[bordeaux]

This is just amazing. More so because you did it in a Skoda and had zero breakdowns. This trip is exactly opposite of what we usually hear about Skoda in this forum or in general. I honestly believe Skoda should pay you a handsome gesture monetarily and socially. You have done more for their brand than they have done themselves in the last decade.

Congratulations!

[bullitt1]

As your profile name says, this is literally at an another level of thirugata. This is not just a travelogue but a blueprint for this kind of drives. Hats off and congrats to both of you for completing this epic journey.

[sachin_cs]

The most awaited post of the year. It indeed is a Magnum Opus of travelogues Kiran. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, you made my Saturday. And it was great connecting with you during your trip and your updates on the road conditions. Your trip inspires many BHPians & readers alike and also establishes a fact that you don't really need a big burly SUV to do cross country trip. I however still feel sorry that I could not make it to your place to meet you when you were in Raipur.

Lastly, congratulations for doing something which is a dream of many of us here. Kudos to you, ma'am and your Fabia.

[AppyS]

Salute and huge respect for undertaking such an adventurous journey Sir. As Sachin already mentioned, this is no less than a magnum opus of desi road trips. Bookmarked this to read over the next few days, while desperately craving a road trip.

[KANNURAN]

What a trip! What an experience!!

Your travelogue would give many of us the much needed confidence to tread far and immerse ourselves in the sheer span and diversity of our wonderful country.

For the past year and a half, I have done a 100 variations of a trip from Kerala to Arunachal. Having never done a trip longer than 3K KM, the disance itself (and that I use a Skoda) were stumbling blocks. Your trip has put the much needed wind in our sails. Thank you and best wishes!!

[Karaboudjan]

This is the stuff what dreams are made of! Hats off to you and your partner! Most of us have grown up with this ambition to traverse the entire country and you have achieved that! Kudos!

[speedmiester]

Kudos for undertaking such a long trip and penning down the travelogue.
Also the fact that you completed the trip in a normal hatchback rather than purpose built tourer is amazing.

[thirugata]

Originally Posted by FAIAAA

Epic! Heartiest congratulations to you three on an amazing journey through our beautiful and diverse country.

Originally Posted by TechnoBloop

Damn!! Full respect to you for writing such a huge travelogue and taking us members on a road trip around India virtually. Loved every bit of it. And the car, another lovely thing, good old Fabia HTP!

Once again buddy, full respect!

Originally Posted by anish

This is amazing. Not many people get to experience India in all its splendour. This is a road trip that many of us dream about.
The idea of couriering stuff back home from major cities was too cool. Hats off to all three of you .

Originally Posted by jetsetgo08

Well, this is a mega-travelogue. Travelling continuously for 70 days, you must be hyper dedicated, super fit. Hats off!!!

Originally Posted by bordeaux

This is just amazing. More so because you did it in a Skoda and had zero breakdowns. This trip is exactly opposite of what we usually hear about Skoda in this forum or in general. I honestly believe Skoda should pay you a handsome gesture monetarily and socially. You have done more for their brand than they have done themselves in the last decade.

Congratulations!

Originally Posted by bullitt1

As your profile name says, this is literally at an another level of thirugata. This is not just a travelogue but a blueprint for this kind of drives. Hats off and congrats to both of you for completing this epic journey.

Originally Posted by AppyS

Salute and huge respect for undertaking such an adventurous journey Sir. As Sachin already mentioned, this is no less than a magnum opus of desi road trips. Bookmarked this to read over the next few days, while desperately craving a road trip.

Originally Posted by KANNURAN

What a trip! What an experience!!

Your travelogue would give many of us the much needed confidence to tread far and immerse ourselves in the sheer span and diversity of our wonderful country.

Originally Posted by Karaboudjan

This is the stuff what dreams are made of! Hats off to you and your partner! Most of us have grown up with this ambition to traverse the entire country and you have achieved that! Kudos!

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Kudos for undertaking such a long trip and penning down the travelogue.
Also the fact that you completed the trip in a normal hatchback rather than purpose built tourer is amazing.

Would like to thank you all for all the good words and appreciation, it means a lot. I would like to thank you guys for taking time out to read through this real long blog. My major concern throughout the process of writing this one was to try and keep it short so that it makes informative but also does not become too long. I am glad no one felt it was too long to read.

Originally Posted by sachin_cs

The most awaited post of the year. It indeed is a Magnum Opus of travelogues Kiran. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, you made my Saturday. And it was great connecting with you during your trip and your updates on the road conditions. Your trip inspires many BHPians & readers alike and also establishes a fact that you don't really need a big burly SUV to do cross country trip. I however still feel sorry that I could not make it to your place to meet you when you were in Raipur.

