[PAVAN KADAM]

Everytime i keep seeing Tanveer / Suman and few others talk about the Great Himalayan range, it really frustrates me to the core, on what am i doing

Being a South Indian, its always a wish deep inside our heart to touch the Himalayas. Its like NIRVANA...

And with the travelogues these guys write, its not only treat your eyes, but also make you feel the urge to get there.

Though i will not be doing a full fledged Himalayan expedition, i am trying my level best to touch few soft spots in the Great Himalayan range and few more places up North.

I must thank many guys on T-BHP for making my job so easier. This kind of trip requires a Travel Manager, But with T-BHP its a easy DIY Thanks T-BHP and its members.

And secondly HVK, He's been a GEM, My complete route was designed with his help and i could not have planned it so well without his details and timings. Thank you once again sir.

Well, it all started last year, Me and my Bro decided to get our parents to travel the country, since they were not getting younger by the year, We wanted them to see most of the unseen places of this Wonderful country when they are HALE and HEALTHY.

Our Mumbai trip was a huge HIT, a lot to contribute to T-BHP on that.

This year we both planned the below trip.

What started as a Bangalore - Delhi - Vaishnodevi - Delhi - Bangalore and 1 week, all thanks to T-BHP it went on to become a 3 week trip to further more places. lol

Contd further after a short break............................

[funkykar]

Looking forward for the travelogue PK! Hope you will be able to bear the heat up North.

Don't worry, FCB will take care of your VWs.

[roamingrao]

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

Though i will not be doing a full fledged Himalayan expedition, i am trying my level best to touch few soft spots in the Great Himalayan range and few more places up North.

After all the intricate planning you've done for this trip, I'm sure this travelogue will rock ! Bring it on, waiting with bated breath !

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

Me and my Bro decided to get our parents to travel the country, since they were not getting younger by the year, We wanted them to see most of the unseen places of this Wonderful country when they are HALE and HEALTHY.

Is there anything more noble and rewarding for you and your parents in visiting places they've always wished to ? Great gesture there, Pavan ! Would love to know their reaction.

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

What started as a Bangalore - Delhi - Vaishnodevi - Delhi - Bangalore and 1 week, all thanks to T-BHP it went on to become a 3 week trip to further more places.

That's one exxxxtended holiday ! Glued...

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by funkykar

Looking forward for the travelogue PK! Hope you will be able to bear the heat up North.

Don't worry, FCB will take care of your VWs.

Thank you karthik, Arun1100 is already helping me on that.

Originally Posted by roamingrao

After all the intricate planning you've done for this trip, I'm sure this travelogue will rock ! Bring it on, waiting with bated breath !

Is there anything more noble and rewarding for you and your parents in visiting places they've always wished to ? Great gesture there, Pavan ! Would love to know their reaction.

That's one exxxxtended holiday ! Glued...

Thank you Rao.....

Its a big risk taken by us, but i know, this holiday will ROCK.....

OK, continuing from where i had left before.

The 1 week trip got few new places added, after a month long T-BHP travelogue browsing, long discussions, we finalised on one Single plan.

BTW, i forgot to mention the members here.

My family
1) My Mom (House-wife)
2) Dad (Retired & a hard core Social worker )
3) Myself (Businessman & Restorer)
4) My Better Half ( Home Maker)
5) My Kid of 5 yrs ( Lower Kindergarten)
6) My younger Bro ( Infoscion - works for Infosys)
7) His Better Half (Works for Dell)

My In-laws
1) Since its only my Father-In-Law, we coaxed him to join us. ( Ex-RBI employee and currently works for UB Group)

My Brothers In-Laws
1) His Father In law (Educationist & a Businessman)
2) His Mother In-Law (Home maker)
3) His Co-Brother ( A Software Professional )
4) His Sister In-Law (Dentist)
5) Their Kid of 6 yrs ( Upper Kindergarten)

So the group is a good 11 Adults and 2 kids.

There is a reason why i have given Post-Fixes to their names......... I will come to that later.

Everyone were excited about Vaishnodevi and Delhi trip, but they were oblivious of the fact the 2 criminal minds were reading T-BHP lol........

So finally me and my bro took up a brave front, presented before all. The GREAT TRIP UP NORTH..............

