Since I now had a 7-seater car, we wanted to take them with us on this trip. It was going to be my wife, my mother-in-law, three boys aged 9, 11 and 13, a little girl aged 2.5 and me, the driver.
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That was my best summer vacation so far. Why? Because I drove 5,997.40 kilometers.
Places visited: Kolhapur, Wagachiwadi, Vashi, Surat, Udaipur, Jaipur, Noida, Delhi, Gurugram, Agra, Jim Corbett, Guna, Dhule, Shirdi
The car: Kia Carens Prestige Plus diesel, manual transmission, model March 2023
Full of adventure, we set out on this month-long journey that took us through vibrant cities, historic sites, barren landscapes and breathtaking natural beauty. None of these places were off the beaten track – you might not see anything special about these places, but they were new to us and the children. We now have memories and experiences that will stay with us for a lifetime. The time we spent travelling together is something we will remember forever.
This travelogue captures the essence of our 5,997km journey in our trusty Kia Carens. I’m not a creative writer, so don’t expect a magical web of words that will captivate you. In fact, I’m the opposite – my job requires me to use clear words, formatting and layout so the message is clearly communicated. We didn’t take photos in many places as I didn’t plan on writing this travelogue before the trip. I’ll have to do that next time, especially of the food and scenery.
It’s all about the Keeda!
I don’t remember when this thought came up, but my wife’s sister had recently moved from Bombay to Noida, and since my wife and kids always spent part of the summer with their mother and sister, it was a given that we would go to Noida this year. We had three options – train, plane or car. Last year, I had brought her back from Bombay in my car at the end of the summer. It was a fun and comfortable solo trip, and I knew the car and I could handle longer drives. So I suggested to my wife that we go to Noida, and she was all for it.
In summer, my sister’s children also come to Manipal from Bangalore for vacations. Since I now had a 7-seater car, we wanted to take them on this trip. It was going to be my wife, my mother-in-law, three boys aged 9, 11 and 13, a little girl aged 2.5 years and me, the driver.
Another important reason for taking a road trip with the kids was to get them away from screens – post-Covid, everyone’s screen time has increased and it’s very difficult to get them to do other activities.
These are the boys in the Covid summer of 2020. Then online classes started and now they are addicted.
The timetable
The plan was to limit the trips to about 400 km per day, otherwise the kids wouldn’t enjoy the trip. Google Maps was my preferred app for all route and time planning.
- Day 1 – Manipal to Kolhapur as we wanted to visit Sri Mahalaxmi Mandir
- Day 2 – Kolhapur to Vasai (sister-in-law’s house)
- Day 3 – Vasai to Surat (my cousin’s house)
- Day 4 – Surat to the undecided stop
- Day 5 – From undecided stop to undecided stop
- Day 6 – Undecided stop in Noida
Since I was unfamiliar with the routes beyond Maharashtra, about a month earlier I asked our well-travelled Bhpain Parag Sachania for advice on the stopovers for Day 4 and Day 5.
Some of my questions to him were (don’t laugh):
- I have never taken a multi-day car trip before.
- First, is this possible?
- What kind of pain should I expect?
- What precautions should I take?
- Are there exercises I need to start doing now?
He said he would plan the entire journey from Bombay to Noida and make a list of places to visit along the way. Then he reminded me of the most important thing I hadn’t considered. “You also need to allow extra time as you will have to do election-related checks all the way in both directions, at least until the polls are over.” We would be travelling through several states during the main election season. I had to add at least an hour to the daily journeys – damn it!
Parag’s suggestion was
- Surat – Ratlam: via Halol-Godhra-Dahod-Mumbai Delhi Expressway
- Ratlam to Kota (250 km): Via Delhi Mumbai Expressway
- Kota to Noida (465 km): Via Delhi Mumbai Expressway
- Another alternative is to do this via the Ahmedabad-Himmatnagar-Udaipur route as well.
The problem with the Kota route for us was that there were no rest stops or restaurants. He suggested that we pack and carry food for this leg. It would have been very difficult for the kids. And the kids wanted to see the desert and camels on the road because my sister-in-law had shared videos of camels that they had taken earlier this year while driving to Noida. (It was only later that I realised that the desert is nowhere on the way.)
Since Parag had also said, “You will see camels soon after crossing Himmatnagar”, we decided to take the Udaipur-Jaipur route. This way, we could also visit some famous tourist spots on the way.
The final plan – Stage 1 (April 17 – April 23)
- Day 1 – Manipal to Kolhapur
- Day 2 – Kolhapur to Vashi
- Day 3 – Vashi to Surat
- Day 4 – Surat to Udaipur
- Day 5 – Udaipur to Jaipur
- Day 6 – Jaipur to Noida
Since my family was in Noida, I was planning to fly back to Manipal two days later as I had to vote and do office work on the 26th. My sister, who would be with my mother while I was away, also had to go back to Bangalore for work and voting. Then after a week, I would return to Noida and spend some time there before boarding the flight back after May 12th.
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