[vamsi.kona]

I was casually flipping through paper in the morning on Thursday when I found this article in a telugu newspaper. I was surprised initially and then was too interest and searched it on the internet.

These are the details of their journey in brief

This couple took the journey to raise money for a group called "Friendicoes", a non profitable charity organisation which deals in caring for abandoned and abused animals. (Mostly in and around Delhi - Agra).

The entire distance travelled was 11642 Km across 51 days covering nearly 13 countries.

Countries travelled

UK, Germany, Czech republic, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Kazhakistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Nepal and finally India

Whether for charity or otherwise this couple has lived the dream of many driving enthusiasts like me.

The entire details of their travels can be found in the link below

Welcome to London Delhi by Road Overland Charity fund raising event for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in India

[LongDrive lover]

WOW! Amazing! . That being the case, it can pave the way/ solve some of the tricky questions on international road trip across continents that several of our own BHPians including greats like HVK have encountered when planning for such a trip. I have seen attempts to plan a New Delhi - Paris trip on this forum. It would be interesting to know details how they tackled different issues involved. But, kudos to their spirit

[MX6]

I think there's a mention about their trip in this forum already. Not sure.
HVK was following a travel of a couple from London to India through china. Not sure whether they are the same.

Planning the route is not a problem. Carnets, visas, accompaniments are huge problems. And cost is mind-boggling where one needs to pay a huge amount as collateral to show that you'll bring the vehicle you are driving out.

[ptushar]

This is awesome.The photographs on their site just too good.

I was amazed to see the road quality on the Chinese side in Tibet. the roads seem to be in fantastic shape.

Kudos to these guys.

[MileCruncher]

I had been following their blog as they were doing a live update.

As a matter of fact, they also had to do a detour through tajikistan, China and Nepal as people of Indian Origin are not allowed to drive thru Pak.

An amazing feat nevertheless.

BTW we have a thread here as well for Delhi - Paris. may be someday we will be able to do that.

[deky]

Originally Posted by ptushar

This is awesome.The photographs on their site just too good.

I was amazed to see the road quality on the Chinese side in Tibet. the roads seem to be in fantastic shape.

Kudos to these guys.

The roads are only good in Tibet where the Chinese want them to be. Otherwise road network does not exist in Tibet. Tibet is in a worst shape than what India under the British was.

Neverthless the feat that these people have performed is amazing. Well done to these people.

[San Phrangmung]

Clever couple huh. Some has to toil for ages for the European tour and they just dogged their way through two continents.

[COUGAR]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

As a matter of fact, they also had to do a detour through tajikistan, China and Nepal as people of Indian Origin are not allowed to drive thru Pak.

I think this is more prejudice than fact.

While planning something similar, i came across 2 people (indians) who have ridden on their motorcycles across pakistan: father and son infact. Father did it in the 60's while returning from med-school in Europe. The son tried the same stunt in the reverse direction in 2002/2003 on a pre-historic BMW tourer and actually managed to cross Pakistan! His tour came to an abrupt end because of an over-active Indian consulate official at Kandahar who simply refused to let our man go forward! I am sure there are many more who have done this.

The challenge in crossing Pakistan by road as i have understood from my research, is to cross over in the limited time provided to Indians overlanding, especially considering the restrictions of which routes you can take. The people themselves are quite friendly towards indians actually, especially in Sindh and Baluchistan. Another challenge is the limited number of visa's available: i think the cap currently is 25K or so, including the medical quota, which is absurdly low considering that people on both sides have relatives across the border. And all quotas are pooled unlike with other countries. Our Govt has been extra churlish towards Pak after 26/11 with reductions in visa quotas etc.

Crossing Pak is not therefore an impossibility. Difficult yes. The only restriction is the Northern Areas and the K2 route. Pity, because once you have seen the pics taken on these routes on some German biker forums, you will be cursing your luck. or waiting for the day the Indian army shifts the border posts 200kms west!

Alternate routing is to fly to Almaty and ride across the CIS and Russia into Poland and so on. Indian Airlines has a direct flight from Delhi with an Airbus. The cargo door of an Airbus is wide enough to accomodate our bikes unlike the Boeing 737.

[sami316]

Wow.This is one awesome feat which I can only dream about. Kudos to their spirits.
Insha Allah if an opportunity comes by, will love to do it.

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by COUGAR

I think this is more prejudice than fact.

While planning something similar, i came across 2 people (indians) who have ridden on their motorcycles across pakistan: father and son infact. Father did it in the 60's while returning from med-school in Europe. The son tried the same stunt in the reverse direction in 2002/2003 on a pre-historic BMW tourer and actually managed to cross Pakistan! His tour came to an abrupt end because of an over-active Indian consulate official at Kandahar who simply refused to let our man go forward! I am sure there are many more who have done this.

The challenge in crossing Pakistan by road as i have understood from my research, is to cross over in the limited time provided to Indians overlanding, especially considering the restrictions of which routes you can take. The people themselves are quite friendly towards indians actually, especially in Sindh and Baluchistan. Another challenge is the limited number of visa's available: i think the cap currently is 25K or so, including the medical quota, which is absurdly low considering that people on both sides have relatives across the border. And all quotas are pooled unlike with other countries. Our Govt has been extra churlish towards Pak after 26/11 with reductions in visa quotas etc.

Crossing Pak is not therefore an impossibility. Difficult yes. The only restriction is the Northern Areas and the K2 route. Pity, because once you have seen the pics taken on these routes on some German biker forums, you will be cursing your luck. or waiting for the day the Indian army shifts the border posts 200kms west!

I would like to do something similar and as you said you tried researching for something similar, why not revive it. I would definitely be game and sure many others. If you want to take this offline, will be sending you a PM.

Cheers

P.S: As about people people contact, I was with many Pak ( I don't call them"Paki" as I like lotta other people find it derogatory") students in my B-School and out of them one was an ex-Major Pak Army and another a Pashtun from Afghanistan working with Border security in Pak. I know that the people on both sides are very friendly. As a matter of fact, one would face more hostility in present situation in Kashmir than in Pak. A friend of mine when he had gone as part of Hero Honda contingent, he didn't have to send a single penny for parties in Lahore & Karachi (He is a Sardar and hence clearly identifiable as Indian) .

So to spread the word of friedship and also satisfy my ego I would like to do this trip.

Please let me know how.

[StarVegabond]

I went through their website and also few of the blogs

i do not want to comment on the cause and/or the means

but the couple seems to have had the drive and time of their life.

The planning, preparation, precautions and actual execution is worth studying and learning.

[Deep Blue]

Now that Tushar is a T-BHP member, I thought I will revive this thread by sharing the link to another epic journey that is still going on. I follow this blog intermittently whenever I have time Jammin thru the Global South. Did not want to start a seperate thread. So posting it here.

[itinerant]

This is a terrific news item that I just came across. Something that is truly inspirational and something that exhibits woman power. It also shows that women of this generation are finally taking up serious motoring.

"According to this TOI news, three Indian women in their 30s have undertaken a road trip from Delhi to London. They covered 21,477 kms and crossed 17 countries in 97 days. To quote the news report:

"We wanted to tell the women of the world that such expeditions are possible and that there was nothing to be scared of.We avoided driving late at night, instead, spent evenings exploring the cities. In fact, we didn't find a single woman driving on the highway till we reached Europe," said Dr Goyal. Uninhabited zones, non-tarred roads, rocky terrains, forests, streams and dunes greeted the women at every turn, giving them the kind of high they always craved for. All three took a sabbatical from their jobs to realize their dream."


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...m_campaign=TOI