[rakesh_r]

Dear Arun,
Congratulations and hats OFF to you and your family.Special mention for your kids. Excellent travelogue, read it in one shot(missed my tea break).
A road trip is never complete without a good car and the Linea outshines. I have a 5 year old swift diesel and simply love the mjd.You simply feel like going on and on.I have done numerous MH-KL on the swift though nowadays i feel i have to upgrade.
About the yellow sticker thingy in GJ,I think the rule has been removed long back.

[speedsatya]

Arun , you write well !! Thanks for this travelogue . Roads from Day 6 onwards are the ones we all dream of driving on . Waiting for more videos. he

Your drive on the last day was just mindboggling! Many of us would struggle to do 1300 kms at one stretch on Day One of our drives , but you did this after 2 weeks of continuous driving .

Originally Posted by arun_josie

hvkumar – We took his service for route plan and few hotel bookings. His support was really awesome. No wonder people call him human GPS. For more infromation, you can refer to http://hivayking.in/store/index.php. The biggest advantage with HVK CHD is: for those on long roadtrips, it gives us the flexibility to stop over at good hotels according the day's situation. You aren't bogged down by pre-booked hotel locations. HVK CHD arranges a hotel for you according to the city you have reached. This helped us stretch a few extra hundred KMs when it was possible. Ex: For us, Dhule stay was shifted to Shridi as we reached Dhule early and a stay before bangalore was shifted to Salem.

About HVK , yeah we all have been his fans. Your smooth trip was also because of his super detailing and support . We all know now whom to get in touch with before venturing out on drives like this one .

So where/when is the next one ?

Excellent travelogue, arun_josie.

Coming to the topic of yellow sticker on the RHS headlamp, even I did not have it on my erstwhile Linea and present XUV 500 during my many trips to GJ without any issues. I had stayed at Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Vapi. In fact, I had enquired with the cops for route guidance many times, but they did not even take notice of the absence of the sticker!

Originally Posted by arun_josie

No punctures.

That's nice. Even my XUV 500 did not suffer from any puncture in the last two mega trips!

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by kjrohit

Hi Arun
I am planning a trip from Delhi to Bangalore later this year .
Delhi- Jaipur- Udaipur - Mumbai/ Pune - Bangalore . Can you give me your contact number to discuss a few points realted to thsi trip?

Hi Kjrohit,

Could you please have the preliminary discussion on the forum. The questions and information shared between you two will help a ton of other readers who see the discussion now, and in the future too.

[aneezan]

Wow Arun. This is one great drive and travelogue. And that your family had equal fun as you is wonderful to know.
1292.9 Kms in 21H 30M - How did you manage this without enough rest?

Let me plan one too.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

Note of thanks to the following people:

hvkumar – We took his service for route plan and few hotel bookings. His support was really awesome. No wonder people call him human GPS. For more infromation, you can refer to http://hivayking.in/store/index.php. The biggest advantage with HVK CHD is: for those on long roadtrips, it gives us the flexibility to stop over at good hotels according the day's situation. You aren't bogged down by pre-booked hotel locations. HVK CHD arranges a hotel for you according to the city you have reached. This helped us stretch a few extra hundred KMs when it was possible. Ex: For us, Dhule stay was shifted to Shridi as we reached Dhule early and a stay before bangalore was shifted to Salem.

Thank You. Good that you had a safe and enjoyable drive.

Originally Posted by TheTeacher

Question: your right headlight does not seem to have the yellow strip sticker that is apparently compulsory in GJ (there's a thread on it). Did you not have any problems with the cops there?l

The Yellow sticker rule is no more there in GJ. IT went last year itself.

Originally Posted by ampere

Arun,

Why head to Noida from Agra for Nainital ? Office work ? Or just wanted to experience the expressway?

The best option is either Kasganj/Badaun/Bareilly or Aligarh/Narora/Sambal/Rampur.

Of course roads may be rough, but then I think its a big detour via Noida.

I would avoid all internal roads, and stick to the route via Noida to Moradabad

[igybeck]

Weather was good, very cold during the nights.
Nainital is a bit crowded and Kausani is more of a scenic place.
I feel two nights will be bit hectic as traveling from Nainital to Kausani(115 Kms) will take 4-5 hours and will be tiring.


Thanks for your input. Would it be recommended to drive from Delhi in a self driven car or through cab operators? We have never driven in those roads. Just want to know if its recommended.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

The Yellow sticker rule is no more there in GJ. IT went last year itself.

Thanks for this update HVK sir. Do you have a link/details of this announcement ? A friend was asking just in case he is stopped by cops in Gujarat

[nilanjanray]

Awesome trip Arun. Takes courage, endurance and the right spirit to do such a trip with family.

I will be doing a similar trip (~7000 km) in early June, Bangalore - Eastern Kumaon, via the N-S corridor.

Rated 5 stars.

