I reached Oritel Serviced Apartments, Andheri [East], Mumbai, safely today at 6:25 am as our mega trip started from our home, sweet home at 3:55 am yesterday. Please see the itinerary of our mega trip.

Cara Mia Fiat Linea co-operated with me fully for this journey. I did the entie driving. We broke the journey at Ranibennur at Reliance petrol pump for dinner at Kamat Upachar and got filled my Linea's tank to the brim. My Linea gave good FE. Now, I shall let the photographs speak.

Some photographs clicked before our departure yesterday.

I constantly maintained 100 - 130 kmph speed. The average speed and FE that Cara Mia Fiat Linea calculated was 74 kmph with 13.6 kmpl.

The trip data showed the journey time as 13.5 hours without the breaks. The actual time was 14.5 hours with two breaks, one food and fuel break at Ranibennur and another fuel break in between Kolhapur and Satara.

The distance from my Bangalore home to Oritel Mumbai was shown as 999.9 km. What a figure!

Some of the highlights of Bangalore - Mumbai trip:

* The Nelamangala Toll Plaza didn't collect the toll. They just noted down my Linea's registration number and let me go freely.

* During my Pune - Bangalore trip during March 2010, I had to go through Ranibennur, Harihar and Chitradurga towns. But, this time, it was cool drive on the bypass of these towns.

* During my last trip, Cara Mia Fiat Linea bottom-scraped 4 times, two each near Davangere and Tumkur bypass. But, this time, the number of bottom-scraping was just two, that too, near Davangere bypass diversions. No bottom-scraping on Tumkur bypass! One hump near Brahmasagara was really big and unmarked.

* While I escaped one of the two railway level-crossings between Ranibennur and Haveri, I was made to wait for about 10 minutes in the other. I think, it will take another year or two for completion of these two railway overbridges seeing the slow pace of construction work.

* While the food quality at Kamat Upachar at Reliance petrol pump on Ranibennur bypass was good, less said the better about the toilets. But, we didn't have other alternative. Last time, we tried the nearby Bharat Petroleum COCO Ghar Dhaba. There also, the toilets were not maintained properly.

* The petrol costs Rs 59.53 per litre at Reliance, Ranibennur as against Rs 59.65 at Bangalore. I found a novel method of card payment there. After filling the petrol, the attendent asked me whether it was cash or card. When I gave him my card, he swiped it at the hand-held unit. But he didn't enter the amount and retruned the card. Then, he selected petrol and cancelled other purchases like lubricants in the hand-held unit and entered. Presto! The amount was automatically taken by the system and the printed charge-slip popped out. No manual entering of the amount, and hence, no room for mischief.

* The attendent at Reliance enlightened me by saying that the nozzle of the petrol dispenser was smaller in diameter than the one for diesel to ensure petrol is not dispensed in a diesel vehicle by mistake. I don't know, how far it is true.

Now, it's time to go out to Marine Drive, GateWay of India, Dalal Street, etc.

I will continue posting more details later.

More to come.

[buntydey]

Wow!! I will be in Agra on 21st and 22nd Oct, but I am leaving on 23rd morning; else we could have met near the Taj. Anyway, all the best for your trip and drive safe.

[funkykar]

Ravi uncle, really good narration of your trip.

Looking for some pics of scenic locations with your FIAT! Hope the LINEA serves you well throughout the trip.

[gopikb]

Ravi, that is a very brave journey you have taken up there. I am sure the confidence you have in your FIAT Linea is one of the major motivating factor for the drive. Take care and drive safe.

Hope you and your family have a wonderful time

[TaureanBull]

That looks like a nice trip with lots of scope for pics and narration.

I was just wondering about the Ginger thing. Is it some kind of hotel chain? Pardon my ignorance. You seem to be booked in 3-4 gingers. can you throw some light on that? or may be you are a member or something like that. You seem to prefer this chain.

[paragsachania]

Ravi, I am now hooked to this thread more because of the route and the distance that you have covered in your trip.

Looking forward to it .

I want to know more from the Mumbai-Ahmedabad part as I will be driving Bangalore-Pune-Rajkot in march 2011 and would like to get updates on that section.

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

Some of the highlights of Bangalore - Mumbai trip:

* The Nelamangala Toll Plaza didn't collect the toll. They just noted down my Linea's registration number and let me go freely.

The practice is been there since more than 4 months now while we all hope its officially opened. Nevertheless, you know how soon one can get out of Bangalore and reach the Jass Toll Plaza at Nelamangala over these new bridges.

* During my Pune - Bangalore trip during March 2010, I had to go through Ranibennur, Harihar and Chitradurga towns. But, this time, it was cool drive on the bypass of these towns.

