[kARTIK IYER]

Kumar ,

Great stuff ... Looka like a splendid drive , i too own a scorpio but sheepishly have to admit have not taken it for such long drives . Do kep us posted on future travel plans / experiences .

Thank you for the well drafted note .

[Janjua]

Awesome. I wish one day I can emulate your travel escapades. Kudos.

[aplang1]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Am back from my Scorpio drive from Bombay to Punjab/Haryana/Himachal
to visit Dalhousie, Dharamasala, Amritsar, Bhakra-Nangal Dam, Shimla,
Manali (all to show my son snow) and a small business trip detour in
Delhi, Ghaziabad, Patiala, Sirhind and Chandigarh (in that order).

Dear Sir

I am shifting my base to Chandigarh from Mumbai. I will be driving down from Mumbai on 4th May 2013. I will be carrying light luggage (most is being sent via transporter).

Car: Hyundai i10
Drivers: 2 (including me)
Driver Age: Both 23 year olds

The ideal itinerary is as follows:

4th May: Mumbai to Udaipur (Stretch to Chittorgarh if possible - 4AM Departure)
5th May: Udaipur to Chandigarh (4AM Departure)


Please advise feasibility/suggest changes.

Thanks in advance!

[Aditya-Barat]

Dear Members, me and my family (wife + 6 year old kid ) have plans to travel from Delhi to Dalhousie this month end. We have around 9 days to do the trip and apart from Dalhousie it would be great to cover other areas like Dharamsala, McLeod Ganj, Rohtang pass and any other places we can.

We reside in Pune but our family home is in Delhi, so we had booked flight tickets for the three of us from Pune to Delhi and the plan was to halt one day at Delhi, spending some time with family and then take my Dad's Alto K10 for the journey till Dalhousie, covering other places as planned and finally flying back from Delhi to Pune. This all seemed a great idea: Adventure, Road Trip etc. until I came out with a bigger plan , which I think might be slightly more adventurous:

That Big Plan is to cancel my flight ticket from Pune to Delhi and instead drive down from Pune to Delhi in my VW Jetta (Diesel) while my family still take the flight from Pune to Delhi. In Delhi, we all meet up and from there onwards the plan is going to be pretty much same with the only difference being, I will be using the Jetta instead of the Alto for the journey. My change of plan was driven by following factors.

#1. I will be relocating soon to a different location (outside India) and so plan to sell the Jetta which is right now only 17 K in the odometer. I want to use the car good before I sell.

#2. I think between the Jetta and Alto, the Jetta is a bit more comfortable and safer car for such a long journey with my family. I also looked at the option of getting a bigger/comfortable self driven car from Delhi by using Zoom car etc. however, they are charging a lot of money which I can easily spend well on my trip expense. Also, the point #1 of actually wanting to use The Jetta "good" before I sell it made me decide against looking for Car Rentals in Delhi.

So, the plan now is to drive down solo from Pune to Delhi starting one and a half day before my family takes the fight to Delhi so that I can be there around the same time and make the rest of the trip from Delhi to Dalhousie as per as the initial tentative schedule.

Based on the plan change I request your suggestions on these points.

#Q1 Which route should I take from Pune to Delhi considering I will want to stop over for a night.

I plan to leave Pune early morning 5 am and cover as much distance as I can till 8 pm and then take a halt for the night

#Q2 Where should I stop over so the place may be somewhere midway between Pune and Delhi.

My guess is I might reach some place near Chittorgarh, Rajasthan which google maps show 14 h 52 min (880.7 km) via NH 3 and NH 79 on the first day of the travel and then the next day early morning I can drive down from
Chittorgarh, Rajasthan to Dwarka, New Delhi for which google maps suggests 9 h 22 min (562.8 km) via NH 79 and NH8.

#Q3 Approximately how much toll tax I would be paying during the trip from Pune to Delhi and are there toll taxes between Delhi to Dalhousie etc.

#Q4 What routes should I take to visit Dalhousie , Dharamsala, McLeod Ganj, Rohtang Pass etc. and in which order should I visit them considering I will have to drive back to Delhi.

#Q4 Other suggestions in terms of hotel, places to eat, things to do, things to see, vehicle related, safety checks etc. are welcome.

#Q5 Considering the new traffic laws in Delhi will it matter if say I have an odd or even numbered Maharashtra registered vehicle. Are there any special papers I need to carry?

PS: I consider myself an excellent driver having done trips between places like Pune, Hyderabad, Ooty, Bangalore, Goa, Mumbai on regular basis. Total driver miles completed in the range of 150,000 KM to 2,00000 KM

[YoungSaint]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

The trip was from Dec 19-Jan 1, and Scorpio covered over 6,500 kms.
Highlights were the first day's drive direct from Bombay-Dalhousie
non-stop, 2,100 kms. Having left Bombay at 300 am on 19th, I managed
to do Surat (640 am, 265 kms, 3h40m, no traffic jams that early),
Baroda (820 am, 402 kms, 5h20m, lost lot of time in the Surat-Baroda
section thanks to road widening work), Ahmedabad (1025 am, 519 kms,
7h25m, slower than my best 6h30m), and proceeded to Udaipur (120 pm,
779 kms, 10h20m), Jaipur (635 pm, 1,217 kms, 15h35m, with a 20 m halt
to intercept a friend Sasi Menon who was speeding from Jaipur to
Kerala!), and finally Delhi at 1040 pm (1,480 kms, 19h40m, slowed
down by heavy traffic in Jaipur-Delhi section and in the final
approach to Delhi). The Bombay-Delhi drive was smooth, although
slower than my previous best (17h), and the Scorpio stopped only for
piss halts, refuelling and brief meeting with Sasi (food on board -
dry fruits, oranges, apples, chappathis, sandwiches, biscuits). Burnt
the rubber well. Took on premium diesel throughout and returned
decent mileage (remember, we had a light load, only 2 of us) - 10.40
kmpl. Cruising speeds were 120-140 kmph throughout, with max
speed at 160 kmph.

Hi HVK, I am planning to go Alwar from Pune during holi. I am planning to start from pune on friday after my office and drive to mumbai to a friend's place in andheri. Then, I would start at 3 am from mumbai and will do a non-stop travel to Alwar. I understand that our routes are similar till Jaipur and then I would have to go to Alwar. In your GQ log book, you stayed at behror, from where, alwar was marked at 48 KM right. Do, I take this route or some other one?

I need to travel in one day and would be driving my Dzire along with my wife. Should I follow the same route till jaipur or take some other route to alwar? Any other help would also be appreciated.

[Eagle1]

Mumbai Dalhousie non-stop! wow that's a great achievement... The max we I have done is Mumbai Jaisalmer which is just above 1000kms from Mumbai...

[farhadtarapore]

Hello,
I haven't done much long-distance by car except for Bangalore-Mumbai with one small halt for chai on the way.

How does one plan for a Mumbai - Dalhousie road trip? Where to halt overnight? I assume one way trip can be done in 2 days but looking for advise from folks who have done long trips. Car is XUV500.

Thank you.