[Sachi]

This is truely amazing and hats off to you sir and ma'am. May your journey be full of pleasant surprises, may you get all the help you need whenever necessary....may you be happy throughout your journey.

Please do keep updating this thread as and when you get a chance so that we get to know about your whearabouts and safety. If needed and if possible, members of this forum will not hesitate in helping you out in whichever way possible.

May the force be with you!!

[lifetimejourney]

Thank you Shankar, Gsurya, Turbanator for your quick response with some very useful tips.

Yes we will definitely access the links you have mentioned and shall check if anyone would be interested in sponsoring us. We do not have any sponsors yet for communication devices, but would be happy if anyone would sponsor their specialised items/products that would be required by us enroute.

We have got a GPS tracker which will provide timely updates on our locations.

As regards medicine, yes surely, have a list of it to be carried for the 7 months including Insulin.

PS. I note you're a Hidesign customer.

You have rightly guessed, yes Janet is a Hidesign customer too.

As regards the spare tyre, BMW comes with a Doner Tyre which will help us to reach the next destination to get g the Tyre repaired. However, Infinity has given us a complimentary Mobile Tyre Repair Kit, which we got ourselves acquainted to use it. Also planning to take a tyre repair kit so we can try to repair it ourselves if need be, but hoping we may not need.

Still debating on the Dash Cam - which one would be a more reliable one.

The route has been planned taking into advice on various blogs, Google maps, etc, which was very necessary to arrange for Visas. Will definitely check out the various links for more details.

Just one question - pardon my ignorance of geography; but why Myanmar? Is it even on the way?

The Nepal Border is currently closed for private vehicles. Getting Visas to Pakistan is almost impossible for this kind of a journey for Indians. So, Myanmar is the only other alternative. We'll be entering China through Myanmar border. Let's see if we can come back via Nepal in November-December while on our way back to India.

[pganapathy]

Originally Posted by lifetimejourney

Hi,
We, Louis & Janet – an Indian couple aged 61 and 55
1. GPS Satellite Tracker
2. BMW Advance Car Eye (Car Dashboard Camera)
3. Go Pro Camera Holder (we are still deliberating whether we should buy a Go Pro or a Garmin camera)
4. Cool Bag
5. Fuel Additives (If you have taken a similar journey through some of these countries, let us know where we can face some trouble with fuel quality)
Note: List of countries mentioned below

6. BMW Roof Box for X5


Do we really require all of these accessories? Fellow BHPians, would appreciate your feedback – let us know your opinions on whether we need these accessories or if additional accessories are required?

List of countries we are visiting (in chronology)
Myamnar - China - Kyrgystan - Kazakhstan - Russia - Lithuania - Belarus - Latvia - Estonia - Finland - Norway - Denmark - Germany - The Netherlands - Belgium - UK - France - Spain - Portugal - France - Switzerland - Innsbruck - Slovenia - Czech Republic - Poland - Slovakia - Hungary - Crotia - Italy - Malta - Greece - Bulgaria - Turkey - Georgia - Azerbaijan - Iran - Turkmenistan - Uzbekistan - Kyrsgystan - China - Myanmar - back to India.


Do we really require all of these accessories? Fellow BHPians, would appreciate your feedback – let us know your opinions on whether we need these accessories or if additional accessories are required?

Louis and Janet, I fully applaud your energy and willingness to undertake this journey.
My 2 cents for suggestions.
Get those language phrase for every country you visit so that at the very least you can ask people in the local language the basics. You also get electronic versions of these.
Try and carry jerry cans for both fuel and water.
Carry toilet paper. I know Indian aversion to using it but it can be a life saver when out in the boonies.
Ensure you have a strong tow rope. I hope you never need it for your vehicle but you might be able to help someone in need.
Carry tools like a shovel and pick axe in case you need to dig out your wheels from some mud.
Try not to carry too much cash with you. Sad to say it makes you a target. Try and pre plan where there are ATM's and you can draw local currency even if it winds up costing you more.
Ensure you both have an international licence to prevent issues.
Ensure all your visas and documents are in order. Keep photocopies of all these documents and if possible electronic copies too.
Lots of music.
Willingness to try local food, which will help you make friends and be an awesome experience.
A full medical kit and ensure both of you get some medical training in the basics.

