The Consolation Prize
We were all set for our Ladakh trip with BHPian Samba & team (Travelogue:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...r-kolkata.html). But we had to back off for some unavoidable reasons. We were sad. We decided to go for a short trip during the independence day weekend. We took two days off from work and we had 5 days (12th Augus to 16th August) at our disposal to plan a trip. Vizag was on our wish list for more than a year and hence the obvious choice this time. So, we took this trip more as a consolation prize for missing out the Ladakh trophy than anything else! But, this trip turned out to be a prize in itself.
Teaser: If there is one thing unique about the City of Vizag, that is this - INS Kursura Submarium (Submarine Museum) The Planning
Our good old friends, the Debbarma family, readily agreed to join us in the trip. We wanted the trip to be a relaxed one, i.e. it should be a good mix of short to medium range drives and good food and fun. With this goal in mind, I worked out the following itinerary after trying out a few permutations and combinations.
Day 1 (12-Aug-2015) – Kolkata to Vizag
Day 2 (13-Aug-2015) – Sight seeing in Vizag
Day 3 (14-Aug-2015) – Vizag to Borra Caves to Baruva
Day 4 (15-Aug-2015) – Baruva to Rambha to Bhubaneshwar
Day 5 (16-Aug-2015) – Bhubaneshwar to Kolkata
I made the bookings at APTDC Rushikonda, Vizag and APTDC Baruva. I kept the plan for Bhubaneshwar open on popular demand.
Facts & Figures
Total Trip Cost for two families (4 adults + 2 kids) - Rs. 46,685/-
Fuel Cost - Rs. 8,791/-
Toll - Rs. 1,920/-
APTDC Rushikonda, Vizag - Rs. 2,000/- + Tax per room per night
APTDC Baruva - Rs. 1,700/- + Tax per room per night
Bookings done through
www.aptdc.in
Panthanivas, Bhubaneshwar - Total Rs. 2,386/- for two rooms for one night
Booking done at Panthanivas, Rambha
Overall Fuel Economy - 13.6 kmpl
Day 1 (12-Aug-2015) – Kolkata to Vizag
Distance - 890 kms
This was the only mega haul of the trip. We started at 3:15AM, picked up the Debbarma family on the way and finally started off to Vizag at 4:30AM. The weather was nice, the intermitten torrential rain added to the thrill of the drive and kept the weather comfortable.
The night before, I found the front right tyre of my King Kong punctured by a big nail and had to swap the wheel with the spare one. We had to lose couple of hours to get the tyre repaired. We reached Vizag around 10:30PM.
The roads to Vizag are butter smooth all along
The Team
The Mobile Generation
King Kong - the force that drives me
Tea Break
Repairing the Bridgestones turned out to be quite a task
Usual lunch stop at Hotel Orion, Bhadrak
Evening snacks somewhere near Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border
The new driving star. Now I can plan longer stretches in a day
Truck full of smiles - it was indeed a "Happy Journey"!