[nibedk]

Anyone with a FIAT @ home would understand the enthusiasm in making innumerable excuses to be on the roads. The desire to drive far away from the maddening crowd and get away from the daily mundane life sometimes becomes so strong that there isn’t any other option but to plan a long drive. And with each new trip the itch to drive further and farther increases as well.

• Our Taurus (GP 90 HP) has now taken us to multiple places since it has been with us. We have already been to
• Kudremukh, Sringeri, Horanadu, Agumbe – 3K
• Bhubaneswar trips – 10 K (3 round trips)
• Pondicherry – 2K
• Shirdi, Mumbai, Pune – 2K
• Kakinada, Rajahmundry, Srisailam, Nagarjuna Sagar, Medak – 8k (Multiple Visits)
• Chennai, Mahabalipuram, Madurai, Rameswaram, Kanyakumari– 4 K

Few travelogues are already up on TBHP and I hope it adds value to the vast repository of information that TBHP is for frequent travelers

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...iat-punto.html

And

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ern-ghats.html

Lack of time has not allowed me to complete all the travelogues which I was writing. With passage of time you tend to forget a lot of details and the travelogues remain incomplete.So I had decided that I will start penning my travelogues as soon as I complete them. So here how my last trip went.

It has been 20 months of blissful ownership of my Taurus (GP 90 HP). It recently completed 30 K KMS on the odometer and what better way to celebrate it than driving on the 40 twisting hairpins during our recent trip to Valparai. Just a few months after getting our car we had drove to Kudremukh and the nearby places in October 2014 just after the monsoons.

Since then we had been planning to visit and explore the Western Ghats further. It’s completely different visiting such places after rains. It’s all green and fresh with light rains thrown in between. Nature at its pristine best.
Though we would have loved to be there just after the monsoons the plans never materialized due to some unforeseen circumstances. I was down with dengue during Sep-Oct 2015 and the rest of the year was spent recovering completely and catching up with the piled up work at office. We didn’t have enough leaves as most were exhausted during my hospitalization.

The plans were shelved and we never knew when our lives entered another year. During the Sankranti my wife and kid had their schools off for the whole week. I got my quarterly leaves and the itch to travel was back in full force. I had one day off during Sankranti and since me and my team had just successfully closed two projects I knew there will be at least a weeks’ time when I can take it easy.

The places were mostly decided. It had to be either Kodai/Valparai or Munnar/Valparai. My better half had already been to Munnar a few years ago and we would be doing a Kerala trip sometime in future so she voted for the first option. It was not like we wanted to visit Kodai but we were not sure if Valparai alone would be worth it. After our trip we realized we were so wrong. My wife wasn’t ready to come back from Valparai. It was just feast for eyes with greenery all around, wildlife (this place is a birder’s paradise), tea gardens, mountains, forests and those twisty roads. All ingredients for a great road trip.

As soon as it was decided that the road trip is on we started making the itinerary. Initial plan was a 5 day trip but with close to 3 K KMS we were sure that two days would be spent in the car only. Besides we had a plan to take a break at Bangalore and spend a day with one of my friend and his family. So I decided to take an additional day off and club it with the Sankranti holiday. This is how we planned our trip would pan out.

12th Jan – Start from Hyderabad and reach Kodai the same day – 1.2 K KMS. We even though about taking the break @ friend’s place while going but dropped the plan as we would always be in a hurry to leave the next day. Besides 12th being a work day we would not have been able to spend some quality time with them. So we decided to start as early as possible and be @ Kodai before it is too late.

13th and 14th Jan (half – day) – Sightseeing @ Kodai.

14th Jan (2nd half) – Travel to Valparai

15th Jan – Sightseeing @ Valparai

16th Jan – Visit to Athirapally falls on the way to Bangalore. Spend the rest of the day @ friend’s place

17th Jan – Start for Hyderabad early in the afternoon.

We started looking for stay options in Kodai and Valparai. There were hardly any options in Valparai at least on the net. One of our TFI members suggested taking the HVK 501 pack. Most of the well-read auto enthusiasts would know about HVK and I too knew well about him. Took the 501 pack and followed the instruction.

