My 6813 Kms Road Trip Covering 13 States in 17 Days

[AR Ram]

Hi Guys!!!!!

Came back to Bangalore on 11 th Feb 2013 morning after 17 days Road Trip.

Originated from Kerala on 25th Jan 2013.

Car : My favorite Skoda Octavia 1.9 Tdi

People travelled : Me (self drive)..56yrs, My wife..50yrs

States covered : Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhyapradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh

Important Places covered/Route : Kerala, Bangalore, Pune, Shirdi, Jaipur, Shimla, Kullu, Manali, Delhi, Agra, Gwalior, Jhansi, Sagar, Nagpur, Hyderabad

Distance covered 6313kms, and 500kms yet to go, Total : 6813kms.

Weather : Maximum . 32 deg C ; Minimum. -4 deg C

Camera used : Nikon DSLR D5200 (18-105 lens) 24.7MP, Sony CS 7MP and Tripod

Essentials Carried : First Aid Kit(Includes emergency medicines), Electric Kettle (Tea bags, Coffee, Sugar/Sugarfree), Immersion Heater (For emergency), Complete Tool kit, Tubeless Tyre puncture kit, Emergency light/Torch, MMI gps, Road Atlas, Laptop/datacard

Detailed TL follows with photos

 

[dharmesh]

Re: My 6813kms Road Trip covering 13 states in 17 days

WOW... Glued on to the thread. Pics please.

Would be great to read your experienceon the tour.

 

[amit1km]

Re: My 6813kms Road Trip covering 13 states in 17 days

Superb Man..at 56 you have the enthusiasm to drive more than 6000KM. Something to learn from you. Hats off to both of you.

Please bring the complete story.

 

[freakdude]

Re: My 6813kms Road Trip covering 13 states in 17 days

People travelled : Me (self drive)..56yrs, My wife..50yrs

States covered : Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhyapradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh

Important Places covered/Route : Kerala, Bangalore, Pune, Shirdi, Jaipur, Shimla, Kullu, Manali, Delhi, Agra, Gwalior, Jhansi, Sagar, Nagpur, Hyderabad

Hats off to you SIR, you truly are an ENTHUSIAST.
Great teaser, waiting for an elaborated travelogue with loads of pics!!
Just out of curiosity, you mentioned SAGAR, is this the same place that has the famous JOG FALLS.

freakdude.

 

[ronz_2507]

Re: My 6813kms Road Trip covering 13 states in 17 days

Hats off to your amazing trip! eagerly awaiting the pictures and a detailed travelog.

 

[jayesh]

Re: My 6813kms Road Trip covering 13 states in 17 days

Great trip, 6813 km 13 states 17 days..that do self driven..hats off to you and your better half , no such long trips can be accomplished if you don't have good moral support and if you have your wife's support what more do you need.

awaiting pictures and detailed travel log.

 

[AR Ram]

Re: My 6813kms Road Trip covering 13 states in 17 days

Hats off to you SIR, you truly are an ENTHUSIAST.
Great teaser, waiting for an elaborated travelogue with loads of pics!!
Just out of curiosity, you mentioned SAGAR, is this the same place that has the famous JOG FALLS.

freakdude.

No freak dude, this Sagar is in MP, between Jhansi and Nagpur

 

[rekharam]

Re: My 6813kms Road Trip covering 13 states in 17 days

It is nice to know you covered close to 7K kilometers in 17 days. We are waiting for more updates and definitely more pictures of place covered.

 

[AR Ram]

My 6813 kms Road Trip covering 13 Sates in 17 days

Day 1 : Palakkad to Bangalore – 472 kms

It was on 25th January 2013, I started the journey from Palakkad (Kerala), after I got my car serviced at Vision Skoda, Thrissur three days before. After filling up tank at Palakkad,Started around 1pm, via Coimbatore, Salem, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Hosur and at Hosur I made a fuel top up as the diesel price is less in TN and reached Bangalore at 8pm covering a distance of 472kms. Since I was travelling alone till Bangalore I couldn’t take any pics.