[Naetik30]

Hi arun

Awesome road trip man. I have been waiting for this for past few months. Well written article and very happy that you had a great time with kids.

Will meet up in Ananda to get some info I am looking for.

Arvind

[swami69]

Fantastic Travelogue Arun.

Great to read and even though you said it is just mobile phone and point & shoot camera pictures, those pictures narrated the trip in an excellent manner visually. You need guts to do such a long trip with such small kids, kudos to you. All the very best for your future outings.

I loved the situation song narration "engee nee kooti pora". nice.


Swami

[ampere]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

I would avoid all internal roads, and stick to the route via Noida to Moradabad

The Kasganj/Badaun route I thought is what all the buses take. Hence I thought thats a standard route. That was the reason I asked,why go to Noida.

[hamster]

Fantastic is the least word to say Arun. Reading through your "Crisp" travelogue was like visiting the places in person and also your updates were as if we were travelling with you. Kudos to you on that part.
Its always best to see your car in KK, especially the spot where you had clicked.
Rated five stars

[nekfar]

Dear Arun,
Fantastic drive and a nice travelogue. Enjoyed the whole experience of reading about your trip.
Kudos to your supportive family and the Italian Stud too.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by zenren

Arun, 7618km in 2 weeks is simply amazing!
I'm just back from a Hyderabad-Trivandrum round trip of 3139km and your thread makes me feel like I didn't drive at all.

Thanks Zenren!
3139 is a big number as well :-)

Originally Posted by rakesh_r

Dear Arun,
Congratulations and hats OFF to you and your family.Special mention for your kids

Yes. Linea did its job perfectly. There is a reason why MJD is considered as a national engine.

Originally Posted by speedsatya

Arun , you write well !! Thanks for this travelogue . Roads from Day 6 onwards are the ones we all dream of driving on . Waiting for more videos. he

Thanks Satya!
Sure, I will try to upload more videos.

Your drive on the last day was just mindboggling! Many of us would struggle to do 1300 kms at one stretch on Day One of our drives , but you did this after 2 weeks of continuous driving .

I agree. Even I was surprised :-) I always wanted to hit the 1K mark in a day but never thought about 1300Kms nor close to 21.5 hours of continuous drive.

So where/when is the next one ?

It will take some time, at least 2-3years . Destinations in mind are Leh/Ladakh, Sikkim.

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

Excellent travelogue, arun_josie.

Thanks a lot Sir!

Originally Posted by aneezan

Wow Arun. This is one great drive and travelogue. And that your family had equal fun as you is wonderful to know.
1292.9 Kms in 21H 30M - How did you manage this without enough rest?
Let me plan one too.

Thanks Aneez!
I am not sure, but I felt like driving more and more that day. I was able to manage with two power naps of 10mins each. One at the start of the drive (after 100Kms) and the second one was at 50Kms before Salem. Then the lunch stop (45mins around), dinner stop (one hour), fuel stops (3). We covered 970Kms the previous day as well.

Originally Posted by igybeck

Thanks for your input. Would it be recommended to drive from Delhi in a self driven car or through cab operators? We have never driven in those roads. Just want to know if its recommended.

After seeing the way the cabs were driven there in hills, I would stick to self-driven. Most of the taxis were Altos and they were very rash. They over take us in lightning speed only to stop few Kms ahead as someone would be vomiting due to their rash driving on the hills. If you have hill driving experience then its not a big deal.
If you are hiring a cab, go with some good transports and discuss with them about the speeds well in advance.

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

Awesome trip Arun. Takes courage, endurance and the right spirit to do such a trip with family.
I will be doing a similar trip (~7000 km) in early June, Bangalore - Eastern Kumaon, via the N-S corridor.
Rated 5 stars.

Thanks, nilanjanray!
Have a enjoyable trip.

Originally Posted by Naetik30

Hi arun
Awesome road trip man. I have been waiting for this for past few months. Well written article and very happy that you had a great time with kids.
Will meet up in Ananda to get some info I am looking for.
Arvind

Thanks, Arvind. Sure, we can meet-up some time.

Originally Posted by swami69

Fantastic Travelogue Arun.
I loved the situation song narration "engee nee kooti pora". nice.
Swami

Thanks a lot for your kind words, swami69.
The song thing, was really a big coincidence.

Originally Posted by hamster

Fantastic is the least word to say Arun. Reading through your "Crisp" travelogue was like visiting the places in person and also your updates were as if we were travelling with you. Kudos to you on that part.
Its always best to see your car in KK, especially the spot where you had clicked.
Rated five stars

Thanks, vivek.
Yes, even we liked the pics in front of the sea.

Originally Posted by nekfar

Dear Arun,
Fantastic drive and a nice travelogue. Enjoyed the whole experience of reading about your trip.
Kudos to your supportive family and the Italian Stud too.

Thanks nekfar!