Simplifying Trips KOTA-SHIVPURI-JHANSI-FATEHPUR-ALLAHABAD

Hello all and thank you for reading and sharing my previous blogs.
In this blog I will share my experience from kota to allahabad.

Day 2  02/04/2016
After having a sound sleep and series of conversation with uncle, aunt and cousin brother the previous day till 1'o clock, it was not possible for us to start the next leg of our journey early. We woke up at 7:30 am and realized that we are quite late enough to depart. We did all our morning course and final meetings with grandpa, grandma, uncles, aunts & cousin and left at 9:00 am.This day we had to reach to allahabad any how to keep the schedule as planned. It was a journey of about 720 kms and the thought of crossing madhya pradesh was a concern as we all had a perception that roads in MP are not that good. The road till shivpuri was of RCC which is around 235 kms from kota. All though the RCC roads were not that great as it was from chittorgarh and had potholes and patch work. But we were able to cross that patch well within 3 hrs. One thing which has to be said about the roads in MP that the newly constructed roads were a treat to drive on. Not a single pothole and patch work you will find on these roads and one can easily cruise on whatever speed they are comfortable with. I was able to reach 140 kmph and other thing was you can easily maintain that speed for as long as you want. The ghat section before shivpuri is another treat to drive through. All though the surrounding greenery was not that green enough but still it was good scenery to look at.

The next stop decided was at Jhansi for our lunch, it was 12:15 pm the time we crossed shivpuri and jhansi was almost 100 kms from here,Our four legged passenger was also enjoying the hiccup free drive and was comfortably enjoying through the window. The moment you reach the outskirts of jhansi the road condition starts to deteriorate and soon you will find yourself among potholes. Jhansi bypass was under construction and we had to cross through the city which was cramped. We halted at a small dhaba for our and our pet's lunch and started after 50 mins of break. It was 2:45 pm and still allahabad was quite distant from this place. We got fuel tank full and started again. My all passengers were taking small naps in between and lost their nap the moment we entered the state limits of UTTAR PRADESH. How can one take a sound sleep on these kind of roads, full of potholes and crests -troughs and patchwork. Allahabad was still 350 kms and we had thought when we will be reaching our destination if the road conditions would be like this. JHANSI to ORAI was really a though patch to cover. From no where it seems to be a national highway, but yes it was NH-2. From bhognipur we had to merge onto SH-46 which will take us to fathepur and from there we will be merging onto AH-1. The State highway was just a two lane road but had light traffic which somewhat made easy us to cruise,as after failing to cover the distance on NH-2 in that time we had some expectation from UP government on which they stood sound. It was 5'o clock and we merged onto AH-1. The moment you merge on Asian Highway-1 you had a smile on your face and a feeling of relaxation and you know the kilometers will be less now to cover on a such a fantastic road. Our four legged passenger was now relaxed and slept so comfortably as if it is sleeping in its house.

It was 6:45 pm and started to get dark, our destination was still 50 kms and we decided to look for some hotel on the highway itself as going into the allahabad city and searching for a hotel there which would our pet to accompany with us would be mammoth task. Luckily we found one which was 30 kms short of allahabad and the owner also allowed our pet to check in with us. It was 7:30 pm and we ended our journey for that day. We had enough time to get relaxed for the next day drive.

It was the second leg of the journey.

Third and the last leg of this journey coming soon.

Till then enjoy reading and keep sharing.   

Simplifying Trips:- RAJKOT-GANDHINAGAR-UDAIPUR-CHITTORGARH-KOTA

Hi to all the readers out there, as promised in my last post about my upcoming blog on a trip from Rajkot to Bokaro. I am here with my first day of the journey from rajkot to kota.

Day-1  01/04/2016
 It was my father's birthday, our household goods was already departed for bokaro as my father got promoted and was posted to the new place. We were left only with our luggage and was meant to leave rajkot on 1st april. The distance from rajkot to bokaro was around 2200 kms as said by the google maps and we were ready to roll out on the roads. The reason(s) we opted to cover that distance by road was because of our 5 yr old labrador and moreover we all in the family loves to travel by road ;).
As planned we got up early at 5 in the morning, it was a pleasant morning with breeze blowing and a perfect climate to drive. We tried to keep as much low luggage as possible with ourselves but in the end it resulted in a surplus. It took around 45 mins to properly adjust the luggage in our car, and by the time we could have left it was already 7.15 am and the sun was clearly to be seen heading upwards in the sky. We all knew we would today be taking more time to cover the distance to kota as we usually take coz now we had a four legged  passenger with us. As in my previous blogs i have mentioned about the road conditions of gujarat so it was treat to drive on these kind of roads, amazing roads and amazing driving experience as well, its like you are running a knife on butter.
I somehow managed to hit the speedometer at 120 kmph as my dog was a bit acclimatized to the car condition and was behaving normal. We did managed to cover 140 kms in 1 hr and 30 mins and had our breakfast at Limbdi. It was a stop of approx 45 mins as we had get our pet freshen up as well and it was a totally new place, it took some time to get relieved and that was the main reason why we all were concerned.We all started again and reached ahmedabad by-pass by 10.30 am. As it was a working day we encountered with some heavy traffic but the good part was it was moving one.We managed to cross gandhinagar by 11.30 pm and the target was set to have lunch at udaipur.

