[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

Super start Parag. The attention to detail is just excellent. I loved the highlights of the drive post and I am sure it will be one of the highlights of this travelogue. Hopefully, after you did the drive, the conditions of the 'worst' things you mentioned in the highlights would have been improved.

As funkykar says, I really admire you doing this in peak summer. That must have been exhausting. All in all, a super start to the travelogue. Waiting for the next 6 days

Thanks Addy! In fact you would remember we exchanging PMs last year when you were planning to drive to Delhi? Its the same time when I was earlier planning to drive Delhi and ended up driving the GQ :-).

On the "worst" conditions - Yes, there is a lot of improvement especially Orissa where most of the GQ is completed as my friend did the same circuit (GQ) few months after I did and reported the roads to be good except the fact that they managed to bend the OEM alloy of their Merc S Class near Kanpur jumping a huge pothole. They drove on the Yamuna Expressway from Delhi to Agra too which wasn't open for Public when I did it in May and I had to take NH2.

So its ironic that worst got better and better became worse too!!

Originally Posted by gajadonga

Another Golden Quadrilateral drive amazing.

Nice pictures to start up the travelogue.

These highways looks good from your lenses.So how long was your planning to hit the highways.

To be honest, there was absolutely no planning in advance for this at all. A few travelogues and recent drives from a few friends on other forums gave me confidence that I can take this up. If you ask me, I may have decided that we do the GQ just a week before the drive!!

[amitwlele]

Wonderful Start Parag. All the statistics that you have put up in the first post make it an interesting read.

I hope to make such a journey sometime. Would be following the entire journey in this thread.

[laluks]

Ever since the HVK, Khan_sultan, hrag, mjothi, ramky drive, I have lost count of how many GQ drives have been made on the forum.

But this log with so much details really helps all those hardcore travellors to plan well

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by amitwlele

Wonderful Start Parag. All the statistics that you have put up in the first post make it an interesting read.

I hope to make such a journey sometime. Would be following the entire journey in this thread.

Originally Posted by laluks

Ever since the HVK, Khan_sultan, hrag, mjothi, ramky drive, I have lost count of how many GQ drives have been made on the forum.

But this log with so much details really helps all those hardcore travellors to plan well

Thank you Amit and Lalu KS, the sole reason to attempt the GQ was to really put my car on a test track in the scorching heat and newer road conditions. For the way I had ensured to take care of my car, I was more than just confident that nothing will ever go wrong and nothing did. The ODO reading during the start of the car no way dithered me to dilly dally my decision to go ahead and drive 6000 kms as I never considered the car Old enough or small to do this. In fact, the best thing was that the taller seating position ensured my father who is 60 years old never complained of any sort of backache or fatigue ever!

The Idea behind so much details was to have the travelogue in completeness of information. My cousin used to diligently note down every detail on his Mobile's notepad day after day which came in so handy to calculate the costs and arrive at the statistics.

I am glad that this information may be helpful to other members in whatever way it can!

[Mighty_Lothar]

Another brilliantly described travelogue! Parag, you got an amazing skill to drag everyone's attention .

Keep it coming dude!

Regards,
LOTHAR

[Jeash.vk]

I am dumbfounded ! To do a 6000+ KM drive is in itself a task. And having the courage to do that on a tallboy hatch takes it to a different level altogether. I doff my hat at you Parag. This is simply unbelievable. And your dad is no slouch either - Riding shotgun for 6K+ at that age has to be one great achievement too!

Your narration and pictures are excellent too. Cant wait to get the remaining parts.

[rkg]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

[*]Second longest single handed continuous drive - 1250 Kms (Vizag-Bangalore) - 19 Hours including breaks

Congratulations. It is always nice to have long drive.

One small query, as per my knowledge the distance between vizag-bangalore is around 1100 km only. I did this route 5 times in the past 5 years.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by rkg

Congratulations. It is always nice to have long drive.

One small query, as per my knowledge the distance between vizag-bangalore is around 1100 km only. I did this route 5 times in the past 5 years.

Since it was GQ drive, we had to mostly stick to the GQ and hence Vizag-Bangalore was via Chennai and so 1250 kms. In fact a very good BHPian friend of mine helped me bypass Chennai from Nellore side at 2am in the morning!



Source: http://nhai.org/gqmain_english.htm

[lloydofcochin]

Parag,

Excellent start to a Super drive. I loved the attention to detail and the organized manner in which the log is structured.

I know that the Highways give us nirvana and when you get 8 days on the road covering 6k kms on one of the best road networks in India what more can you ask for?