Pinged him on WhatsApp and he provided me the options. The ones in Valparai were beyond my budget. HVK suggested me to try Misty Creek though they do not have any tie ups with them. I knew about Misty Creek and the owner Benny but from the photos on the internet I had not liked it and hence didn’t explore the option. When HVK suggested it I did some more research and found out mostly very good reviews. I called up Benny booked the room and transferred a token amount.

In the meanwhile HVK gave me few options in Kodai and I was getting some better offers on net for other hotels. When travelling we prefer spending as less as possible on stay and food unless the plan is to unwind at some good hotels or if the place where we are travelling is famous for food. I updated HVK that I would do the booking on my own and asked him to share the route maps for my travel. We booked The Carnival Hotel in Kodai.

The route maps were immensely helpful especially bypassing bigger towns and saved us quite some time. Besides HVK was very helpful in guiding us during the drive. I would rate the experience with HVK and Team as exceptional. Even though I did not use their services in booking hotels, Valparai booking was done as per HVK’s recommendation his inputs on the routes were extremely helpful. Besides the support during the drive is commendable. I would suggest anyone travelling on roads to use his services. One may get stay options, routes etc. on the net but nothing beats the firsthand experience HVK has. I will touch upon that later in the travelogue.

With the hotels booked and route decided it was just waiting for the trip to start. After going through all related links on Valparai we found that having a BSNL connection would be good. We had couple of SIMs unused from our stay in Bhubaneswar few years back. Now with national MNP available we converted one of those to BSNL. Though Airtel has served us well over the last few years it is costly. After using BSNL I can guarantee nothing is more economical than BSNL in the country. But as far as connectivity is concerned I found Airtel better throughout the trip. There were places where BSNL had no connectivity and Airtel was still working. But there were places where none worked.

The day before the trip I left office pretty early. Checked all documents of the car and visually inspected the car. I had got the car serviced for 30 K @ 27 K itself a week back due to the long drive it had to take. We hit bed by 8:00 PM and the plan was to start by 3:00 AM early in the morning.

Before I move on to the detailed travelogue below are the customary route map and travel stats.



So we were looking at close to 3K kms trip. Below the actual MID trip stats



Distance Covered: 2750 kms (So around 300 kms for local sightseeing)
Travel Time (In car): 48:12 hours
Average Speed: 57 km/h
Mileage: 17.7 km/l (MID)
Mileage: 17.1 km/l (Tankful Method)
Total Diesel consumed: 160 liters approx.
So my observation that MID shows a mileage which is in the range 0.5-1.0 km/l more than tank full method proves true again.

Jan 12 2016 - Day 1

Well I have noticed that the night before the travel the sleep isn’t as tight as other nights. I and my wife both face the same issue almost during all our road trips. To overcome this we had slept less the previous night. My wife made sure she or our daughter do not sleep during the day time the previous day. But somehow in spite of being pretty tired I would not say we had a great sleep. We overslept and woke up around 2:45 AM. At least our bodies were rested enough but not so much the mind. We were not tired actually but didn’t feel fresh as one feels early in the morning. We all got ready by 4:30 AM and all set to roll 10 minutes to 5:00 AM.



The pre decided route. This was based on the inputs from HVK route map. Close to 1.2 K KMS to be covered and we were looking at midnight arrival @ Kodai. Not the start we expected. We would have loved to start by 4:00 AM at least. But as with most trips especially with a baby on board early start is a rarity.

With our experiences from previous trips we had decided on the following
To limit our top speeds to 120 KM/H.
To stay put by 9:00 PM irrespective of whether we reach our destination or not. To stop earlier if roads or weather were not conducive for further travel.

We have usually noticed that the time mentioned in GMAPS usually matches the travel time including breaks if driven sanely @ an average 10 KM/H more than what it suggests. A little faster and once can save a good 2-3 hours if breaks can be kept to minimum. So we thought a 9:00 PM is pretty much possible.