Was it that you deliberately ventured into Harihar and Chitradurga towns (which have functional bypasses since long now) in March 2010 or was it due to some reason?

I remember mentioning on the famous Bangalore-Mumbai Roadtrip thread on how I follwed a Scorpio and a Bolero on the Ranebennur bypass and probably was the first to report its unnofficial opening wayback in July 2010 as a BHPian.

* During my last trip, Cara Mia Fiat Linea bottom-scraped 4 times, two each near Davangere and Tumkur bypass. But, this time, the number of bottom-scraping was just two, that too, near Davangere bypass diversions. No bottom-scraping on Tumkur bypass! One hump near Brahmasagara was really big and unmarked.

Can't agree more. The Tumkur bypass is a breeze these days as all the sections are now 4 laned including the railway overbridge just as you enter cross one bridge on the bypass (which was otherwise shared by traffic from both directions).

On the speedbreakers, I recall the huge speedbreaker at Bhramhasagara when I was driving with 4 adults and my 8 month old daughter in an ANHC that miserably scrapped the underbelly!!

While doing the return leg to Bangalore, my Parents then had to get down when we got into Davanagere town for dinner and took the actual exit from city (That was pending due to the Railway Underbridge) where they have laid very huge speed breakers highly impossible to manage either with a Linea or a Honda City. Whether it was moving the car carefully or even sideways one wheel at a time, the car was literally sitting on the bump!!

* While I escaped one of the two railway level-crossings between Ranibennur and Haveri, I was made to wait for about 10 minutes in the other. I think, it will take another year or two for completion of these two railway overbridges seeing the slow pace of construction work.

Sometimes, if you get stuck at one and then maintain a decent speed of 80kmph, there are high chances that you get stuck at the other gate as well as you might be aware that it is the same line connecting Miraj-Hubli-Bangalore where the train passes 2 crossings in between 17 Kms IIRC cutting NH4.

* While the food quality at Kamat Upachar at Reliance petrol pump on Ranibennur bypass was good, less said the better about the toilets. But, we didn't have other alternative. Last time, we tried the nearby Bharat Petroleum COCO Ghar Dhaba. There also, the toilets were not maintained properly.

Again, I fully agree with you on the food quality and sanitation part but more so on Ghar Dhaba (as I always skip Kamat before that). But having started early in the morning, this seems like the only viable option.

* The petrol costs Rs 59.53 per litre at Reliance, Ranibennur as against Rs 59.65 at Bangalore. I found a novel method of card payment there. After filling the petrol, the attendent asked me whether it was cash or card. When I gave him my card, he swiped it at the hand-held unit. But he didn't enter the amount and retruned the card. Then, he selected petrol and cancelled other purchases like lubricants in the hand-held unit and entered. Presto! The amount was automatically taken by the system and the printed charge-slip popped out. No manual entering of the amount, and hence, no room for mischief.

This is actually good information, esp. on the card mode of payment as I always carry cash whenever I am doing Bangalore-Pune. Also, I am usually told its Premium Petrol and at times 'no stock' at all which forces me to drive very carefully till Davanagere (especially when I am headed back to Bangalore) to fill it up with hardly any fuel left in my tank.

[canonguy]

Great journey Ravi. Eagerly looking forward to some updates on road and traffic conditions between Mumbai-Ahmedabad and onwards. I too have planned a longish 11 day trip which starts in the last week of Dec and I would be covering:
Bangalore-Hyderabad-Bhopal-Bundi-Jodhpur-Bikaner-Jaisalmer-Mumbai-Bangalore.

Waiting for your updates!

[Bluenile]

Good Narration..I'm impressed with the Panel picture..pretty informative...if you could share across some pics of the road condition across all phase..that would be great...

[ampere]

Agra is place which stores lots of memories for me!
Looking forward to a great story!

[sami316]

Hi,

I did the same trip earlier this year. This would be an amazing trip as you would be covering really amazing places. Looking forward to this trip.

Originally Posted by buntydey

Wow!! I will be in Agra on 21st and 22nd Oct, but I am leaving on 23rd morning; else we could have met near the Taj. Anyway, all the best for your trip and drive safe.

Thanks, buntydey, for your kind wishes. Tomorrow, after visiting Amber Fort, Jaipur, we will be on our way to Agra.

Originally Posted by funkykar

Looking for some pics of scenic locations with your FIAT! Hope the LINEA serves you well throughout the trip.

Thanks funkykar. Cara Mia Fiat Linea is co-operating with me fully. After reaching Delhi, I will post more photographs and details.

Originally Posted by gopikb

Ravi, that is a very brave journey you have taken up there. I am sure the confidence you have in your FIAT Linea is one of the major motivating factor for the drive.

Thanks, gopikb, for kind words.

