The flying fortress : Bombay-Udwada-Udaipur-Mount Abu-Bombay A Bombay-Udwada-Udaipur-Mount Abu-Bombay trip in a VW Jetta 1.9TDI Comfortline
I had been thinking of a long distance family trip for some time and had shortlisted Udaipur as the likely destination to travel from Bombay. One reason for selecting the VW Jetta ( aka the Flying Fortress) over other marques in its category was to travel in speed, with stability and comfort over long distances and I was determined to start as soon as my office, my wife’s office and my kid’s school allowed for a ten odd day vacation. I had done the usual Bombay-Alibagh, Bombay-Igatpuri, Bombay-Uran, Bombay-Udvada, Bombay-Triyambakeshwar-Nasik-Shirdi runs with absolute ease and comfort and was really getting excited about a longer run.
My preparations – reading team bhp travelogues & route queries, especially hvk’s logs and answers to queries, selection of hotels, finalization of the itinerary started in October last year and was over by the first week of November. I like to plan ahead- this was for a trip starting in the last week of January/first week of February 2010.
My trip looked like this : Bombay –Udwada-Udaipur-(Nathdwara-Chittorgarh-Ranakpur etc.)-Mount Abu-Bombay. We were the four of us, my wife and kid, my mother and yours truly. As always happens with planning, I got two pieces of bad news.
The first issue was that the hotel that I had finalized for Udaipur (Mountain Ridge, off Lake Pichola) was unavailable for guests during the time of our trip, i.e., from 1st till 5th February, and so I had to scramble to get alternate accommodation in the first weeks of December. This turned out to be good for us because the hotel that I finally selected proved to be good - clean, comfortable and with good meals. The downside was that it was expensive but then I had factored in the expense part, especially as this was not a backpacker’s trip, what with my mother, comfortably in her seventies, being a part of the party.
The second problem was even worse and led to my re-scheduling the trip by about a week. It is quite a story. I had been booked by the traffic police for using the mobile whilst driving (this is available in my post in t-bhp) in late November. After attending the court, I was asked to visit the RTO within the next ten odd days (to retrieve my licence I thought!); when I went there I found to my horror that I would get it back two months after the booking date. This was not disclosed by the police to me, neither during the time of the booking nor in the court. This meant that there was a definite risk if I travelled on 30th January as any delay from the RTO in giving my licence back would have meant that I would have to drive without a licence. Unacceptable.
So, taking both these factors into account I re-scheduled my trip by deferring the start by a week.
Now my itinerary looked like this :
6th February – Start from Bombay for Udwada
7th February – Stay in Udwada
8th February – From Udwada to Udaipur
9th February – Sightseeing in Udaipur
10th February – Udaipur to Nathdwara, Eklingji/Srinathji,Rajsamand & back
11th February – Udaipur to Chittorgarh & back
12th February – Udaipur to Ranakpur & Kumbhalgarh and back
13th February – Udaipur to Mount Abu
14th February – Sightseeing in Mount Abu
15th February – Mount Abu to Bombay
My preparations for the car were pretty minimal. The Jetta had done slightly less than 7000 kms in its first seven months and had proved to be utterly reliable, both in city running and in the short runs to contiguous areas like Alibagh and Shirdi. However, I asked the VW dealer (Downtown VW) to do a check; the only service related item was an engine oil top up, the rest were purchase of mud flaps and a rear window sun blind all of which I paid. I had not got sunfilm installed then as I was awaiting some new products. I reckoned I could do without sunfilm in Rajasthan in February, aided by the Jetta's powerful airconditioning.
The first service was due after 15000 kms or one year, whichever came earlier. I simply wanted to be sure that the steed was in good stead.
Thus ends my introduction. I will post on a day by day basis, with some pictures that we took. I was the sole driver, my wife was the navigator cum photographer and since this was her first stint as a navigator, the logs ( in excel) might not conform to the standards set by our very own hvk, but I am sure with each passing long distance trip, our logs will improve! I had expected my kid to support in the navigation as she normally likes to sit beside me and observe the routes and roads, but this time she chose to sit in greater comfort at the back with my mother and passed the time of day chatting. Children can be whimsical sometimes!
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