The roads were a pleasure to drive and in some patches i was able to touch 140 kmph. It was again the same route on which i had travelled 6-7 times and was familiar with the roads and rough patches. We reached udaipur by 1:45 pm after we found traffic jam while reaching udaipur as one truck had met an accident and had crossed the barricade but after all we were well in time and had our lunch there. We departed from udaipur at 3:00 pm and was set to reach Kota before the sun sets. The roads were good but not that great on which we had traveled while we were in gujarat. We had our evening tea after reaching chittorgarh. And also it was quite a long time for our four legged passenger to get freshen up.

It was 4:45 pm by the clock and the sun has started to descend into the horizon, we got back in our places and rev upped the engine hard. From Chittorgarh the roads are again a treat to drive, Complete RCC roads and you will find very low traffic. We found one honda Jazz with whom it was an un said competition and in all this mashup all we achieved was that we managed to cover 100 kms in 55 mins. It was getting dark and the jazz was now no where to be seen.It was 6.30 pm and kota was 45 kms left. It was the time to switch on the head-lights and we could see the lights of kota from that distance. You always feel great when you are about to reach the place where you had spend the most of your summer vacations during the school days. I was about to meet my grandparents, uncle, aunt and cousin and the newly born niece.
We reached at our destination by 7.15 pm where my cousin has already planned for a surprise party as its was my father and aunt's birthday. We had our dinner and chit-chatted uptill 11.00 pm and at last our four legged member also got a place where it could relax completely.

Do read the next blog on our journey from kota to allahabad, which was completely a new route to discover.
Enjoy reading and keep sharing.

Simplifying Trips NOIDA TO RAJKOT

Hi to all readers, hope you have enjoyed my previous posts of LEH-LADAKH.
So this new post belongs to my recent journey with my mom and dad from NOIDA to RAJKOT by road , Approx 1300 kms.

Day 1 - It was 25th March 2016, the very next day of  holi, my parents had come to our place and i was meant to fetch them back from noida to rajkot by road. We woke up at 7 in the morning did all our courses, had breakfast and left noida at 10.30 am. We knew today we had to halt at jaipur at my maternal grand-parents home as covering 1300 kms in a single day would be too tiring.
It was Friday and holiday too on account of Easter, so the traffic was not that much heavy and we reached dhaula kuan at around 11:00 am. We did find some heavy traffic at dhaula kuan because of its a bus stop and many people were heading there home.We kept moving along with the heavy moving and crossed gurgaon by 11:30 am and the newly expanded 6 lane highway is a pleasure to drive. The roads were in very good condition and smooth to rev up the engine hard. Only place when you had slow down were at the toll plazas and when you cross some small town. We reached Behror which is the midway for the Delhi-Jaipur at around 1:00 pm. We had a stop at the Shiva Oasis resort, had our lunch there and left that place at 1:30 pm.

 It was a smooth drive up till jaipur and many people had already experienced it so this part of the journey has nothing left me to describe.
We reached our destination at 3:00 pm and halted there for that night.
Next day was a sought of challenge to drive as we have to cover 950 kms.

Day 2 -  The mind was set to cover approx 1000 kms in a day so we planned to leave early as possible but we left jaipur at 7:00 am. We got late as my grandparents asked us to take breakfast along with us. However the first 90 kms upto kishangarh on Jaipur-ajmer highway is itself a different experience to drive, 6 lane highway with low traffic and the early sun-rise all added up to build a different and a mesmerizing experience. We covered that part in exact 1 hr and then headed towards bhilwara which is approx 250 kms from jaipur. The roads were now reduced to 4 lane, patch work and crests & troughs  made by the heavy moving vehicles but at some patches i was able to get past 120kmph. You do get a good scenery of the aravali mountain range and that is the only pleasure to drive.We halted at 8:45 am at one small dhaba and just had tea, as we were having breakfast with us.

We started again at 9:15 am and the next target was to reach udaipur during the lunch time. The weather that day was quite pleasant, the breeze was blowing and we did encountered with some rain drops when udaipur was almost 50 kms. We did reached Udaipur by 1:30 pm and hopped in natraj hotel at station road for our lunch. We departed from udaipur at 2:15 pm and the roads now were very good at some places and having patch work at some places. The next target was to reach gandhinagar by 4:30 pm. The ghat section is good to drive through and the moment you enter the gujarat state you can easily see the difference between the road conditions.

