[aniyo]

Prologue:
Man makes mistakes as he does not learn from his mistakes. I seldom do. I have in past made a lot of promises to Wife and then forgot about them.
We had not gone for any long trip since our trip to Mauritius last year so I promised I will take her to Bali this year December when both if us have block closure.
As it happened we bought our Nexon just a month early to our anniversary and being a cash purchase we were seriously short of cash. Took her to a small trip to Mysore and the trip was fun.
The promise of Bali was on and we started saving up for it.

First strike:
August 15 weekend was a long one and she wanted to drive some place, she loves road trip. After a lot of planning we thought of going to Munnar or Coorg but floods ravaged the entire Karnataka tourist spots so they were dropped. Mangalore and Udupi highways were closed so we looked towards Pondicherry. All good except the hotel prices, she wanted a beach resort and the good one were costing 9-10K/night as the whole of Bangalore was to be there. I put my foot down that Pondi is not worth that much money and suggested cheaper yet 3 star properties to stay. After lot of fights we dropped Pondi as we had to save for Bali. Took her on day trip to sivasamsudra falls for which I had written a review earlier.

Second Strike:
We were hit by unforeseen expenses,
1. Bed bugs attack: We had to throw away the mattress and pest control was done
2. My relatives fell ill and my parents made an emergency visit from Aurangabad and next day flight tickets robbed us.
3. We did not have cots in the guest room and had to make an urgent purchase along with a mattress. Bangalore is damn expensive
4. Acid water leaked on Nexon from parking roof, had to take it to 3M for removal and polishing that was another expense.
5. My mother loves temple and we had a quick visit to Tirupathi and since we did not get the Rs. 300 darshan, we had to book a package and I could not take the Nexon along.
6. My FIL got a lung infection and wife had to make couple of emergency trips to Vizag and she was no more in mood to travel.

Bali was eventually canceled and wife blasted me that the whole year we have not gone anywhere for a vacation and the blasting continued for a few weeks.

After going through a lot of Wife fury, I came up with a plan that we can cover Vizag and nearby places (Araku, Bora caves, chilka lake, Sun temple etc.) I would drive down from Bangalore. (she had block leave from Dec 15-Jan1). I had leave from Dec 25-Jan1.
We liked the idea but she was not too keen as she had seen all these places but something was better than nothing so she agreed halfheartedly.

Savior: (November 20)
God made elder brothers for a reason. My elder brother came to my rescue.
He was in USA and his H1B got picked and he had to come to India for stamping.
Now the best part is my SIL is from Goa and they have a 1.5 year old girl. They decided to camp in Goa with the Kid and go to Mumbai for stamping.
I had not seen my brother in 4 years and took this opportunity to plan Goa trip. Wife was super excited as she has not visited Goa ever and Our first Long vacation of the year was a reality now.

Planning for Goa: (December 1-4)
Spoke to brother and he too was excited to meet us as he had missed my wedding and never met my wife in person.
After lot of deliberation on dates, we decided to meet on Dec 24 in Goa, he was to leave on Dec 28th and we were to continue till Dec 30th.
All leaves applied and the plan was on.

Few mandatory precautions: (December 22 and 23)
1. Oil Check: Level ok and the oil quality was good to (had changed just 3.5k km back)


2. Coolant level was between Max and Min, I decided to top up. Called Concorde motors dairy circle they advised to top up it up with water. I was shocked and refused the suggestion. Went to Shell and bought a 1L bottle of coolant to top up. Cost 350


3. Went to Tyre empire to do Wheel balancing and Alignment and also filled Nitrogen in all 5 tyres (30 PSI). Total cost 1700


4. Bought a car mobile charger with Type C for wife's oneplus and bought an Aux cable. Total cost 1000

5. Upgraded highbeams to Philips xtreme vision plus. Total cost 1500

I toyed with the idea of Dashcam but they were to route this through A pillar and I was concerned if they do not fit properly it will lead to rattling the whole trip so dropped the idea for now.

Asked my cook to make 6 Meethi paratha and chutney for my journey on Dec 24th. She ended up making 10

Total trip:1865 KM
FE for entire trip 19.73 T2T (24.6 as per MID, error 24.5%)
Total diesel consumed 94.51L
Number of days 7.
Average KM/day: 266


Day 1: December 24 The one with the Start (Day distance 708KM)
With all set a night before, took to bed early. Had plan to start by 4:30 a.m. As always I got up before the alarm went off. Got ready and started by 4:40 a.m. to Goa. Route was as in the map.

