably exhausted after an incredibly long, action-packed day of road travel stretching all the way from New Delhi to Ajmer and finally deep into Jaipur. We eagerly took a highly refreshing, warm shower, quickly changed into our highly comfortable, loose night clothes, and walked slowly down to the hotel's beautifully decorated main restaurant. We thoroughly enjoyed an absolutely amazing, mouth-watering dinner filled completely with incredibly rich, deeply authentic local Rajasthani curry dishes. After completely filling our hungry bellies to the brim, we went straight back up into our quiet room, climbed happily into our incredibly cozy, soft beds, and fell fast asleep almost instantly, feeling incredibly happy, deeply satisfied, and overwhelmingly grateful for experiencing such an absolutely unforgettable, magical family adventure.
A Quick Look at the Rest of Our Holiday Plan
Our completely magical, deeply memorable family trip certainly didn't stop there! Here is a very brief, highly exciting look ahead at exactly what we happily did during the remaining, action-packed days of our custom-built holiday package:
- Day 3: Exploring Jaipur and Heading to Agra – We eagerly spent the entire bright morning actively exploring the incredibly grand, highly majestic royal palaces and massive historic defensive forts of Jaipur. Late in the hot afternoon, Sabu carefully drove us completely across the beautiful country directly to the city of Agra, where we comfortably stayed the entire night.
- Day 4: The Magical Taj Mahal and Delhi – Incredibly early in the misty morning, we visited the absolutely world-famous, jaw-dropping Taj Mahal. It looked incredibly, unbelievably beautiful glowing in the soft early morning light! We also proudly visited the massive, highly grand red walls of Agra Fort. In the late afternoon, we drove straight back to New Delhi and smoothly checked into our comfortable hotel for a highly relaxing two-night stay.
- Day 5: Discovering the Capital City – We enthusiastically spent the whole, incredibly long day actively seeing the highly famous, historic sights of both New Delhi and Old Delhi, including visiting big national monuments, beautifully maintained green parks, and highly bustling, deeply local crowded markets.
- Day 6: Saying Goodbye – On our absolute final, highly bittersweet day, we thoroughly enjoyed our very last, delicious hot breakfast buffet at the Delhi hotel. Sabu then drove us incredibly safely back to the massive New Delhi airport to officially catch our long flight heading back home to Kerala.
This entire, highly customized trip was an absolute, literal dream come true for our happy little family. From the completely wonderful, highly comfortable Air India flights and little Shabil's incredibly massive infant ticket financial savings, all the way to the deeply peaceful, spiritual moments praying in Ajmer and witnessing the gorgeous, surprisingly green agricultural fields of Rajasthan, absolutely every single second of the journey was incredibly perfect. We successfully created completely priceless, highly magical memories together that we will proudly and happily keep securely in our hearts forever. Please make absolutely sure to keep checking back on ishabil.com as I will excitedly write down the incredibly detailed, highly colorful stories of our very next days actively exploring the wonders of Jaipur, Agra, and Delhi!
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