[nkumarblr]

An excellent Travelogue with all the required information for a cross border trip of Bhutan.

I second bhpian rahulskumar that you are lucky to have parents, who love to drive, and specially such long ones.

[RajeevSharma]

Excellent travelogue with great details. Your love for driving comes out in your writing as well. I had hell of a time reading it which is only fraction of what you might have experienced living it.

Your planning for these long trips of lack of it is really something else. I leave my packing for the last minute but to not plan at all beforehand must add a lot more to the thrills.

[jithin23]

Originally Posted by rahulskumar

Great travelogue. You are really lucky that your parents also love to drive.
Did your parents feel comfortable in the rear seat of Ecosport (as this is a pseudo suv) ?
For such a long trip, did you plan any measures regarding breakdown and medical emergency?

Thanks for the compliment and yes, parents too love to go on road trips. But this was the first time we've driven this far.

Dad and I kept swapping the driver's seat and yeah the backseat was comfortable for my parents. Whenever I'm tired, I go to the back seat and take a nap. On long trips, best is 4 people on board.

Since I was constantly in touch with the Ecosport owners group on WhatsApp I was prepared for any sort of emergency. Medicines, we carried from Bangalore itself because in rural India it's hard to get medicines.

Originally Posted by RajeevSharma

Excellent travelogue with great details. Your love for driving comes out in your writing as well. I had hell of a time reading it which is only fraction of what you might have experienced living it.

Your planning for these long trips of lack of it is really something else. I leave my packing for the last minute but to not plan at all beforehand must add a lot more to the thrills.

I second your statement and the lack of planning makes the trip more exciting and thrilling. Most of my trips are last minute trips. I usually do not plan according to an itinerary, I make my itinerary on the go.

[Samba]

Originally Posted by jithin23

Disclaimer: This travelogue is going to be a long one to read. Not the regular type of travelogue to Bhutan one would have heard or read. Credits to Ford EcoSport Owners Groups on WhatsApp, Bhpians SamFromIndia and Samba for the timely inputs throughout my drive. I'm still an amateur in Travelogues.

Who told, you are an amateur in writing travelogue's? The travelogue came out fantastic. Awesome narration and nice pictures. Rated 5*.

It was my pleasure to help you navigate through the roads of rural Bengal.

While returning, you should have called me from Burdwan, so I could have guided you on how to avoid the 2 hrs long traffic jam at Dankuni toll! Dankuni is just 5 km from my home.

[ank.nsit]

Originally Posted by jithin23

• ...
• All our refuels were either done in COCO pumps or Reliance pumps.
  ...

Great travelogue. I have been planning to do a Bhutan trip for way too long now.

Just curious about this point-
1. How did you manage to find good fuel pumps in bhutan? Do they have COCO as well?
2. In India, I always struggle to find COCO on highways through Google. How did you manage to travel such a distance with just fuelling up from COCO and Reliance pumps? Do you have some kind of list of COCO pumps across India?

[jithin23]

Originally Posted by nkumarblr

An excellent Travelogue with all the required information for a cross border trip of Bhutan.

I second bhpian rahulskumar that you are lucky to have parents, who love to drive, and specially such long ones.

Thank You nkumarblr. This trip happened so spontaneously that we all were excited to drive our car this car. Also, this car was bought to be driven for such long distances.

Originally Posted by Samba

Who told, you are an amateur in writing travelogue's? The travelogue came out fantastic. Awesome narration and nice pictures. Rated 5*.

It was my pleasure to help you navigate through the roads of rural Bengal.

While returning, you should have called me from Burdwan, so I could have guided you on how to avoid the 2 hrs long traffic jam at Dankuni toll! Dankuni is just 5 km from my home.

Thanks a lot, Samba! I wish I could have met you and left for Bangalore. Phone gratitude wouldn't suffice for your help when I needed the most. I should have called after crossing Burdwan but I was too tired that I did not drive after Burdwan and slept off. Didn't know I was that close to your place, but there's always a next time and if I happen to travel towards Kolkata, I'd be glad to meet you.