And with your trusted Waggy taking you places you have proved that what matters most is the person behind the wheel and not the size/handling prowess of the vehicle.

Now eagerly waiting for the rest of the days to unfold.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Mighty_Lothar

Another brilliantly described travelogue! Parag, you got an amazing skill to drag everyone's attention .

Keep it coming dude!

Regards,
LOTHAR

Thanks mate! A lot more to come for the remaining legs.

Originally Posted by Jeash.vk

I am dumbfounded ! To do a 6000+ KM drive is in itself a task. And having the courage to do that on a tallboy hatch takes it to a different level altogether. I doff my hat at you Parag. This is simply unbelievable. And your dad is no slouch either - Riding shotgun for 6K+ at that age has to be one great achievement too!

Your narration and pictures are excellent too. Cant wait to get the remaining parts.

Thanks Jeash! Rest of the log will be more interesting with complementing photographs too.

Often touted as a City only car, I have driven mine mostly on highways only. Rather than giving detailed reasons, I will only say that the driver needs to know the limits of his car every time he is at the back of its wheels. Having driven the WagonR since the last 7 years for nearly 2L kms, would it be inappropriate to say that I have now mastered the art of driving a tallboy within its limits (and on Highways) ?

Originally Posted by lloydofcochin

Parag,

Excellent start to a Super drive. I loved the attention to detail and the organized manner in which the log is structured.

I know that the Highways give us nirvana and when you get 8 days on the road covering 6k kms on one of the best road networks in India what more can you ask for?

And with your trusted Waggy taking you places you have proved that what matters most is the person behind the wheel and not the size/handling prowess of the vehicle.

Now eagerly waiting for the rest of the days to unfold.

Thanks Lloyd. A lot of hours were spent to actually arrange the photographs day wise and create screen shots from the excel sheets where I had put a lot of numbers for the statistics.

And you are right when you say "person behind the wheel and not the size/handling prowess of the vehicle" and with so many kilometers clocked over the past by a single driver, It was easier to realize the shortcomings and hence accommodate a driving style to suit the car.

[subs]

Wow bro what a start!

I thought it was just me who took pics of empty roads and sky leading to 'nowhere' and gazed at them in admiration, long after the trip. ALso, it is indeed pleasing to see your dad accompanying you on these trips, only query being, does he not feel physically drained after such long drives? How I wish my dad could do the same .
But still, hats off to him!

Before I forget, thanks to the amount of details you have included in the travelogue i.e. stuff that you took along for the drive etc., it was educative.

Subs

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Finally, the travelogue is here.
I liked the way you organized the things for this GQ drive, the details speak.
Looking forward for further updates particularly about 31hr drive.
Btw, l am looking for the accessories particularly ac-dc converter and and liquid warmer, from your posts, i got the clue about what to buy!

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by subs

Wow bro what a start!

only query being, does he not feel physically drained after such long drives? How I wish my dad could do the same .
But still, hats off to him!

Before I forget, thanks to the amount of details you have included in the travelogue i.e. stuff that you took along for the drive etc., it was educative.

Subs

Thanks Subs. I am glad the information jotted down in the opening posts is educative.

Regarding my father's endurance for such long drives, I don't know but he's accompanied me for many such long drives and most of these drives ran that through the night and he has no issues whatsoever.

He does not use any additional support for the OEM Seats. He mostly keeps the backrest stiff (and not too much inclined) and so far I have never seen him complain over anything.

Moreover, this Tallboy of mine ensures that ingress and egress has been the most comfortable for him.

During this trip, we also made use of the reclining feature of the rear seats extensively on many occasions whenever my cousin or father wanted to take a nap in the back seat. I have always adored this feature in my car ever since I owned this.

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

Finally, the travelogue is here.
I liked the way you organized the things for this GQ drive, the details speak.
Looking forward for further updates particularly about 31hr drive.
Btw, l am looking for the accessories particularly ac-dc converter and and liquid warmer, from your posts, i got the clue about what to buy!

Thanks AP. Organizing was the prime agenda before putting the actual photos. I wanted to make this travelogue look complete from every aspect. The details captured always helped.

[B.R.S.Rao]

Congratulations. Hats off to you!
Please update me the road conditions from Bhubaneshwar to Tirupathi since I will be going to Bhubaneshwar in June.
Regards

[nekfar]

Parag,
Great start.

From the way you have been giving details, I now understand why it took you so long to upload the travelogue.

I am completely glued to the latest version on the GQ trips travelogues.