Lastly, congratulations for doing something which is a dream of many of us here. Kudos to you, ma'am and your Fabia.

Yes, it would have been really nice if we could meet. It was always virtual connect over WA. But there is always next time. Lets see, when and where.
Would like to thank you for your continues encouragement throughout the journey. And thank you again for fixing that appointment for getting a quick service done.

[RunGaDa]

Congratulations on your epic trip. Absolutely engrossing read. One driver? Did I read that correctly? Man! Hats off to you.
Appreciate your diligence to record the details, itinerary. Amazing.
You are one of the trend setters.

[dailydriver]

You, dear sir, are a man of faith.

You had faith in the nobility of your countrymen to undertake a 18,000 km journey; and came out of it without any deep scars (let's forgive the white uniformed thugs in the city of joy)

You had enough faith not just in your one lakh kilometre run Fabia, but also in the entire Skoda ecosystem to hazard a journey that could have gone any which way just because of a minor mechanical glitch that couldn't be set right for want of parts. Your companion car stood by you and took you home safe after taking you everywhere.

You had immense faith in your ability to drive on and on for 70 days. Your skill sustained you till the end.

You had adequate faith in your ability to complete the trip and kept informing us of your whereabouts. Things could have gone wrong and you could have been trolled. Your faith helped you through the journey and delivered you safe, sound and enriched with experience.

Finally, the triumvirate had unshakable faith in one another to not just travel together but also to tolerate their quirks over extended timelines, unknown geographies and adverse conditions.

x x x

Two things stood out to me in this travelogue:

1. You did not showcase this trip as an achievement to be proud of and be congratulated upon; you just went about recording your observations and experiences in a matter of fact manner. No histrionics, no dramatics, no drumrolls!

2. You did not travel for the sake of it; you lived your life on the go. Haircuts and parlor visits, purchases and couriers - sirji, namaste !

Allow me to repost this photo of yours with my perspective thrown in:

THE THREE MUSKETEERS

[venkyhere]

Hat's off to you.
Sweltering heat, car breaking roads, and still the Fabia and travellers returned without any hiccups. Testament to the fitness levels of both.
Enjoyed the narrative style and some excellent photos.
How did you remember every tiny detail (restaurant name, timings etc) when writing the travelogue, I am shocked ! Or is it GPS logs and photos which helped you 'remember' ?

[Snowflakes]

Relentless is all I can say. Your writing is as epic as your journey. Not dramatizing things and narrating it to the point.

PS: Loved the Kargil-Sringar video. The music blends in perfectly.

[thirugata]

Originally Posted by Snowflakes

Relentless is all I can say. Your writing is as epic as your journey. Not dramatizing things and narrating it to the point.

PS: Loved the Kargil-Sringar video. The music blends in perfectly.

Thank you very much, glad you liked.

Originally Posted by RunGaDa

Congratulations on your epic trip. Absolutely engrossing read. One driver? Did I read that correctly? Man! Hats off to you.
Appreciate your diligence to record the details, itinerary. Amazing.
You are one of the trend setters.

Thank you, yes 1 driver, but with a proactive navigator without whom this drive wouldnt have been half as easy.

Originally Posted by venkyhere

Hat's off to you.
Enjoyed the narrative style and some excellent photos.
How did you remember every tiny detail (restaurant name, timings etc) when writing the travelogue, I am shocked ! Or is it GPS logs and photos which helped you 'remember' ?

Thank you Venky bhai.
We are used to an old school method, my wife always makes a note of major towns crossed, where we stopped for food, what time we started and reached, what was the expenditure in a notebook as we travel.
And at the end of the day we both write our own diaries about what we did and how the day went by. So this travelogue is written taking inputs from those 3 books.
This is not a new practice we started for this trip, this has been our habit since our first road trip in 2007.

Originally Posted by dailydriver

You, dear sir, are a man of faith.

You had faith in the nobility of your countrymen to undertake a 18,000 km journey; and came out of it without any deep scars (let's forgive the white uniformed thugs in the city of joy)

You had enough faith not just in your one lakh kilometre run Fabia, but also in the entire Skoda ecosystem to hazard a journey that could have gone any which way just because of a minor mechanical glitch that couldn't be set right for want of parts. Your companion car stood by you and took you home safe after taking you everywhere.

You had immense faith in your ability to drive on and on for 70 days. Your skill sustained you till the end.

You had adequate faith in your ability to complete the trip and kept informing us of your whereabouts. Things could have gone wrong and you could have been trolled. Your faith helped you through the journey and delivered you safe, sound and enriched with experience.