Originally Posted by TaureanBull

I was just wondering about the Ginger thing. Is it some kind of hotel chain? Pardon my ignorance. You seem to be booked in 3-4 gingers. can you throw some light on that? or may be you are a member or something like that. You seem to prefer this chain.

Yes, Ginger Hotels is a Tata Enterprise. I had stayed there earlier at Goa and Wakad, Pune. I was fully impressed with the facilities available at affordable tariff. Clean rooms, ample car-parking, affordable tariff, etc., are the hallmarks of Ginger Hotels. For more details, please visit this link:

Ginger Hotels

Originally Posted by paragsachania

I want to know more from the Mumbai-Ahmedabad part as I will be driving Bangalore-Pune-Rajkot in march 2011 and would like to get updates on that section.

Thanks, paragsachania. Sure, I intend to post more photographs and details as and when I find some time during the trip itself.

Was it that you deliberately ventured into Harihar and Chitradurga towns (which have functional bypasses since long now) in March 2010 or was it due to some reason?

I still remember driving on that dreaded stretch: The Ranibennur bypass was under construction and I had to go through the town. There was no other option available. In case of Chitradurga bypass, it was still under construction with a lot of diversions. The vehicles were coming from both the directions on the same two-lane carriage way which forced me to prefer to go into Chitradurga town. In case of Harihar and Davangere, I didn't know how I entered the town! There were no signages and no lights. That was the state of affairs at that time.

Also, I am usually told its Premium Petrol and at times 'no stock' at all which forces me to drive very carefully till Davanagere (especially when I am headed back to Bangalore) to fill it up with hardly any fuel left in my tank.

Thank God, I didn't face that problem. Ordinary petrol was available at both Reliance and BP.

Originally Posted by canonguy

Waiting for your updates!

Thanks, canonguy, for good wishes. I will post more details ASAP.

Originally Posted by Bluenile

Good Narration..I'm impressed with the Panel picture..pretty informative...if you could share across some pics of the road condition across all phase..that would be great...

Thanks a lot, Bluenile. More photographs and details are in the pipeline!

Originally Posted by ampere

Agra is place which stores lots of memories for me! Looking forward to a great story!

Thanks, ampere.

Originally Posted by sami316

This would be an amazing trip as you would be covering really amazing places. Looking forward to this trip.

Thanks, sami316. Will post more details shortly.

More to come.

[issigonis]

>>>

Agra, and no Sikandra and no Fatehpur Sikri
Well you must have kept it for another time.
Of course Akbar's Fort is magnificent with a capital M.

Delhi and Agra require a lifetime of visits.

Regards, drive safe

Thanks, issigonis. Due to lack of time, only Taj Mahal and Agra Fort this time! We enjoyed them to the maximum. Of course, the 3-day Delhi trip was also equally enjoyable.

The latest update: we arrived at Jodhpur, the last night after visiting Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Agra and Delhi. I will post the photographs and details after reaching Bangalore.

At last, my 18-day, 6148 km-long mega trip spanning across 7 states of India was completed successfully and safely.

We left Ginger Wakad, Pune, yesterday at 12:05 pm, had late lunch at Sai Food Court [40 minutes], just before Kolhapur, refuelled at BP COCO retail outlet, Vadgaon, had dinner at Kamat Upachar [40 minutes] and refuelled again at Reliance [I was told that now Reliance fuel price is at par with other PSU OMC's as they too are getting fuel subsidy from GoI], Chabbi, just after Hubli, refuelled for the last time at BP COCO retail outlet at Sira and reached home, sweet home, today at 1:24 am after about 13.5 hours of journey including breaks. Thank god, no bottom-scraping in this entire journey of 863.7 km.

Sai Food Court offered delicious food with clean toilets and plenty of private parking space.

I commissioned the Fiat 500 optical car mouse presented by Fiat India during our visit to Fiat Ranjangaon plant. Very nice memorabilia indeed. I will post more on this Fiat factory visit later.


This photograph was clicked a few minutes after our arrival:

This was the distance from Ginger Wakad, Pune to our home:

Cara Mia Fiat Linea returned a FE of 13.1 kmpl for Pune-Bangalore trip:

I steadily maintained 100 - 130 kmph speed resulting in an average speed of 73 kmph:

The FE recorded for this mega trip of 6148 km was 12.4 kmpl including highway+city driving:


Flash-back of the mega trip will start soon.

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

At last, my 18-day, 6148 km-long mega trip spanning across 7 states of India was completed successfully and safely.
..
..
Flash-back of the mega trip will start soon.

Hi Ravi.

Wonderful, I am eagerly waiting to read your Flashback narration.
18days are for sure like War of Mahabharat. For sure it must have been an exciting trip for you and your family.

I am all eyes, ears, datacards, internet, wifi, mobile phone to read your mega story.