25th Friday, March 2011 - Bangalore to Delhi
26th Saturday,March 2011 - Delhi to Shimla
27th Sunday, March 2011 - Shimla to Manali
28th Monday, March 2011 - Manali
29th Tuesday, March 2011 - Manali to Dharmsala
30th Wednesday , March 2011 - Dharmsala to Vaishnodevi
31st Thursday, March 2011 - Vaishnodevi to Amritsar
1st Friday, April 2011 - Amritsar to Chandigarh
2nd Saturday, April 2011 - Chandigarh to Delhi
3rd Sunday, April 2011 - Delhi
4th Monday, April 2011 - Delhi to Agra
5th Tuesday, April 2011 - Agra to Jaipur
6th Wednesday, April 2011 - Jaipur
7th Thursday, April 2011 - Jaipur
8th Friday, April 2011 - Jaipur - Delhi
9th Saturday, April 2011 - Delhi - Bangalore


............................ Another loooooooong PAUSE............................. Yet another looooooooooooooonger PAUSE...........................

More to continue once i get to know what more to write..................... he he he

[Fauji]

Hi Pavan, All the best. Will you reach Delhi from Bangalore in One day?

[mjothi]

Excellent vacation Planned. Good luck. And don't forget our treats. Ya, the pictures

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by Fauji

Hi Pavan, All the best. Will you reach Delhi from Bangalore in One day?

It takes only 3 hours and 45 mins.....

Originally Posted by mjothi

Excellent vacation Planned. Good luck. And don't forget our treats. Ya, the pictures

Will surely do that sir.

OK, Continuing from my previous posts.

Good, everything looks good on Paper, how do we get this to reallity....?

We start calling friends and relatives for some leads regarding reliable Travel Agents....

We approached 2 well known travel agents

1 week............... 2 Weeks...................

Finally they come up with our Travel Itenery...

A Whopping 47K per head minus the airfare........

What followed was dashed hopes and

Me and my bro just gave it up.....

Reached back home and we let the travel plan to rest and thought its not a possible thing..

Next day, some more browsing of T-BHP... and some more Googling around....

We took the planning in our hands and started calling almost all listed hotels at several places.

2 weeks, we got some nice hotel bookings and things started falling in place

So, finally with 2 more months to spare, we did not want to lose out on the air-fare's.

Make my trip could not promise us 13 tickets at one shot. Nor do the airlines book group tickets online. So Went straight to the BIAL, We checked all the Airway fares..... Yet another shock awaited us. Prices still on the high.

We saw the INDIGO airline counter empty, went to those guys and enquired the prices, things started showing up... We were given a fantastic return fares on Group Bookings Rs 6200/- per head Return fares (Bangalore -Delhi - Bangalore)

All tickets booked well in advance and some great cheer to share we returned back and our next task of further planning started.

Will continue more tomorrow about the Hotel bookings....................

[laluks]

Aha! bitten by the TBHP bug!
I love it.

What else can I say?
Like Mjothi bug...Bring it ON..

[v&v]

Pawan , Your trip is really touch and go every where. its going to be hectic.
Also do share what all you are planning to see around each destination like shimla, manali , dharamshala etc. Also its getting warmer day by day, the last leg of your trip ie Agra and Jaipur is going to be warmer.

I am hooked to it.

[GreenDay]

Pawan Anna,

Namma Bengaluru will miss you a lot and the Beetle and the FIAT too. Have a Happy and safe Journey. Also don't forget to get Sweets to FCB on occasion of its 2nd year anniversary from North[forgot the name of the famous sweet] though my mouth is already watering.

Probably later we all can go for another huge LEH trip all together.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

started as a Bangalore - Delhi - Vaishnodevi - Delhi - Bangalore and 1 week,

@pavan,
best wishes for your grand trip.

Earlier this year, i also started to plan to go vaishnodevi in this summer with in laws.
After addition of more in laws, the group became almost 12 adults and 16kids.
All in laws were looking forward to my plan saying that'' hamey to kuchchh karna nahi hai, all bookings and execution will be done by you[ i.e. me].

I simply gave up this plan because of 16 kids [ unmanageable].

I hope, your travelogue will help me to replan my trip in future.

[Red Liner]

Pavan! Not fair man! When I saw the number of folks joining you, I was pretty sure you were taking your VW bus on an iconic journey!