Finally, the triumvirate had unshakable faith in one another to not just travel together but also to tolerate their quirks over extended timelines, unknown geographies and adverse conditions.

x x x

Two things stood out to me in this travelogue:

1. You did not showcase this trip as an achievement to be proud of and be congratulated upon; you just went about recording your observations and experiences in a matter of fact manner. No histrionics, no dramatics, no drumrolls!

2. You did not travel for the sake of it; you lived your life on the go. Haircuts and parlor visits, purchases and couriers - sirji, namaste !

Allow me to repost this photo of yours with my perspective thrown in:

THE THREE MUSKETEERS

Thank you very much for such kind words.

We probably can say it was all faith in hindsight now as things went well. But hand on heart, if I say this is how I felt during the planning stage, I would be lying. All these were big question marks to start with. (let me elaborate on this at the cost of another lengthy post here)

Lets address the Skoda question first:
Is there a vehicle or a brand that can give me 100% assurance that it will not breakdown? Answer would be no. So that meant it does not matter what the make of the vehicle is.
Having just 1 service center in entire NE was certainly a matter of concern for me and it was always running in the back of my mind for about 2 weeks + when we were in the NE region. But thankfully over period of 10 years this vehicle had never failed me. I have driven it to a lot of challenging places, so I didnt want to give much importance to a possibility that had never happened till now. Except for driving in snow in Srinagar - Leh section, no other condition we encountered in this trip was new to this car or me. That way it helped driving a vehicle I knew well in terms of what it can do instead of a newer vehicle.

Hatchback or an SUV:
To be frank this trip was kept in cold storage for a long time precisely because I didnt have a bigger car. Not because I was doubting the capability, but for the boot space. We were not sure how to carry things needed in a hatchback. Eventually decided carry the bare minimal things and not do any shopping. This idea of couriering came when a homestay owner suggested it to us.

Capability to drive for 70 Days:
I didnt know I could, but I didnt think I cant either. But we had decided if I feel its becoming too much, we would slow down or return depending on the situation. My thought process was to split it in even fashion over the days. My comfort level is to drive during day time when visibility is good. So most our days were planned in a way that driving window is 7 AM - 5 PM. So if google suggested anything more than 7 - 8 hours of drive time is needed, we were willing to split it into 2 days.

In my opinion, if I have to pick one point that was in our favor to make this trip successful was, we did not any timeline to return. Even till the last day we were flexible with last day of the trip. All we wanted was to return back home before monsoon starts in full flow.

During the planning phase we had considered 3 factors that would have made us return home halfway through: Our health, weather (monsoon) or another wave of covid. I am not considering unknow unknows here as it cant be.

We were lucky with timing in this entire trip, a lot of things fell in place without we planning that way. Starting from not able to start our trip earlier (Even a 10 days early start would have meant that we would have missed Leh), to escaping heavy rains and flood in Assam which started just 5 days after we completed NE. I am glad it turned out that way.

[ranmenon]

It was fun reading this! I am pumped up about my trip now, though it only covers the peninsula part of the country! Thank you for sharing, Kiran!

[ABHI_1512]

First things first- let me congratulate you on completing this enormous drive. The tenacity and perseverance needed for something like this can only be gauged by what you have written through your entire log. However, I have some points to make over here :

It’s commendable that you have touched all the states in the country and the moot theme being capital connect, you made your presence known. But somehow, I felt that you just made a dash for the places and never really got to understand the places better. Like you visited Itanagar but could only manage to go to the Gompha but not the Itafort after which the city is named or for that matter you visited Imphal but didn’t go to see the Loktak lake- the largest fresh water lake South Asia or for that matter- the historical INA museum at Moirang. Of course, it’s just my view and I understand that the purpose of your trip was different from a regular guy who wants to visit a place to explore.

Read about the ILP fiasco for Mizoram, but you could have easily made the ILP’s at Silchar only, would have saved you time and effort both. Also, regarding Silchar, the breakfast options are available from 6.30 in the morning onwards but you needed to ask the locals for that. I don’t know which part of Silchar you stayed in since the town gets pretty busy in the morning and breakfast options are galore.

Sorry to hear about the encounter with Kolkata Police, but since you had a local contact in the city, the unreasonable demand could have been averted. Also, demanding a receipt for paying a fine is the basic criteria regardless of police in any state across India. That you fell for a whatsapp receipt is surprising since you were anyways new to the city.

It was great to see the NE states from your point of view, more so because I know and have visited each of the places but I would want you to visit the NE again and explore the region more and not just the capitals.

Lastly, enjoyed reading through the experiences that you both had. It’s experiences like these that will remain all throughout the life and the memories will be cherished. Mighty congratulations to you both again, Special mention for the Fabia too. What a journey !