Family road trips are the best. You are free to make your schedule as you go, and you always wind up having a bit of old-school fun in the form of car games and food adventures. Consider planning a road trip in India? Take cues from Kshitij Bhatnagar who went on multiple road trips with his parents aged 59, his wife, and five-year-old son. Kshitij has been travelling long distances with his parents since 2004. He says he’s lucky to have found his wife who loves adventure equally. Very seldom do they choose flight or train and prefer to drive to any place they wish to visit. Hear his story in his own words.
Also read: Mumbai To Goa Road Trip: Here’s Where To Eat, Stay & Relax On The Way
The Start Of Our Adventures: Jaipur To Badrinath
Our adventure started 20 years back when I drove to Badrinath from Jaipur with my parents. We covered a distance of 1700km and crossed Haridwar, Hrishikesh and Joshimath. Although we went in our sedan, it turned out to be one of the most challenging drives. It was a test of ultimate driving skills negotiating between narrow and steep roads and
encountering heavy vehicles at almost 3000 meters above sea level. The roads were rough, and at times, we felt acrophobic by merely looking down. After Joshimath, it became tough to drive on roads which could barely accommodate one vehicle. After every hour, they were releasing one-way traffic from both the sides alternately to
eliminate the possibility of congestion. Besides, broken roads and waterlogging made driving all the more difficult. While the journey was a bit rough, the destination was as heavenly. Once we reached Badrinath, I got a divine feeling of reaching heaven, with ultimate snow-capped mountains and temple beneath them. Badrinath Temple To Reopen But No Pilgrims Allowed
The Yearly Ritual: Mumbai-Jaipur-Mumbai
We do Mumbai to Jaipur every year via road twice covering around 2400km distance. We have been doing this since 2008, which means by now, we have travelled 54,000km in total. It is such a great feeling to have homes in both the cities as we can travel anytime as per our comfort. We visit Jaipur twice every year in our SUV. On the way, we cover Surat, Baroda, Godhra, Modasa, Shyamlaji, Udaipur and Ajmer. We start from Mumbai around 5am, and after reaching Udaipur in the evening, we prefer to spend the night in the city of lakes and start early morning again. The roads are excellent. However, there is a long patch of single carriage between Udaipur to Ajmer, which makes the drive gruelling. On the way, we enjoy meals in the many eateries and thelas and have identified the best places to eat. Our favourites are the Honest restaurant in Gujrat which fall between Surat and Baroda, Khalsa in Udaipur where you get the best Dhaba food. At a nearby Place called Nimbahera, you get perhaps the best Kachori in Rajasthan, the outlet is named Mausam Bahar. The Lohagarh Fort Resort In Jaipur Has Tents With Jacuzzi To Laze With Your Bae
Road Trip In The Time Of Corona
One of the challenging experiences happened recently near Godhra-Modasa, where our car broke down in the middle of nowhere. Our entire family and luckily we got the contact of my relative who was stayed nearby. He soon reached us, we exchanged our cars, and from there we drove to Jaipur. We went to Jaipur from Mumbai during the pandemic too! We wore masks at all times and stacked our car with a lot of food items. The only time we grabbed outside food was from the Dominos outlet, which seemed to be taking all the safety precautions. Here are 8 Emergency Road Trip Essentials You Need To Have In Your Car.
Tip: On a road trip, it better to carry a pocket hand sanitiser along with toilet seat sanitiser to attend to nature’s call on the way.
Adventures Down South: Ooty & Coonor from Mumbai
One of the most adventurous trips covered in recent times was Ooty with having to endure 36 hairpin curves of the Ghats. Our SUV was tough enough to give us the confidence to cover 3000km up and down the hill station. Ooty is easily one of the most beautiful places we have been to in South India. While driving back, due to steep curves, our brake pads suffered heavy friction, and we were stranded. Luckily, we found a Mahindra workshop at a nearby location, where we got the car fixed and returned.
Madurai-Rameshwaram-Dhanushkodi From Mumbai Covering 4000km
The Mumbai to Kodaikanal is our most memorable road trips. We visited Meenakshi temple in Rameshwaram and drove to the end of Dhanushkodi-Ramsetu to experience one of the most enthralling experiences. We thrived on coconut water during the entire trip, and there was no shortage of the same during the drive on the road. Scrumptious dosas, idlis and coffees in the remotest areas of the streets kept us wanting for more. However, authentic North Indian food could have been better. The best part of driving in Tamil Nadu was the beautiful smooth roads and the picturesque views. India’s First Vertical Sea Rail Bridge To Come Up In Rameshwaram Connecting Mainland India With Pamban.
Exploring Central India: Jaipur-MP Covering 2000km
A pleasure trip turned adventurous, when after covering Ujjain, Ratlam and Bhopal, we started the journey to Satpura National Park. We heavily relied on Google Maps and enjoyed the scenic beauty of MP. After driving for close to 300km, the google voice said: “You have arrived”. We realised there was not a single soul and that we have reached to the wrong side of the jungle where no visitors would dare to come. It was the densest area of the forest open for VIPs and ministers. Seeing our condition, the forest department allowed us entry; however, they did not have any SUVs
to let us in. To make things worse, we realised looking at the fuel tank that it’s close to E.
A Night Stranded In A Jungle
The guest house was located almost 50km inside the jungle. Gathering all the courage and chanting “Ram” every second, we embarked on the unknown path. While the sun was briskly setting down and we could see the wild boar, fox and deer on the kachcha road we had taken praying to god to keep the tyres in one piece. We finally reached the guest
house at a dark and spooky place. The experience of the night was horrifying as we could hear all the wild animals growling, squeaking, chirping, roaring and simpering throughout the night. The next morning, we were lucky to receive the help of the attendants who got diesel available from a nearby village just enough for us to get out of the jungle. This was the horrifying experience yet memorable for us. Planning To Go Wild? Here’s Everything You Need To Pack For A Jungle Safari Adventure!
300000km Covered In Last 7 Years
We also made multiple trips from Mumbai to Mahabaleshwar, Lonavala, Pune, Igatpuri, Kolhapur and Satara covering a lot of Maharashtra. We have done Jaipur to Bikaner and Udaipur, covering entire Rajasthan. Down south, we have covered Karnataka to Belgaum, Bengaluru, Mysuru, covering many parts of Karnataka, MP, and Uttarakhand. If I combine, we drove a distance of more than 300000km driven over the last six to seven years in our loyal Tata Manza, TUV 300 and Wagon R. We feel that our journey has just started and there are lots to be explored in this incredible country.
Everyone in my family is a foodie, and we love trying out different delicacies and varieties of food. These trips would not have been possible, had we not been travel enthusiasts with a great passion for long road trips. What separates us from other travel lovers is that, for us, age does not matter. After having travelled and covered so many places across the country, we would now like to make an international road trip and what better than Thailand?