Now, this might sound strange to some of you but yes, it is true that my wife, Asmita drove from Gurgaon to Mumbai with our one-year-old baby boy Arvik on board. Let me give you a larger context and purpose of this journey. It was our son’s first birthday in April and my sister in law’s wedding in the month of May which was in Mumbai. It is also our hometown. So to celebrate both we were planning to go to Mumbai.
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It was time to book flight tickets and my adventurous wife says let’s take a drive to Mumbai. We have driven before from Bangalore to Mumbai and many other places which are around 10 to 12 hours drive one side and of course I don’t drive. With a one-year-old and 24 hours of driving, I was shocked to hear that she wants to drive and once my wife makes a decision, you cannot say “NO” to her.
While there are multiple routes to get to Mumbai, we shortlisted the one which goes from Rajasthan – Gujrat – Mumbai as the best bet from a safety standpoint. As we got closer to the date, my jitters converted to the excitement for the journey and I was really looking forward to the delicacies we would enjoy along the way while crossing multiple states.
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Day 1 – On a sunny Saturday morning, we left for Mumbai via NH 8 with the route of Jaipur – Udaipur – Godhra – Surat – Mumbai which was 24 hours drive and the plan was completely chalked out with clear responsibilities to me. I, the father needs to keep our kid engaged, fed and rested which allows her to cover as much distance as possible. With an open road and our brand new Creta, it was an invitation for her to keep driving at 100 – 120 kilometre per hour.
Our first break was brunch at Jaipur which took us about 3 and a half hours and on the way we enjoyed some parathas and local Dhaba food. We continued our drive and took a halt at Udaipur at 8:30 in the night. It was a straight 7-hour drive. NH48 is full of Dhabas and restaurants, one can enjoy amazing highway drive and the roads are really good.
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We reached Udaipur and decided to stay in a hotel close to the highway so that we can start early next morning. Here, we enjoyed the great view of Lake Pichola and dinner there in Upre restaurant was good and strongly recommend eating Lal mass here. With a one-year-old, day 1 was really good because my baby generally loves long drives and mostly eats and sleep throughout the journey, I also kept switching from the front seat to back seat for baby to get some space and change. We stayed at a
Day 2 –Around 5 am we left Udaipur hotel to drive towards Gujarat NH 48 and our next halt was Godhra for brunch. Roads are still much better and the highway is quite busy with a lot of cars and trucks, we crossed Rajasthan Gujarat border and enjoyed our brunch Gujarati thali.
Now it was time for baby to sleep and for me to give some company to my wife and motivate to drive and reach the next destination soon. Asmita didn’t even once make me feel that she is tired or bored of driving and also thanked our Hyundai Creta which was pushing her to drive more and more and that too non stop. We had a plan, whenever the baby slept we would not stop and keep driving till he gets up, which also helps us cover more distance.
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By early evening we were at Surat and it was time for us to stop for tea and some snack. Arvik is up and happy because we all were excited to go to our hometown Mumbai and we were almost there. Post snack we started to drive on the same highway and reach Mumbai via Thane to Kanjurmarg by 6.30 pm.
When we reached, we were welcomed with all smiles and awed by the lady driving from Gurgaon to Mumbai. It was a proud moment for the family. Here is a proud husband who can say that my wife is a better driver than any man and she definitely amps up the percentage of proficient woman drivers.
Having a baby like ours who was extremely supportive and at times it felt he enjoyed the drive and you have a partner like mine who drives, sings, feeds while driving (Yeah I know unbelievable but true, completely safe) is a blessing. To summarize we feel, all crazy travellers should try this drive once purely for the thrill of good road, great drive and some lip-smacking food.
Here are some tips if you are, like us, travelling non-stop from one state to another.
– Eat light while driving long routes
– Keep snacks and water handy so don’t need to stop for these small things which consume time.
– When travelling with a small baby, carry toys which your baby likes and some healthy snack, so you don’t end up giving more outside and unhealthy food.
– You may feel tired to leave early next day but it’s better to start early which helps you cover the good distance by midday.
– Keep car back seat vacant and clear which helps the baby move around and not stuck to one place.
– Try local delicious food of Rajasthan and Gujarat.
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We are so proud to see women like Asmita break stereotypes and set an example to all who think women are not great drivers. And here is to a husband like Sachin who supported her in the adventure!
This article was contributed to Curly Tales by Sachin. If you have a story to tell us, drop us an email to hey@curlytales.com