The top speed limit was put as during the last few months of growing up my daughter has now developed a sense of speed. She turned 4 a few months back and there have been times when she has mentioned whether we are going too fast or slow. Earlier we didn’t have the speed beep set. On our last trip to Pondy I kept speeds up above 120 and still noticed that the average speeds never touched 80 KM/H.

With too much braking, acceleration and deceleration all the momentum would be broken time and again. Besides there were times my daughter would ask us to slow down if she felt we were doing more speed. So it was a conscious decision to stick to the 120 KM limit. The speed buzzer was set @ 120 and we decided to stick to it till Bangalore at least. Better be slow and safe than be sorry and not be in a position to regret as well.

We were proven correct as we had the average speed up by 2 KM/H when compared with the Pondy trip even though we travelled 1 K KMS more and the sightseeing was considerably more than Pondy trip.

All loaded to start the trip.



Kids grow up real fast. She isn’t sleepy this time. Just the flash and she closed her eyes. She was completely ready and excited this time.



Usual close to 5:00 AM start



Get set go



We drove in the dark for the good amount of time. On HYD ORR



One hour into the drive. Light conditions changing slowly. I tried to keep up the pace driving close to a ton. I am not too much of a night driver. Lights from oncoming vehicles and the fact that I wear glasses doesn’t make driving in dark any fun for me. Most of my trips I have driven well into the night after sunset. But somehow I find driving evening through night better as somehow my eyes are able to adapt the change.

But I find it extremely hard to drive if I have to start early in the night. My eyes take some time to adjust especially if I have woken up. My wife anyway finds driving in dark difficult. There never had been a situation where she had to drive in dark or on ghats. She drives within the city in the night though. We distribute our driving duties in such a way that she gets to drive on the freeways and I take up ghat sections and after dark driving.

Attachment 1600766

Finally “Suryadev” takes pity on us and gives “Darshan”. Perfect timing for the shot.



Light condition change pretty quick. It’s close to 7:00 AM now and I increase the speeds.



Inviting Straights on NH7. It was very difficult to control to not speed beyond 120 KM. But the end result was worth it. Will come to that point later.



Finally the tea break. We usually pack and eat while driving if required. I and my wife were full as we ate along the way. My daughter slept after the initial euphoria and we had to break to feed her and have tea.



My wife took over the driving duties and drove for the next 300 kms

Curvelicious



Delicious twists



Curves … Handle with Care



Serpentine



Being a weekday there was hardly much traffic except for heavy vehicles and local populace



Every driver’s dream. Reason why NH7 continues to be a driver’s delight. You get arrow straight roads and delicious curves as well.



Arrow straight roads ….. You can drive all day good speeds



Picturesque … You never get bored with such scenery around



Roads are “Makkhan” through out



Drive sedately on such roads and you are sure to get 20+ KM average



India’s favorite deity … Hanuman and Ganesha will top the list. But on the highways it’s Bajrang Bali every where



Isckon Temple on the way to Bangalore



As we got closer to Bangalore I took over the driver’s seat again

Windmills …. They are all over the place

[nibedk]

Brilliant to look at from a distance



Majestic aren’t they



Our tiny traveler enjoyed the supple drive inside and the beautiful sights outside. Our little one posing



She has got a great temperament. She started accompanying us on long drives since 9 months old. Got to mention she makes our travel more pleasurable with all her antics. She is a great sport. We hardly have had any issues due to her. Hope it continues that way. But we adults really underestimate kids. They are far more adapting than us adults. She hardly complains unless she is sick.

Taurus stopping on the way to appreciate the natural beauty all around



Ready to rule the roads



He is a natural poser … Looks mean



Close to midday we stopped by just before Devanahalli to chart the bypass route. I had just downloaded the free SYGIC maps few days before the trip. Google maps though great has some disadvantages. You cannot feed anything other than the destination. It doesn’t allow to feed intermediate points on the route though you can do the same on the Web Version. Besides it uses data as well. Data on roaming can get quite costly. We have noticed that during all such outstation trips we would get quite an inflated mobile bills. So we thought why not try an offline maps and Google maps anyway can be back up.

