[shifu]

Originally Posted by nndp87

One of the reasons why I bought XUV is because of its folding seats in second and third row, once you fold second and third row, seats completely turn themselves into bed, put a mattress on it and you can sleep inside for hours. It is boon for the cross country runs; parents can sleep comfortably for entire night.

Amazing trip.

How did you manage the luggage after folding the 2nd and 3rd row? I see your car doesn't have a roof carrier.

[AJ-got-BHP]

It seems you explored Rajasthan to the Core !!

A very well written Travelogue with set of pictures that narrate the story and the experience pretty well. Your thread will come in handy for the Rajasthan Trip I am planning this year.

However, a bit of suggestion - posting better quality pictures in your thread would have made the Travelogue even better and a stand out !!

[Dieselritzer]

HI, i'll be frank, yours is the first travelogue ive read completely, not a word missed. Man i must salute your parents, at their age, the enthusiasm they carry is amazing. You may my day bro, very inspiring. Thank you

[Aum]

Nice and Crisp, hats off to your parents to be game for such a drive. rated 5 stars.

[procrj]

Great travelogue and thanks for sharing that bit of history where ever possible Rajasthan has been on my to do list for a while now and I am hoping that I can drive there this year end. Keeping driving and sharing your experience.

[RocketRaccoon]

This travelogue is certainly different and made me feel really patriotic. I particularly liked the conversation with the BSF officer and your father. For some reason the music from the Border video (the one you posted at the beginning of your post) was playing in my head while I read the conversation. On a side note, I noticed that you use a lot of question marks in continuation like so (?????) Please refrain from using dots (.....) and other punctuation marks (!!!!!) when one would suffice. It becomes a distraction from an otherwise great post. One of Team-BHP's unique aspects is that it helps us bring out the best of our writing skills and we should respect the forum's new post rules.

Note to mods: Repetition of punctuation used to explain the problem of repetition to the user.

[greatgyan]

Originally Posted by nndp87

The Prologue.

International Border
I still remember the walk of Sunny Deol all the way till Border Pillar in the Movie Border, wherein he played a Role of Brigadier Kuldeep Singh Chandpuri during Longewala Battle with Pakistan in 1971.

Excellent post!! very well put. I'm a big fan of the XUV and you've made use of its full potential in this trip.
Just a small clarification, wasn't Sunny Deol playing the role of "Major" Kuldeep Singh in Border?

[luvDriving]

Now that's one superb travelogue !! Thanks for putting this up.

The office at the border correctly guessed your strong desire to visit the border post and you just showed that try until you succeed !

[nndp87]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

From those thousands of travel photos that I have been seeing over the past few years to a well documented and awesomely narrated Travelogue!
========
Waiting for the next one from you and welcome again.

Thanks Parag for the Warm Welcome. I have been a big fan of yours, the way you put details (precise to the core) is fantastic. Yes, driving at the odd timings definitely helps you a lot in keeping the fatigue away for the long drives. Break timings play a vital role for any long drives in excess of 600 Kilometers both from driver and co-passenger's point of view. Yes lot of stories to share, will post it in the coming days.

Originally Posted by rrsteer

Superb stuff!

Really appreciate you for sharing your experiences through this travelogue. Thanks!
======
A little secret to share - Just before I used to go for my presentation, I used to watch his walk from the movie Border.

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

Mind blowing writeup as well as awesome photos! Thanks for sharing this experience.
========[*]I am an amateur astronomer. Would I be correct in thinking, the night sky would be much brighter with more stars visible, because of lack of ambient light pollution like we have in the cities?[/list]

1. There is no time limit mentioned as such, however 30 to 45 minutes i enough in my view. The communication is passed from Tanot to International Border and vice versa, so it is very much possible that if you exceed your time unreasonably, they will start searching for you. I had seen the register at Tanot and all those who made it to International were back in 2 hours time.
2. It was second week of March. In 2015 winters got extended a bit, days were pleasant and nights were super cold, moreover early morning and nights are quite cooler in desert.
3. Yes, you will better off from city sky, although not 100%. I would still consider Himalayas as better option.

Originally Posted by shifu

Amazing trip.

How did you manage the luggage after folding the 2nd and 3rd row? I see your car doesn't have a roof carrier.