Originally Posted by ank.nsit

Great travelogue. I have been planning to do a Bhutan trip for way too long now.

Just curious about this point-
1. How did you manage to find good fuel pumps in Bhutan? Do they have COCO as well?
2. In India, I always struggle to find COCO on highways through Google. How did you manage to travel such a distance with just fuelling up from COCO and Reliance pumps? Do you have some kind of list of COCO pumps across India?

In Bhutan, the majority of the petrol pumps are owned by BP and a few by IOC. You will find fuel pumps only near towns and nowhere on the highways or mountains. I'm not sure about the availability of COCO pumps in Bhutan.

Since the route I travelled was the Golden Quadrilateral, there are plenty of COCO pumps. I would google COCO pumps from Google maps and fill up in the highest-rated pump and using android auto makes things easier. Each tankful of diesel would take me at least 750 Km easily.

[FrodoOfTheShire]

Awesome travelogue Jithin! Nice touch with the Ford showroom there!

[Déesse]

Excellent travelogue, jithin23. Crisp yet clear writing style. Nice photos too.

[jithin23]

Originally Posted by FrodoOfTheShire

Awesome travelogue Jithin! Nice touch with the Ford showroom there!

Thank you FrodoOfTheShire! I added that point because I wanted the content to be as raw and unique as it can.

Originally Posted by Déesse

Excellent travelogue, jithin23. Crisp yet clear writing style. Nice photos too.

Thank you Deesse. Most of the photos were clicked on my mobile phone.

[SideView]

Nice travelogue and thanks for taking your effort penning it down.If an unplanned ones are like this, I wonder how the planned ones would be like, maybe moon is the limit. Hats off to you.

And here is me who would think multiple times before going to super market barely a km away. I blame my ADHD but its more likely my laziness.

[tp_dominator]

Awesome travelogue and nice narration too. Sure the car makes you go longer and that's what you did exactly!

The pics are also amazing and surprisingly for last minute bookings too, the hotel expenses are not too much. Congrats on being Bhutanified!

[jithin23]

Originally Posted by SideView

Nice travelogue and thanks for taking your effort penning it down.If an unplanned ones are like this, I wonder how the planned ones would be like, maybe moon is the limit. Hats off to you.

And here is me who would think multiple times before going to super market barely a km away. I blame my ADHD but its more likely my laziness.

Thanks for the encouraging words SideView! More than laziness, it's our sad road conditions in Bangalore that make us think ten times before going out for errands and even I'm quite lazy.

Originally Posted by tp_dominator

Awesome travelogue and nice narration too. Sure the car makes you go longer and that's what you did exactly!

The pics are also amazing and surprisingly for last-minute bookings too, the hotel expenses are not too much. Congrats on being Bhutanified!

Thanks tp_dominator and I would love to get Bhutanified again! This car is surely taking me places where I could only dream of going earlier. Hotel expenses depend on the place and the type of rooms one chooses and that's subjective to each one's tastes.

[Thermodynamics]

Excellent Travel Jitin and a great write up. I liked the way you titled days, never easy to condense a whole day in a word or two. Detailed and aplenty information for prospective travelers. Doing such a distance with aged passengers aboard and that in 12 days .

It must have been fun chanting and piloting through the crowd. Little experiences make life interesting, guess you will cherish these memories for a long time. Wish you best travels, keep traveling, keep writing.

[jithin23]

Originally Posted by Thermodynamics

Excellent Travel Jitin and a great write up. I liked the way you titled days, never easy to condense a whole day in a word or two. Detailed and aplenty information for prospective travelers. Doing such a distance with aged passengers aboard and that in 12 days .

It must have been fun chanting and piloting through the crowd. Little experiences make life interesting, guess you will cherish these memories for a long time. Wish you best travels, keep traveling, keep writing.

Thank you for your kind words Thermodynamics! Yeah, it was one hell of a trip and the little things make it even more interesting which I'll cherish forever. Definitely, will write more travelogues

[twin_turbo]

Great write up jithin23. Rated 5 stars. Read the whole thread in one go. Really happy to see your positive attitude. I know guys who would spoil their entire trip for a small scratch on their new car.