We lost a good 15-20 minutes trying to get the route sorted out. One issue we found with Sygic maps was one needs to have fed and saved the cities town that one wants to travel through else it can take some time to get the correct route. Got frustrated as we were losing time and decided to use Google Maps till we cross Bangalore. Till Devanahalli it was a breeze and I had fed the route till Bangalore before starting from home. We lost not only time but the average speed went down as I had kept the engine on all this while so that AC can keep running as daughter was sleeping then. We were averaging above 92 KM/H up till that point of time but for the first time it went below 90 KM.

Stats till Devanahalli.



Start Time: 4:50 a.m.
End Time: 12:32 p.m.
Distance Covered: 585.7 kms
Travel Time (In car): 6:35 hours
Average Speed: 88.96 km/h
Total Time: 7:42 hours
Break Time: 1:07 hours
Mileage: 18.4 km/l

This average was achieved without crossing 120 KM/H. We would have got the speed beep 20 times throughout the trip and the speed was immediately decreased below 120. The best part was I got a good FE of over 18 KM/L. Even the average speed was close to 92 KM/H just before reaching Devanahalli. If not for the break taken to chart the further route we could have save another 20 minutes. So we could have actually covered close to 600 KMS in little more than 6 hours. So an average of close to 100 KM/HR without actually taking any undue risks.

My thought regarding average speeds seems to be correct now. It’s better to drive at speeds which are easier to maintain and would require less braking. We actually loose quite some time when accelerating/decelerating due to braking. Besides MJD due to the infamous lag really does take time to overcome lag and come up to speeds.

I used a few more techniques which I feel helped the FE and the average speeds. I used predictive braking (where I really didn’t brake) but allowed the vehicle to slow down gradually by lifting the foot off the accelerator. Most of the times the vehicle would have slowed down to speeds where I really would not have to brake as the traffic would have cleared up and I could again accelerate. So picking up speed would be a lot easier along with some fuel saving.

Whenever I encountered toll gates I would follow a similar approach or do a neutral and let the vehicle move along. It would have slowed down by the time we reached toll gate and a light tap would stop the vehicle. I also used the in gear coasting (not sure if I am using the correct term) where I would not be providing accelerator inputs all the time. When up to speeds I would provide minimal inputs unless required either while overtaking or sudden braking and no inputs when going down the slope
.
Throughout our trip we kept the speeds between 100 KM and 120 KM slowing down only due to traffic.

Finally we took the bypass to connect to Electronic city. The route used was
Devanahalli – Doddaballapur – Dabaspete – Neelamangla – NICE ROAD – Electronic City



Somewhere on NICE ROAD

[nibedk]

Stats for Bypass



Start Time: 12:32 p.m.
End Time: 3:37 p.m.
Distance Covered: 128.9 kms (Total 714.6 kms)
Travel Time (In car): 2:09 hours (Total 8:44 hours)
Average Speed: 59.95 km/h (drop by 7 km/h to 81.82 km/h)
Total Time: 3:05 hours (10:45 hours)
Break Time: 0:54 hours (2:01 hours)
Mileage: 18.1 km/l (drop in mileage by 0.3 km/l)

The roads are okayish and speeds up to 60-70 km/h can be managed. But we took a fuel fill break. I could make up for the lost speed as NICE road is close to 55 KMS where I could drive between 100 KM to 120 KM easily. But as soon as we touched NICE road daughter started complaining about stomach ache. She started feeling uncomfortable and we thought she may puke. Just as I stopped the car to get her out she puked inside the car. We did manage to do some damage control by asking her to puke in a plastic bag but she had already puked inside the car and her car seat was a mess. We had to take a 30 minutes break to clean her and the car seat. Lost some precious time again. Once done she started feeling better which was a relief for both of us.

It was past 3:30 PM when we had our lunch at veg restaurant just before crossing Electronics City. It was a quick 30 minutes lunch and by 4:15 P.M we started again. All through our journey we kept munching on fruits and some namkeens which we had packed from home and took plenty of water. It kept us hydrated and energized.