What the heck is this flight business? very unbecoming of you. You are hereinafter banned from suggesting any TATA product in all "What Car" threads

[ruthvikmagal]

Expecting a great travelogue And give us an account of the conditions so that we can plan our CLASSIC CAR RAID DE HIMALAYA

[idlebrain]

Pavan, Hoping a wonderful travelogue here. Eagerly waiting for pics.
Sorry, but one question - what do you mean by "Restorer"?

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by laluks

Aha! bitten by the TBHP bug!
I love it.

What else can I say?
Like Mjothi bug...Bring it ON..

Well, i am not a good writer as you guys are, but the joy of sharing experiences pushes me to write whatever i can.

Originally Posted by v&v

Pawan , Your trip is really touch and go every where. its going to be hectic.
Also do share what all you are planning to see around each destination like shimla, manali , dharamshala etc. Also its getting warmer day by day, the last leg of your trip ie Agra and Jaipur is going to be warmer.

I am hooked to it.

Its best to be seen Run-Time.

You know, i was reading your Narkanda travelogue and have got few ideas.

Managing to get this big a break itself is almost impossible, and we did not want to miss out on the places decided.

Originally Posted by GreenDay

Pawan Anna,

Namma Bengaluru will miss you a lot and the Beetle and the FIAT too. Have a Happy and safe Journey. Also don't forget to get Sweets to FCB on occasion of its 2nd year anniversary from North[forgot the name of the famous sweet] though my mouth is already watering.

Probably later we all can go for another huge LEH trip all together.

"Agra Petha " it must be

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

@pavan,
best wishes for your grand trip.

Earlier this year, i also started to plan to go vaishnodevi in this summer with in laws.
After addition of more in laws, the group became almost 12 adults and 16kids.
All in laws were looking forward to my plan saying that'' hamey to kuchchh karna nahi hai, all bookings and execution will be done by you[ i.e. me].

I simply gave up this plan because of 16 kids [ unmanageable].

I hope, your travelogue will help me to replan my trip in future.

Man,, Its difficult to plan a trip, all the Best.

Originally Posted by ruthvikmagal

Expecting a great travelogue And give us an account of the conditions so that we can plan our CLASSIC CAR RAID DE HIMALAYA

Yes, sure... will be updating the thread from whereever i can.

Originally Posted by idlebrain

Pavan, Hoping a wonderful travelogue here. Eagerly waiting for pics.
Sorry, but one question - what do you mean by "Restorer"?

Hmmm.... I am a classic car restorer, and thats what i meant.

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Pavan! Not fair man! When I saw the number of folks joining you, I was pretty sure you were taking your VW bus on an iconic journey!

What the heck is this flight business? very unbecoming of you. You are hereinafter banned from suggesting any TATA product in all "What Car" threads

Venky, i would need a good month if i take the Bus or my Safari. ha ha ha...

You know man, People on job and that too from Bangalore, its tough to even get a 1 day holiday.

Alright... let me continue.

Sent mails to many hotels finalised from the www. search.

While i was awaiting their reply with the tarrifs, it was time to plan the local travel Delhi - Delhi.

Was lucky to know one Mr Lobo ( Mangalore Based - Delhi Tour operator ) Is well known to my uncle and has already given a great service when few of my relatives had travelled to Delhi a few times. We got to book a 15 seater A/C Force Traveller. But costed us a cool 65K covering our destinations. We had no other choice than to book it.

The route details, distances, time take to travel all Thanks to HV Kumar. We could not have done this planning without him. Every mail sent would be answered within exactly 30 mins. That was super fast for a person always on the GO....

After 2 weeks long of discussion and bargaining, i could manage to get accomodation at HPTDC, This was suggested by Lukeskywalker and HVK.

1) HPTDC Holiday Home Shimla - 5 rooms @ Rs 2420/- each rooms/day

2) HPTDC Log Huts , Manali - 2 log Huts @ Rs 3850/- per log hut /day

3) HPTDC Dauladhar , Dharmsala - 5 rooms @ 1760/- per room / day

So HPTDC took care of our entire Himachal Pradesh accomodation, Thanks to Mr Swaroop Sharma and Mr Thakur at HPTDC - 01902253531 / 01902252334. They were very courteous.

So Himachal done...........