Team BHP wallet is perfect fit in slot provided


I have only couple of pics of the drive as I was the alone in car.
The drive out of Bangalore was pathetic. KE Puram was crowded as always and the Tumkur road was not in good shape. With lot of heavy vehicles, it took me nearly an hour to cover first 40 KM.
Once on the highway things were good. There was bit of fog but I could maintain good speed. The roads were dangerously unlit and had to use the high beam for quite sometime along with fog lamps. Fastag worked like charm on most tool booths.

As is the norm few speed breakers were unmarked and in the least expected place. Had a panic braking moment when Nexon had to be got down from 100 to 20 and Nexon handled it with ease.

For most part of the initial drive the roads were good and I had made a conscious decision not to exceed 120KMPH at any cost, however tempting the empty stretch of road beckons. This was for 2 reasons.
1. I wanted to experiment on steady speed driving and the time taken.
2. I wanted to reach Goa in a single tank no refueling on highway. I really felt here Nexon tank should have been bigger say 50L types.

I drove non-stop for the first 400KM a personal record for me (took couple of pee breaks each less than a minute). I covered this in 5.5 hours. Constant speed of 100-110 was very careful not to exceed this speed. Average speed was 72KMPH with no speeding or risky driving.
At this point Nexon showed DTE of 450KM and I had to complete about 217KM more. Quite comfortable.

Stopped for Tea and breakfast at a place called Ganesh hotel near Hubli.
Decent idli and sambar. Tea was too sweet for my liking and I left it half way.

Started from hotel at 10:45 a.m. and google asked to me take a diversion from NH 748 to SH 31. I was reluctant but went ahead. This route took me through Khanapur, Chorla Ghat and to Goa from there.
Parts of roads are bad and some parts are beyond worse, it was off road with no tar at all. Boy was I happy buying the Nexon, I was so much at peace. The potholes, bad roads etc did not bother one bit, I could drive carefree that nothing is going to scrape or damage. Every single sedan and hatch were struggling on this road and I could just maintain 2-3 gear all along in comfort.

After the bad part the roads improved a lot and I could maintain 60-80KMPH consistently. Roads were narrow and I had to drive in sports mode contentiously to have an opportunity to floor the pedal for overtaking.

I hit Chorla ghat after couple of hours of driving and the road were mix of decent and bad. At this point I was constantly watching the DTE as the bad roads, traffic and ghat had taken a toll on the FE.
DTE was 300KM and I had to cover additional 110 KM. Already the range had dropped by 40KM. from when I had left from breakfast.
Crossed 11000Km milestone enroute.


With the roads opening up and decent roads I could make quick progress and entered Goa at 2:10 P.M. (9 hrs and 30 mins). Took another 40 mins to reached Mapusa by 2:50 P.M. (total journey time 10 hours and 10 mins for 625KM.
At this point DTE was showing 184 KM (Total range of 809).
I really felt additional 6-8L tak size would have been really comfortable to have. Came out quite fresh, infact my brother and his wife were surprised that I don't look tired at all.
Nexon is quite comfortable car with good supportive seats, good driving position and fantastic AC.

FE details: Nexon XZ+ diesel.
As per MID 24.0
As per T2T 20.14 (error of 19%)
Average speed 62KMPH for the whole journey
Total toll cost: apporx 450 Rs.
Tyre pressure (Nitrogen) 30 PSI all tyres.
Mode: Mix of sports and City.
AC at 24 degree on all the time.

Staying in Goa:
My brother had arranged for a flat in Mapusa that belonged to his wife's aunt. Flat was good and in a quiet society. We camped here and explored whole of Goa from here.
I tanked up at HP nearby as I had to go pick my wife from airport, her landing was at 5:30 P.M. Airport was 40KM from Mapusa. Despite the long journey I drove down to airport as I was not tired much.
To and fro took about 2 hours. Chai point at airport served pathetic tea.
Few pics of the flat
Attachment 1951784
Attachment 1951782
Attachment 1951783

My brother and SIL joined us for dinner at a nearby hotel and it was good. After more than 700KM of driving in the day I called it a day and went to bed at 9:30 P.M.