We lost quite some time crossing Bangalore due to traffic and then some more again at Hosur to get Glucon D nimbu pani for my kid. Just as a precaution so that junior is well hydrated and do not fall sick due to the long drive.We were all set again to drive at optimum speeds.

We continued on NH7 till Salem after which we joined NH45. . After crossing Bangalore my wife took over the driver’s duty as I was feeling extremely drowsy. She would have driven for next 200 kms before it was dark.

Somewhere after Hosur. NH7 continued to be scenic



Light started fading slowly.



As the light started fading quickly we captured a few more beautiful shots



Finally “Suryadev” bid us farewell for the day



We took a small tea break before it was completely dark. I was feeling fresh after the short nap and took over the driver’s seat again



Last shot before it was completely dark



We touched Salem around 7:00 PM and were caught up in the heavy evening traffic. We lost quite some time before we could cross Salem completely. We thought for a moment if we should break for the day and stay back at Salem.

As we touched Salem I called up one of the TFIAN from HYD who had been to Kodai two years back. He too did a single day drive. He suggested to continue and decide after reaching Dindigul as roads are fantastic throughout. We drove out of Salem close to 8:00 PM.

It was around 9:15 PM when we touched Dindigul and called up my friend again. He suggested that I can take a break and travel next day as it may take another 3 hours to reach Kodai. This was as per his experience and roads weren’t great 2 years back. He suggested checking with HVK as he can arrange something there. Even I was thinking on the same line.
I called up HVK and he told that Dindigul doesn’t have good stay options and I can reach Kodai in 1:30 HRS. He assured me that roads are good throughout and it should not be much of an issue. He asked me to just call in case of any issues and that he will arrange for help if required. We decided to go ahead after his assurances as staying back would also have meant loosing quite some time the next day.

Kodai is 90 odd KMs from Dindigul with around 60 KM being ghat roads. I had my car serviced the third time just before the trip and all fluids were changed. Popped the bonnet up to find the coolant well below the minimum mark. I was told about the same during my servicing and they had given me the left over coolant. Filled it and the coolant mark was back above maximum mark. It has not gone down since then.

Few pics just as we entered the ghat sections. As mentioned by HVK roads were great through out



One more.



It was already close to 10 and we had to cover aorung 90 odd KMS more. We called our hotel reception and asked them to keep food for two persons. They called up after sometime and said its not possible. We were a little upset and wife gave them a good thrashing on phone. We were worried about the serive now as what was being offered to us before arrival. We shuddered at the though of how it would be once we check in. So we decided to have dinner on the way. We figured that beyond 11 PM in the night we may not get food in Kodai.

We had dinner just after Dindigul and were done in 30 minutes. More than dinner feeding our daughter was more important as she may have fallen sick. Fortunately she was at her energetic best through out the trip and did well even after the trip was over.

A little past 10:30 PM we started again with 80 odd KMS to cover. We took around 100 more minutes to reach our destination. We had to travel around 60 KMS of ghat roads. Thanks to FIAT it was a breeze though. We were doing bends comfortably @ 60 KM/H. Only slowing down if there was any incoming vehicle.

It was great fun doing the ghat sections. FIATS somehow have not got there due. They make such wonderful cars. Cars which actually are best in things which matter like dynamics, steering, build, tires, ride quality, seats etc. Somehow we Indians still havent warmed up to the concept of good drivers car. Besides they are spacious enough to sit four in absolute comfort. But still it sells less in year than the what an Alto sells in a month. Pretty sad but that’s the truth.

