[Biker wanderer]

Well after a lot of deliberation decided to zoom off on a road trip in my new nexon to a 6 days planned trip to Baroda and statue of unity along with the family to get some time off from the hectic routine.
We left our home in Pune at 7 am I had already filled up the tank earlier evening so as not to wait in queue for fuel early morning. Since I have a petrol Nexon the estimated fuel cost i calculated based on various inputs of Nexon owners about the highway mileage to be rs. 11000 for the round trip and ofcourse from Baroda to statue of unit (SOU) and back. I will later give you budget vs. actual fuel cost comparison.
I was quite excited for the roadtrip as I had only driven to various cities in Maharashtra and never ventured out of state in a four wheeler.
The magnificent statue of unity in all its glory.

The route was ofcourse taking the pune-mumbai expressway, Mumbai ahemdabad highway via Thane on NH 48 you pass through towns like Thane-virar-manor-silvasa- vapi- valsad-navsari-surat-ankleshwar-bharuch-baroda.
Total journey time I used up is 9:30 hrs including a break for breakfast of about 35 mins and leisurely 1 hr. For lunch. Total time on road was 8 hrs.
one way trip reading

Talking about the journey from Pune-baroda, the route on e way was smooth experience, since it was a weekday their was not much traffic, even though their is a lot of repairing/new work happening on various stretches of the e-way, a stop over at foodmall near khalapur toll and then the restart I was driving well within the speedlimits, and was focussed on not to get a speed challan though driving a new car with AMT gearbox and wanted to keep my record clean of not getting a speed challan since its inception in the e-way. Just a glance at the odo meter and was delighted to read mileage figure of 20 kmph at few points on e-way
Though it quickly cam down to 16kmph once entered Thane. As usual the morning traffic was chaotic and the situation remained till I reached outskirts of virar. The traffic situation eased once I reached manor.

Decided to take a lunch break, our relatives staying in Baroda had suggested us to stop over to hotel ahura for lunch which serves excellent parsi cuisine along with Indian and Chinese. The experience was great we ordered veg dhansak for wifey hakka noodles for my kid since both are eggiterians lovers by choice. And I ordered chicken dhansak which was excellent and quite filling for a single person. For dessert we ordered, parsi pudding and caramel custard. Which were okayish. Relaxed a bit at the restaurant as still had to cover 290 kms. Attaching the location of the restaurant for anyone who would like to try it out the food is hygienic, value for moolah and location is right on the highway.
https://Hotel Ahura, 2W9F+3V3, NH 48...rashtra 401606

from manor and ahead the route is quite smooth and after the check post at dhundalwadi the highway is 6 lane and has moderate traffic upto navsari.
After navsari though, due to increased heavy vehicles plying on the route till Surat and then beyond the cars mostly have to drive in zig zag way as all the heavy vehicles use up all 3 lanes and overtaking them becomes quite a cumbersome experience as they do not follow any lane discipline neither give any indication while changing lanes. For newbie driver it becomes very dangerous and for the speedstwrs who want to test their driving skills you have to be at your absolute best to overtake these heavy vehicles. Ofcourse you also get usual idiots like 2 wheeler riders, 3 wheelers and small vehicular traffic.
Finally reached Baroda around 6 and reached our destination around 6:30 pm. The journey itself was not very tiring as the Nexon is very comfortable the seats are very comfy ride quality is great, the suspensions is set at not too soft and not too hard and easily absorbs all the andulations on the road, and the icing on the cake was a well weighed steering wheel and AMT gearbox which gives you relaxing driving experience.
End of the one way journey I was quite energetic and didn't feel i covered 543 kms in 9 hours
Journey to the SOU

Journey from Baroda to SOU near kevadiya is scenic and smooth. The distance is 97 kms one way has light traffic enroute, you have to take SH 11 to SOU, it's a 4 lane way turning to 2 way at few stretches. The highways is very well maintained as expected in the state of Gujrat.
Once you reach SOU. you have plenty of options to stay we stayed at BRG Budget hotel 2.5 kms from main car parking of SOU.
https://brgbudgetstay.com/
The hotel has decent stay, well spacious rooms, clean food is good and hygienic.

Since we visited Baroda during makar sankranti we enjoyed the kite flying and then various local delicacies like fafda, jalebi, khaman, dhokla, etc. we visited a kathyawadi restaurant serving kathyawadi cuisine attaching the location of the restaurant.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/E7sq7bSskLEiYCoR7

For the return journey from Baroda to pune we again started at 6:45 am stop over at McDonald's
Just before Surat we stopped late for lunch again at khalapur food plaza. The entire journey was for 10 hrs including stops for brekfast lunch and fuel refills.




Some vital stats
1.Total toll charges (one way) - Re. 795
2.Mileage achieved (one way) - 17 kmpl
3.Travel Duration - approx 10 hrs including all the breaks
4.Travel route - pune- Mumbai e way-Thane-virar- manor-silvassa- vapi-navsari-surat-ankleshwar-bharuch-baroda
5.Fuel cost entire trip- approx RS.12000
6. Total distance - 1200kms