We did reached gandhinagar well in time by 4:20 pm and were satisfied by the target achieved, a very thanks to the gujarat government for making these kinds of roads you will not find a single pothole and the motto "safety with speed" truly proves to be true. Crossing the gandhinagar and bypassing ahmedabad is itself a task to do. Being a holiday it was not that crowded and we managed to crossed that by 5:45 pm. Now Rajkot was 223 kms left and the last lap was about to start.
As the mild and hazy sun was setting in the horizon, we were heading towards our destination with around 130-14 kmph.

We made a single halt at this patch just for getting the fuel tank full and there only we all get freshened up.We were now in a hurry to reach our home and it was getting dark, the cars crossing by had put on there headlamps and it was still 45 kms to go, it was 7:30 by the clock. We were now driving for more than 12 hrs. It was a feeling like when rajkot will come, when we reach our house when it will be all over , it was too tiring as i was the lone driver. At last we reached our house at 8:15 pm, where my 5 year labrador sherry was waiting at the door and she just jumped on each of us like as if there is no tomorrow.

It was such a great feeling to be at home and that too after a long tiring journey.

I hope you all have enjoyed this travel experience.

Coming up in few days my next travel blog on Road trip from Rajkot to bokaro.

Stay tuned for some more experience.

Simplifying trips LEH-LADAKH Episode-5 (FINAL EPISODE)

Day-6 - We all knew its time to go back from where we had started our journey, we all were tired but somehow managed to depart early in the morning from kargil, it was a very chilly morning. the hand gloves we were wearing hardly managed to block the chilly air from entering inside and the opening from the front of the helmets made our lips to shiver and they went dry. We decided to halt at some place for our tea but couldn't find any tea shop. We were left with no other option other than to move on we kept on moving and reached kargil war memorial. The war memorial is made beneath the TOLOLING mountains which was an important top during the kargil war.

Till the time we visited the complete war memorial and felt proud for all the fighters and martyrs of the kargil war it was around 9:00 am and the sun was up enough in the sky and the weather went pleasant for a good drive. Without wasting enough time we started our journey and reached the deadliest zojila pass by 11:30 am.  We reached there in a fair amount of time and once again felt a little bit of pressure to cross that pass. As usual it was a traffic jam kind of a situation at the pass and all the four vehicles and trucks were piled up waiting for there turn to move ahead, We managed to pass through the gaps available and went ahead slowly slowly, there was a rain fall early in the morning and all the terrain was wet and muddy. I was on avenger which had only front disc brakes working, and because of which i had a fall on that muddy patch . I the moment i applied brakes I was lying on the mud and the bike lying on me.

This above pic of me was taken just after my fall.

Then i changed my bike with bullet and we crossed the zojila pass. It was a feeling of winning a war.

We came down till sonmarg and had our lunch. This time we were ahead of our time. After having lunch at sonmarg, we headed towards srinagar,  We were 50 kms short of srinagar and one bullet stopped due to an empty fuel tank. I decided to bring in some fuel from the next petrol pump which was aound 10 kms ahead,after covering 8 kms my bike also halted due to the same reason, I was totally disconnected from my friends as i was having a vodafone sim which was not working over there. A local guy came up to my rescue he allowed me to make a call from his cell phone and after waiting for 1 hr i was able to communicate them, the good news was they got some fuel from one of the near by homes where they were waiting, and now i was waiting for them to come and bring some fuel for me. They arrived and took the cans from me and bought some fuel for my bike. Phheww.... After all these hiccups we  reached srinagar by 5:15 pm, One of our friend departed to meet his family and now we four members were left. We had a word Mr Bashir from where we had taken our bikes on rent that we will be coming by 6:30 pm to return the bikes. After getting freshened up we went to his shop handed over his bikes and left for the famous DAL LAKE. The shikara ride is one the best experience of the kashmir , in the midst of that lake you will find boats selling tea,coffee, kahawa(famous kashmiri drink) and pakodas. Then you will find floating market where you can buy souvenirs and other local stuff of kashmir froms shawls to kahawa powder. It was 7:30 in the evening and we went to get our dinners packed. If you are in kashmir do try the LAL-MASS a very famous non-veg cuisine of kashmir.

We came back to our room and were thinking of the days we had spent here, tomorrow morning we had our taxi booked for taking all of us to jammu.

Day-6 -  The taxi was waiting downstairs and with a heavy heart we all had to move on, one more friend had a plan to leave us at jammu for visiting to Vaishno devi  and we were left only three guys to board the train from jammu. The entire journey back to jammu was not that enjoyable as we were leaving behind that place where we had spent almost a week far away from the busy life, that thought made us felt sad. By 4:00 pm we reached jammu station and waited for our train to arrive. Our train departed at 5:30 from jammu station and we reached Delhi somewhere around 4 in the morning. 

We all knew the amazing trip had come to an end and from the next day we will be joining our daily lives back, the same routine, same office ,same place.

This was the end of our trip to Leh-Ladakh, Hope all the readers have enjoyed reading it. Waiting for your comments and suggestions.

DO READ MY BLOG ON MY TRIP FROM NOIDA TO RAJKOT.

Coming soon.