Final stats for the day



Start Time: 3:37 p.m.
End Time: 12:14 a.m.
Distance Covered: 461.4 kms (Total 1176 kms)
Travel Time (In car): 7:33 hours (Total 16:17 hours)
Average Speed: 61.11 km/h (drop by further 9 km/h to 72.22 km/h)
Total Time: 8:37 hours (19:22 hours)
Break Time: 1:04 hours (3:05 hours)
Mileage: 17.9 km/l (drop in mileage by further 0.2 km/l)
We would have liked to be @ Kodai at at least 3:00 hours before. The delay early in the morning cost us quite a bit. We were late reaching Bangalore and were caught up in traffic at both Hosur and Salem which delayed us further. An hour earlier would have saved us time as we reached Salem bang in office returning hours. Similarly the local traffic between Bangalore and Hosur was quite a lot more than what we expected. The climate early in the morning didn’t allow speeds beyond 100 km as well. It was a little foggy and I didn’t push till there was light on the horizon.

We would have stayed back at Dindigul if not for HVK’s assurance that the road quality was great. We crashed into our beds soon after the marothon drive.

[bblost]

Very nice travelogue with some really cool pictures of the open road.

Thanks for sharing. But the best part for me is seeing a properly secured kid, who is going to be a super traveler in the future. You might want to keep the chest strap a little higher. My son used to complain about it as I am sure your daughter will as well. But its more secure there and they get used to it.

[King_pin09]

Originally Posted by nibedk

Stats for Bypass

Attachment 1601313

Start Time: 12:32 p.m.
End Time: 3:37 p.m.
Distance Covered: 128.9 kms (Total 714.6 kms)
Travel Time (In car): 2:09 hours (Total 8:44 hours)
Average Speed: 59.95 km/h (drop by 7 km/h to 81.82 km/h)
Total Time: 3:05 hours (10:45 hours)
Break Time: 0:54 hours (2:01 hours)
Mileage: 18.1 km/l (drop in mileage by 0.3 km/l)

Nice travelogue unwinding up there, friend.

The roads, as seen through your images; empty, spacious, straight and curvaceous , are more than inviting for an enthusiast. One may go to an extent of mashing up his boss at office for not allowing leave to drive on these roads.

[Dieselritzer]

HI, nice write up sir and glad to see that you dont compromise on the safety of your kid at all. I have seen many folks (even in my close relatives) where they budge into the tantrums of kids and let them sit in front without even strapping the seat beat.

Your post on predictive braking where instead of braking you lift your left foot off the A pedal, i have been following this technique for some time now and it is really helpful. It saves the effort of me moving my legs, it helps me get the car to speeds where i can take a call as to accelerate or is there any need to actually break and slow down further. Plus the biggest advantage i feel is that the co-passenger never feels any jerk or movement because when we brake, the jerk is felt, but when i just let the car slow down on its own the transition is very smooth, so overall the co-passenger has a pleasant experience. Especially handy when you have co-passengers who are prone to travel sickness, like in my case my mom.

Thanks for sharing this travelogue.

[EPMV]

Is that a complete travelogue? I got a feel that the travelogue is up to reaching the Kodai and no other pictures of the actual destinations. Also I was scrolling down to see more pictures of Kodai and Valparai in current season, but the travelogue abruptly ended just with roads. But you have proved another thing here "Travel is the destination".

Probably the another style of writing travelogue. I enjoyed the roads which in turn increasing the itch to hit the roads. Thanks for sharing.

[nibedk]

Hold on guys. Thanks for all the lovely comments till now. This one is a big travelogue and I would be updating the same over the next few days.

Please spare me a few more days. Still working and taking calls late into the night.

[pet_apf]

This is such a lovely travelogue. Look forward to reading more. Hope you find time to complete this soon.

Originally Posted by nibedk

She has got a great temperament. She started accompanying us on long drives since 9 months old.

That is one travel happy kid. Touch wood.

I have a 3 year old who has a travel itch as well. I have been looking to get a car seat for him but didn't manage to find one which is ISOFIX or latch compatible. Which one do you use and would you have any recommendations?

[arvind71181]

Originally Posted by nibedk

Hold on guys. Thanks for all the lovely comments till now. This one is a big travelogue and I would be updating the same over the next few days.

Please spare me a few more days. Still working and taking calls late into the night.

Very nice start to the travelogue. As mentioned by bblost, please raise the clasps a little higher towards the armpit as that is what is indicated in my daughter's car seat.