[aniyo]

Day 2: December 25 (Day distance 80KM) The one with useless fort
Got up late and went for Breakfast at a veg place called Navtara. Good hygienic place with tasty food. Seemed quite popular with the locals..

Had plans to go out with Brother and his in-laws in the evening so first half we decide to explore ourselves.

Went to Chopora fort (one shown in Dil Chahta hai). It was about 10KM from our place. The fort was sad, the climb was steep and the heat was like peak summer. There is absolutely nothing to do there. The sun was so bright the mobile cam did not click any good pics. Thoroughly disappointed we came down after having some refreshments at the fort. Stopped at a roadside place to buy clothes for wife, and I realized the advantage of a smallish car, could park and turn anywhere.
Came back home chilled in AC and went out for lunch.
Evening we went to Morjim beach with family which had 2 very naughty kids. It was about 15KM drive from our place. Decent beach for family.

Later in the night we went to see Christmas cribs that were set up. Saw 3 but only 1 was decently done.


Day 3: December 26, One with the Solar eclipse. (Day distance 50Km)
Got up early saw the sunrise from the terrace. My wife's phone camera developed some issue so we have very little pics from this day onward as my phone was on maps all the time.
Went for a quick breakfast and we head out to Vagator beach. The beach was quiet with not more than 20 people on the entire beach. Took a dip in water and it was nice and cool.
Parents called up multiple time to remind of the eclipse and asked us not to eat anything and take a headbath and all precautions they could think of. Though the eclipse was not so much visible from Goa we followed parents advise as much as we could.
After our time at Vagator beach we headed back home as we had plans to go to Aguoda fort later in the day with Brother. Vagator beach pics.




The plan to Aguoda fort got cancelled and me and wife went to Anjuna beach in the evening.
At Anjuna beach open ground pay and park was 100 bucks and we were shocked with the rates.
Did a lot of water sports on the beach and had a good time at Anjuna. Water sports were expensive at 1500 for speed boats (me and wife only). Wife was not feeling too well and we had a Dinner invite from by Bro's in laws so skipped drinks and snacks. Few pics from Anjuna beach




For dinner we went to in-laws place and spent time with kids. Came back chilled for sometime and slept off.

Day 4: December 27, One with an amazing Dinner (Day distance 86Km)
Nexon had developed a irritating rattle near the spolier. this had come earlier which was fixed by Concorde motors but it resurfaced in Goa. Googled Tata service center and found Durga motors as nearest option. Maps took me to wrong place and thankfully the showroom was close to where maps took me. Showroom staff directed me to workshop which was 1.5KM from the showroom.
Explained the problem to the technician and they took an hour and after 3-4 trial runs the issue was resolved. Happy with the service I left the place and returned back to flat.
Had lunch and started to Aguoda fort. This place was better than Chopora but still way disappointing than what we hoped for. I come from Aurangabad and Daulatabad fort, even in ruins is 20 time better than this. My wife has stayed in Delhi and covered Rajasthan and for both of us this fort was disappointing. Took a few pics and we headed to sinquerim beach.

Sinquerim Beach:
This beach is right next to Taj properties and quite crowded. Neither of of wanted to play in water and we skipped the water sports and went to a nice view point on the beach. We parked ourselves for the next couple of hours chit-chatting and enjoying the breeze and sunset.


Ate light snacks and returned back to our flat thinking about places to go for dinner. Narrowed on a Goan food place called Soul curry in Mapusa.
We freshened up and as we were to leave my brother called us for dinner and took us to Taj resorts. Both of us were taken aback as to why he will host us dinner at such expensive place. We thought as he is US return, dollar earning why not. (later we found out he fought with wife and this was a make up to her dinner )
Taj was at the beach from where we had just returned, so maps were not needed. I pride myself at remembering routes very easily.
Had a nice beach side dinner under open air and it was fantastic. The food was good, surprisingly the quantity was good too for a 5 star property and the prices shocked the senses out of me and wife.
Me and Bro had a beer each, SIL had Cocktail, Wife was not well so she had soup. Pizza, pasta, indian curry and few roti and couple of starters all this costed under 5K. An average restaurant in Bangalore will set us back by 1K per person.
Returned home happy after the dinner.