Finally good luck and keep us updated. A lot of us here, me included, would love to do this trip and will be able to live vicariously through you till we are able to, if ever, manage it

[vvb8530]

Wow this is such a nice coincidence. My office is in the same building as yours and see the both of you very often. We have even met once a few years back. I must congratulate you both for being brave enough to take up such a journey to fulfill your dreams. You both are an inspiration for so many of us and at least make me realize that chasing success is not as important as chasing your dreams.

I do not think I can offer you much advice but would definitely like to wish you all the luck for your journey, maybe one of these days I bump into you and would wish you personally as well. Maybe if you can manage to get in touch with the Bangalore family who took up a similar trip to Paris last year they maybe able to offer you all the guidance and suggestions that you need.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by tilt

@lifetimejourney - much admiration for the two of you for undertaking this adventure and best wishes. More power to you.

Just one question - pardon my ignorance of geography; but why Myanmar? Is it even on the way?

Cheers

Exit North East India, touch Northern Myanmar and move up towards China - makes sense. That was the old route part of "The Burma Road" used in Wartime (WW2) - Built by the Brits. Used by the Japs when they wanted to barge into India - they came right up to the border of Assam in the 1940's!

My Great Uncle who was a Senior Professor in the then Rangoon University, actually walked along with other refugees along that road all the way from Rangoon, until they reached Calcutta completely exhausted and ill. Many died along that journey and even poor old Great Uncle succumbed subsequently on account of the hardship and fever and mosquitoes and malaria and all the rest of it.

[lifetimejourney]

Even traversing through India during our journey is a journey of sorts. We would be entering Myanmar via the north east. Our scheduled return journey back to India will be in December. We will be coming via Myanmar again then. We were just wondering if we could take a different route of India on our way back to Mumbai. We would even consider short detours on our way towards Myanmar (onward journey to London) if it doesn't put too much pressure on our schedule

Here is our itinerary for our journey from India to Myanmar.

May 20 - Mumbai to Dhule (Maharashtra)
May 21 - Dhule to Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh)
May 23 - Bhopal to Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh)
May 24 - Jhansi to Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh)
May 25 - Varanasi to Patna (Bihar)
May 26 - Patna to Purnia (Bihar)
May 27 - Purnia to Siliguri (West Bengal)
May 28 - Siliguri to Darjeeling/Birpara (West Bengal)
May 29 - Darjeeling/Birpara to Guwahati (Assam)
May 30 - Guwahati to Dimapur (Nagaland)
May 31 - Dimapur to Kohima (Nagaland)
June 01 - Kohima to Imphal (Manipur)
June 02 - Imphal to Mor Border(Manipur - Myanmar border)

We would love to have your suggestions for new places which we could visit while on our way back from Myanmar to Mumbai in December.

[shankar.balan]

As per one of my earlier posts here, I had recommended that you take a Car GPS which enables you to pin point the car's location anywhere in the world.

It appears that MapMyIndia has something of this kind which you might want to check on.

Here is a screenshot attached.

[columbus]

Originally Posted by lifetimejourney

Even traversing through India during our journey is a journey of sorts. We would be entering Myanmar via the north east. Our scheduled return journey back to India will be in December.
Here is our itinerary for our journey from India to Myanmar.

May 20 - Mumbai to Dhule (Maharashtra)
May 21 - Dhule to Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh)
May 23 - Bhopal to Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh)

Sir my best wishes for your trip. Some day i hope to do this in my own car.
I am from Bhopal. Please do let me know your plan at Bhopal. I guess you will arrive on 21st may and leave on 23rd. Would love to meet if you have time. I'll send you a private message once this function is activated for your account at Team BHP.

[ajithbr]

Hi,

Just wondering how many highways/roads are now that crosses out of Indian borders and to which neighboring country? What formalities exist to cross over?

This is just a question out of curiosity only.

A similar question is other than air travel, what are the other means to travel to a neighboring country?
Examples:
1) Rail to Pak
2) Ship to Sri Lanka

Thanks,
-Ajith

[msk016]

First of all, I really admire admire your decision to undertake a journey of this magnitude. I have subscribed to this awesome thread and can't wait to here/see more from you as the days go by.
Have you thought about carrying winter tires with you for your journey through Northern Europe? As far as I know, it is mandatory to have winter tires installed during winter. It is also better from safety perspective. You can also buy them locally when you get there. If required, I can get some of my friends in Denmark to help you along the way.
My 2 cents.
Wishing you and your wife a safe and memorable trip.