Originally Posted by pet_apf

I have a 3 year old who has a travel itch as well. I have been looking to get a car seat for him but didn't manage to find one which is ISOFIX or latch compatible. Which one do you use and would you have any recommendations?

I do not have an ISOFIX car seat as well but I am using 2 car seats, one is an evenflo and one is the Chicco group 1-2-3 seat. Both are very comfortable for my daughter. The Chicco has one disadvantage in that the child's head tilts forward when they sleep

Chicco: http://www.firstcry.com/chicco/chicc...Rn8aAl998P8HAQ

[nibedk]

Originally Posted by bblost

Very nice travelogue with some really cool pictures of the open road.

Thanks for sharing. But the best part for me is seeing a properly secured kid, who is going to be a super traveler in the future. You might want to keep the chest strap a little higher. My son used to complain about it as I am sure your daughter will as well. But its more secure there and they get used to it.

She is growing up fast and its time to convert the car seat into booster one. The current one can take up till 50 kg or a kid less than 4"9' height. Now even with the max adjustment we not able to buckle up near the kid's thigh.
Recently did a trip to find that she has now outgrown the car seat. At 5 years she is the tallest in her class and I need to find the manual to figure out how to convert this one to booster.

She is grown up enough now to play around with chest strap.

Originally Posted by pet_apf

This is such a lovely travelogue. Look forward to reading more. Hope you find time to complete this soon.

That is one travel happy kid. Touch wood.

I have a 3 year old who has a travel itch as well. I have been looking to get a car seat for him but didn't manage to find one which is ISOFIX or latch compatible. Which one do you use and would you have any recommendations?

I got this one from US during my stay in 2012-13. We got few kid specific stuff especially good quality stuff like this car seat/stroller etc. Stroller isn't used any more though.

We had to throw away lot of stuff just to get these stuff from US.

As far as I know Indian Punto doesn't have ISOFIX base. Can't recall if the car seat is compatible. Should be as it was one of the costlier model when we got it in 2012. Can check and get back. I think newer cars have the ISOFIX base so any model which supports should work well.

I would suggest to get one with which can be used till your kid is ready to sit with car seat belt on. I think more than 4"9' kids don't need car seat. I will check on this and confirm.

Just for everyone's info irrespective of laws specific to a child safety for a particular country basic facts that one should consider even before allowing a kid to stop using car seat

• They're at least 8 years old AND 4 feet 9 inches tall. ( Kid should satisfy both conditions)
• They have outgrown the manufacturer's height and weight recommendations for their booster seat.
• Your child is ready to use a regular seat belt only when she can keep her back against the car seat, her knees naturally bend over the edge of the car seat, and her feet stay flat on the floor of the car
• Do not ever allow the kid to seat at the front.
• Do not ever allow the kid to use the car's seat belt unless he/she is using a booster or is more that 4 feet 9 inches tall. Car seat can cause more irreversible damage and can lead to even death for accidents at speeds as low as 30-40 km/hr.

I need to read through the manual to figure out how to convert it to a booster seat now and whether my daughter is ready to make the switch to booster. One thing is for sure that even with the max limit we can't strap the thigh lock anymore.

[nibedk]

Originally Posted by arvind71181

Very nice start to the travelogue. As mentioned by bblost, please raise the clasps a little higher towards the armpit as that is what is indicated in my daughter's car seat.



I do not have an ISOFIX car seat as well but I am using 2 car seats, one is an evenflo and one is the Chicco group 1-2-3 seat. Both are very comfortable for my daughter. The Chicco has one disadvantage in that the child's head tilts forward when they sleep

Chicco: http://www.firstcry.com/chicco/chicc...Rn8aAl998P8HAQ

Thanks mate for reading through. My daughter is 5 now and has grown up very fast. She is a good five inches taller than an average Indian girl of her age. These long trips can take a toll on the kid. We just make sure that she is belted up well and let her make small changes. The setting is now at the highest point making the belt over her shoulder a little loose. She can plays with the claps and keeps changing the position.