Day 5: December 28, One with the Good-bye (Day distance 150Km)
My Bro was flying to Mumbai for his stamping and I offered to drop him to airport but he had a lot of luggage and already had a cab booked.
So I told him I will go to Bougmalo beach and meet him at the airport directly.
I always loved this beach. It is very quiet, small and the waters are calm. It's just 5KM from airport. Me and wife enjoyed on this beach and had our refreshments.
As luck would have it his cab ditched and when he called me I was already at the beach which was 40Km away. Felt really bad for him. Somehow he managed to get another cab and reached airport at 12:00 P.M.
I was already waiting for him there with trolleys, we said our good-byes and they went to boarding.

I started my first job in Goa in 2008, I know quite envious. All of 22 at that time and my boss had given his bike to me. I roamed Goa completely during that time. We had a company guest house which was quite good and I stayed for good 6 months for free!!!!
I decided to show my wife all the places nearby including our guest house, my first company and all. She was astounded that I remembered all the routes and places even after 10 years. I told her if you cover a place on bike you will remember it forever, on a car after 2-3 times one will remember it for sometime, and when one is chauffeured you will ever remember.
Took her to our guest house, Verna industrial estate where my company was.
After that we headed back home had our lunch and slept off for sometime.

Arombol Beach:
My wife friend had suggested this beach and we planned for this. Was 22 Km from my place and we started at 4 and reached there by 4:40 p.m. The beach was big and beautiful. We found it relatively clean and about 50% of the people were foreigners with a lot of activity. People performing, singing, sports and few were meditating. And as always few guys were busy starting at female tourists. The shacks guys drove them away after a small heated argument.
We stayed till sunset and a long long walk on the beach and returned back to our place.

For dinner we wanted to try fisherman's wharf.
This place was in Calungate I think and it did not disappoint. The food was fresh and tasty. Butter prawns was amazing so was the fish curry rice. This was far far better than what we had in Bangalore Fisherman's wharf

Day 6: December 29, The one with lazy mood. (Day distance 100 KM)
After having traveled so much in the past days we decided to keep things light on the day before we left. Wife was down with sore throat and ear pain so we got up late had a late breakfast and just slept the first half.
In the evening we went to Colva beach. During our ride to beach the rattle started again and this got me very irritated. Stuffed some foam with 3M tape under the spoiler and it was quiet for the ride.
This beach is also very large and the sunset here was the best we got. Spent about couple of hours at this beach and came back. Few pics from sunset.


Total Drive within Goa 576KM over 6 days (avg. 96KM/day)
FE details:
As per MID 23.1
As per T2T (same pump) 19.01 (error 22%)
Complete city mode with AC at 24 degree all the time.

[aniyo]

Day 7: December 30, The one with The End (Day distance 656 KM)
We had tanked up last evening at HP and returned the keys to flat to Bro's in-laws.
Initial plan was to start at 4:30 a.m. and I realized when I was seeing the maps that I will be hitting the ghats and wildlife zone in the dark. So we decided to start late at 6:30.
This time google maps suggested different route wherein we will enter Belgam and touch NH 748. With my bad experience on previous road we tried the new one suggested by google. This one was 2 notches worse than the previous one and for a long time I cursed myself and google for this route. First 3 hours I could only cover 140Km or so. There were 2 speed breakers that were completely invisible and we ran over them at 50KMPH was very worried for the car thankfully no damage to Nexon. Here is the route.


Few more pics enroute. The route was scenic for sure but the roads were unimaginably bad. We had stopped at a view point and then it struck us we have not taken a single pic of car.






We stopped at a sad place for breakfast and wife did not eat anything there. Next stop was Kamath. Food was decent and coffee was good.
From kamath we drove non-stop (300KM) to home with couple of pee breaks
There were couple of horrible accidents that had happened very recently. One biker was killed and the ambulance was taking his body.

Google showed us longer yet faster road through kengeri, Nice road EC exit, Jail road and home.
After a long drive we reached home at 6:34 P.M. exactly 12 hours for 656KM.

FE details:
As per MID: 24
As per T2T: 20.01 (error 19%)
DTE 152KM
Average speed 54.66 KMPH
Mix of city and sports mode with AC at 24 degree throughout.

[Aditya]

Very well documented travelogue. It will surely help others who plan to travel on this route.

Goa is always a great destination. However, I have been avoiding it in December since a very long time, mainly due to overcrowding. Even so, Bogmalo and Arambol are among the better beaches to visit for sure.

Good to see that the Nexon coped well with the terrible roads. Wish you many more miles of happy motoring!