[lifetimejourney]

Hello Everyone,
We are so pleased to share with you that we have completed 45000 kms and now almost 20 days away from coming back to India. We've crossed 45 countries and its difficult to say what it would be like to be not on the road when we reach our home in Mumbai after 8 months. Currently, we are in China and in the next few days, would be reaching India through Myanmar.

Our current itinerary for the next few days is on similar lines to the one we had followed for our journey towards London. We don't wish to take a long de-tour, but if there any suggestions for certain modifications to our route or better places that fall on our route, we would be glad to take your help and advise.

This is our planned schedule for the next few days.


We are actually still excited about the road ahead and at the same time, look forward to come back home. If our journey so far is of any interest to you, you can follow the journey and the routes through this interactive map

http://www.thelifetimejourney.in/interactive-map-2016/


Look forward to listening to you. We may not be able to reply immediately since we don't get proper internet and Wi-Fi at these places.

Cheers

[JoseVijay]

Originally Posted by lifetimejourney

Hello Everyone,
We are so pleased to share with you that we have completed 45000 kms and now almost 20 days away from coming back to India. We've crossed 45 countries and its difficult to say what it would be like to be not on the road when we reach our home in Mumbai after 8 months. Currently, we are in China and in the next few days, would be reaching India through Myanmar.

After your last post on 20th April, I thought you went into hybernation mode .

But this is just amazing and surprising news that you indeed stuck to your plan. We would love to hear more of your journey on Team BHP Travelogues section. Hope you will consider this humble request.

[verma_rahul]

Originally Posted by lifetimejourney

Hello Everyone,
We are so pleased to share with you that we have completed 45000 kms and now almost 20 days away from coming back to India. We've crossed 45 countries and its difficult to say what it would be like to be not on the road when we reach our home in Mumbai after 8 months. Currently, we are in China and in the next few days, would be reaching India through Myanmar.
.
.
.
.
Look forward to listening to you. We may not be able to reply immediately since we don't get proper internet and Wi-Fi at these places.

Cheers

This is just amazing sir!! Would love to go through your travelogue and ask for tips and advice as well.

Have a safe and memorable drive back home

[earthian]

Louis & Janet:
Great going. Glad to know that everything went as per schedule. I am sure there would have been the occasional snafu and look forward to your trip report. I hope you took a lot of pictures.

[lifetimejourney]

On 1st December, we were about to cross into Myanmar from China, but unfortunately, our plans had to be changed due to the conflicts in Myanmar. We were not permitted to cross the border via road. To avoid any kind of risk, we decided to head towards Shenzhen (China) and ship our car from there to Mumbai.

"We are trying. We don't want to give up. We want to reach our home in the car that kept us going and kept us safe for all of these 7 months."

Well, we were on our way to Shenzhen and the aforementioned thought struck us. We are not giving up, not yet. We are thinking overtime and making efforts to find a way to come home in our car, to complete the Lifetime Journey like we had always dreamt.

So, we worked our way to visit another country - Laos, looking to enter Myanmar from another side. As destiny has it, Laos became the 50th foreign country we've visited in our Lifetime Journey. Nothing is finalised yet. But we are trying to come home as planned, in our own car to our home after 7 months, but may be a few days late.

"The Lifetime Journey still goes on!"

The Lifetime Journey entered into Thailand on 5th December. We had not planned to visit Thailand in our original itinerary. However on 6th December, we got stranded at Tachileik, Myanmar border, as our tour agent, could not obtain permission for change of border, inspite of being informed about our arriving into Tachileik today. He was rather surprised how we managed to cross over to Thailand without a road permit. We have to wait endlessly at this destination, until the permission comes through. Indian Embassy at Myanmar is putting all efforts to help us out. We spent 7th & 8th December again for permissions. Now, we are anxious about these permissions but still hopeful.

Most permissions and visas were smooth throughout out journey to 51 countries. Its ironic that we've received this challenge in the last country on our journey (this is the 2nd time we are visiting Myanmar after visiting it in early June on our way to China). Well, we are just thinking that perhaps some challenges were meant to be faced. We are hoping that this ordeal comes to an end soon and we can get back on the road towards home.