Day 2 : Bangalore to Shirdi – 1044 kms

On 26th January 2013 at 4.15am, Me and my wife started the trip from Bangalore. Since I have been planning this trip almost for three months, I have booked all the accommodation in advance through Cleartrip. We had taken all necessary woolen clothing and the trip was well planned. We crossed Tumkur at 5.40 am. About 8.30 am near Davengere at Hotel Kamath we had the breakfast after breaking the journey for 45 minutes. We continued, entered Maharashtra border at 12.40 pm and at Kolhapur byepass, I filled Diesel again, and at Sangli bye pass, had the lunch at 1.45 pm,. All the way the road was good except for few diversions till Hubli, as the lane expansion work was going on. Entered Pune city at 4.30 pm, and the MMI navigator was so precise, took us out to Shirdi Road in 45 minutes. After dinner at Ahmednagar we continued and reached Shirdi at 8.40 pm. The traffic was heavy from Pune to Shirdi because of holidays and weekend. We had the booking at Hotel Sai Residence, 4 kms away from the temple at Nasik road. I preferred this hotel because they have a secured car parking area in the front.

90589 is the km reading from Kerala
91061 kms, from Bangalore
92105 kms, at Shirdi

More to follow. High resolution pics are taking long time to get uploaded. Any suggestion?

 

[Fyzy09]

Kudos to you for your dedication towards driving.
Eager to read the rest of the TL. Please bring it on.

 

[Akash]

Re: My 6813 kms Road Trip covering 13 Sates in 17 days

More to follow. High resolution pics are taking long time to get uploaded. Any suggestion?

Better to resize such pics because you can upload the file with max size lesser than 1MB.

BTW me too waiting for the pics.

 

[AR Ram]

My 6813 kms Road Trip covering 13 Sates in 17 days

Pics taken between Bangalore an Shirdi. Pic quality is reduced due to compression.

More details and pics to follow

 

[ADS99]

Superb job. Hats off to you. Did you drive alone or even your wife helped. Please share about your trip and add some more pictures. Awaiting for your pictures. I too had a SKODA. I love her very much.

 

[AR Ram]

Day 3 : Shirdi Sai Dharshan

27th January 2013, we parked the car at the hotel, because parking will be a problem near the temple, hired an auto to go to the temple which is 4 kms away. Had breakfast, before we stood in the queue at 8.30 am. Around 10.30 am we had a very good Dharshan, and at 11 am came out. Went around the temple had a bit of shopping, had lunch at 2 pm. 3 pm we reached the Hotel. Took rest for some time, had dinner at 9 pm, packed up all the baggage and retired for the day.

More to follow

 

[AR Ram]

Day 4 : Shirdi to Jaipur -1023 kms

28th January 2013, we started from Shirdi at 5.25 am to Jaipur. Crossed Malegaon at 7 am, and at 7.15 am, a small accident occurred. I was going at 130 kms speed, I saw a dog being chased by another at a distance of 200 feet, didn’t anticipate anything further I proceeded with the same speed and at a distance of 50 feet, there came the third one and a huge too, don’t know from where. I jammed the brake, wheels are locked but no use. Hit the dog, it died even without a scream. I took the car on the side to see the damage. Oh!! My main grill, bottom grill, and right side grill and the A/c condenser too damaged. Got a shock for a movement. However the vehicle is in perfect running condition. By the the time couple of vehicles stopped and offered help, and we were told that this is a routine thing there.

I started the journey again and before reaching Dhule bye pass, had breakfast .Later I saw dogs lying dead at every 10 kms. As I was carrying the vehicle manual the contact numbers of all Skoda service centers were available. Around 10.30 am I called up the Indore dealer, but found the numbers are changed. Then I called up Jaipur and explained my emergency situation, and some how I got one of the Ex Skoda service center number. I called them up, informed the situation, and they offered me the best they can. I was totally relaxed hearing this. Since I had all the hotel booked in advance I couldn’t make any changes in my travel plan. I continued the drive, told my wife that we have to skip the sight seeing at Jaipur on the next day. She gave me all the moral support.

The route we went is Ratlam – Chittaurgarh bye pass – Bhilwara bye pass and Jaipur. For more than 150 kms the road condition was very bad and single road as well. Reached Jaipur city at 10 pm and the hotel at 10.30 pm. We had a late lunch in between, and skipped the dinner. We were carrying lot of fruits and snacks and so no worries for food. Around 11 pm we retired for the day.

More to come with pics.