XUV's Second row is not movable, it is fixed unlike Scorpio, the legroom in second row is ample, so luggage was kept on the floor between first and second row.

Originally Posted by AJ-got-BHP

It seems you explored Rajasthan to the Core !!

A very well written Travelogue with set of pictures that narrate the story and the experience pretty well. Your thread will come in handy for the Rajasthan Trip I am planning this year.

However, a bit of suggestion - posting better quality pictures in your thread would have made the Travelogue even better and a stand out !!

Definitely, pictures could have been much better if i had dedicated camera, all the pictures posted here were clicked in phone. I will definitely keep this point in mind.

Originally Posted by RocketRaccoon

This travelogue is certainly different and made me feel really patriotic. I particularly liked the conversation with the BSF officer and your father. For some reason the music from the Border video (the one you posted at the beginning of your post) was playing in my head while I read the conversation. On a side note, I noticed that you use a lot of question marks in continuation like so (?????) Please refrain from using dots (.....) and other punctuation marks (!!!!!) when one would suffice. It becomes a distraction from an otherwise great post. One of Team-BHP's unique aspects is that it helps us bring out the best of our writing skills and we should respect the forum's new post rules.

Note to mods: Repetition of punctuation used to explain the problem of repetition to the user.

Point noted, will make sure that such distractions never happen in future.

Originally Posted by greatgyan

Excellent post!! very well put. I'm a big fan of the XUV and you've made use of its full potential in this trip.
Just a small clarification, wasn't Sunny Deol playing the role of "Major" Kuldeep Singh in Border?

Yes, It should have been Major Kuldeep Singh, Brigadier was the post at which he retired.

[KiranSwift]

Good write up, planned to visit Jaisalmer and Jodhpur in this month, lots of information got in this.

[rmonie]

nndp87, Loved your attention to detail & style of writing! This will also serve as a reference guide for future travels to those parts of the country!

[bajica]

Hi,

Very well written is all I could say.

Coming to your point of travelling on NH8 in night, I would agree wholeheartedly with you as I have been travelling this stretch between Mumbai and Ahmedabad regularly. My car has travelled this route innumerable times and has done 70% of the total mileage on this route.
Night drive over this route has the following advantages:
1. Pretty less traffic during the night.
2. Truckers are a lot better drivers than the 4-wheeler and 2-wheeler drivers, you just flash the high beam and they will stick to their lane - driving on the second lane.
3. No chances of any 2-wheelers or 3-wheelers on the highway during the night, except near the Vapi-Valsad belt. Due to factories, you will find the 2wheelers even during the night all throughout the year.
4. The Golden Gate bridge at Bharuch is Godsend... sometimes you will cross the whole bridge in night without any vehicle coming from opposite end. It definitely saves time - bigtime.
5. Traffic from Manor till Gujarat border is just trucks and little or non-existent local vehicles.

Generally I do this distance of approx 525kms in between 9-11 hours keeping a constant 80KMPH and averaging 55-60 with around 2 breaks for dinner and tea.

Drive Safe.

[venkatt1800]

Engrossing narration NNDP....I am certain all the readers of this post would have related to your feeling of ecstasy when you got the permission at Tanot to visit the Border. This is exactly the sort of madness(to visit unexplored regions of this great nation), T-Bhp members are famous for. Superb travelogue. Congrats....

[varunraizada]

Absolutely marvelous write up and amazing details.

The conversation with BSF was like a Bollywood movie script where the hero wins finally

5 star without a doubt. Want to rate this twice !!

[Lobogris]

Wonderful blog! Your writing skills made the excitement palpable.
I share your penchant for visiting and crossing international borders. There is something exciting and intrguing about standing at a line dividing two countries. I have crossed the US Mexico and US Canada borders dozens of times. In addition, I have crossed multiple European broders but they are less obvious as there are no serious border control points. In many places in Europe and US Canada borders, one can end up crossing over without even realising as there are no fences or markers except at main roads.

One word of caution regrding parents sleeping in the back. It is convinient and exigent but in the unfortunate event of sudden braking or a collision, it can be dangerous to be without seatbelts. I am sure you have considered this factor and sometimes we all take chances and hope for the best but it is better to use the vehicle in the manner intended by the manufacturer while keeping all safety devices in mind.

Hope to see more travel blogs from you.