Getting a little lazy. With so many question from fellow BHPIANs I figured out today that my kid is now ready for booster. Should have checked at least half an year ago. My kid has been diligently following all the safety rules taught without even complaining about the discomfort.

It took us a good 6 months of training when she was around an year old using you tube videos the effect of not using a child seat. She used to throw a lot of tantrums. But repeated reminders using the video helped though she was too young to understand things fully. By the time she was two years old we never had to tell her. She would just sit and buckle up herself. My wife had a big role to play that she never encouraged her sitting in the front seat. If she was uncomfortable my wife would move to back seat to pacify her.

Hoping my next car would have ISOFIX base. But the worst part there is nothing in the market which will satisfy my needs like my Punto does.

Shame on Fiat that there is no option for Punto/Evo owners.

[nibedk]

Originally Posted by Dieselritzer

HI, nice write up sir and glad to see that you dont compromise on the safety of your kid at all. I have seen many folks (even in my close relatives) where they budge into the tantrums of kids and let them sit in front without even strapping the seat beat.

Your post on predictive braking where instead of braking you lift your left foot off the A pedal, i have been following this technique for some time now and it is really helpful. It saves the effort of me moving my legs, it helps me get the car to speeds where i can take a call as to accelerate or is there any need to actually break and slow down further. Plus the biggest advantage i feel is that the co-passenger never feels any jerk or movement because when we brake, the jerk is felt, but when i just let the car slow down on its own the transition is very smooth, so overall the co-passenger has a pleasant experience. Especially handy when you have co-passengers who are prone to travel sickness, like in my case my mom.

Thanks for sharing this travelogue.

With more than 20 years of driving experience( I will admit I started driving way before the legal age under controlled conditions though) and having driven cars which I may not be able to own in India it actually took just two years during my stay in US to realize that there is nothing more valuable than a life. Preserve it irrespective of how much discomfort one has to go though. My car isn't cranked until everyone is belted up. There has been cases where I had no option (especially when I go to native) where one would find folks who do not even understand the laws of physics. I usually play a trick then, find a empty stretch and speed it up to 60 km/hr and brake(got to thank Fiats super brakes) just enough so that they jump out of their seat. I tell them that I drive rash and they should belt up for their own safety. It works most of the time. But there are pig heads everywhere and I pray that never meet an accident.

[nibedk]

Originally Posted by EPMV

Is that a complete travelogue? I got a feel that the travelogue is up to reaching the Kodai and no other pictures of the actual destinations. Also I was scrolling down to see more pictures of Kodai and Valparai in current season, but the travelogue abruptly ended just with roads. But you have proved another thing here "Travel is the destination".

Probably the another style of writing travelogue. I enjoyed the roads which in turn increasing the itch to hit the roads. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for all the patience to read through. No the travelogue isn't complete yet. It was a six day trip and I have just completed the first day. 5 more days of fun filled driving left mate. More than 200 pictures still waiting to get posted. I had a hard time choosing the best ones. Valparai was pure bliss.

Kudremukh and Valparai are in the visit again list

People aspire a lot position, things and a lot more. I aspire to travel every state in India and at least 1 foreign country(starting from India) by car. I work to fulfill the only dream(other than basic necessities of life and giving a decent enough life to my family) of travelling as much as possible without being a bankrupt before life signs off on me.

I would rather die with few memories to cherish rather than a lot of dreams to accomplish.

Memories signify all the good things achieved in life and dreams well the unaccomplished and unfulfilled ones.

[nibedk]

Jan 13 2016 - Day 2

We woke up 7:30 AM in the morning. We were a little skeptical about the service after our experience with the front office staff the day before. But our fears were baseless. We had a good time there. Room was great and so was the view from the room. The breakfast was complimentary and the spread was pretty good. We had dinner there as well and it was pretty average. Overall it was good for what we paid. Few snaps.

Snap @ night



Side view



Interiors



Well maintained ….



My daughter had a good time and enjoyed a lot



Posing … quite a poser unlike her father



There was a small play area for kids as well



View from our room balcony



Lake View Point



Pine Forest