Bangalore to Gurgaon Road trip #RashtriyaRoadTrip

These are the statistics from a Bangalore to Gurgaon road trip I recently did with a good friend. Stats done by him and so was most of the driving.

Start: 1st Nov 2013 - 4 am (Nice Road Toll)
Finish: 3rd Nov 2013 - 3pm
Distance Traveled: 2680 KMs
Car: Maruti Esteem VXi 2007
Fuel Consumed: 207 Liters Petrol
Average: 13 KMPL

Total Trip Time: 59 Hrs.
Night Halt : 17 Hours (Nasik & Udaipur)
Road Site Halts (for B/F, Lunch, Dinner /Fuel / Tea / Bio breaks and Tolls): 12 Hrs
Total Driving Time : 30 Hrs
Average Speed : 2680/42 = 64 KM/Hr
Driving Speed Average: 2680/30 = 89 KM / Hr
Highest Speed for a considerable Stretch : 160 Kms / Hr ( some sections of Baroda - Ahmedabad, Chittorgarh-Bhilwara & Kishangarh-Jaipur)
Slowest Speed for a considerable strech : 20Km/Hr (Wani to Mahrashtra -Gujarat Border)

States Traveled Across: 5 (Karnataka / Maharashtra / Gujarat / Rajasthan / Haryana)
No. of Districts: 
No. of Tolls: 39
Access Controlled Expressway: 1 (NE-1 between Baroda- Ahmedabad)
National Highways: 9 (NH-4, NH-50, NH-360, NH-8, NH-8A, NH-8C, NH-76, NH-79, NH-79A)
State Highways: 6 (Maharashtra: SH-30 & SH-17, Gujarat: SH-9. SH-15, SH-177 & SH-703)
City Roads: 3 (Kolhapur, Pune, Nasik and Ahmedabad)

Tunnels Crossed: 2 (Kasara - Pune & Pune Byepass)
Major Rivers Crossed: 21 (Tungabhadra, Malaprabha, Krishna, Markandeya, Hiranyakeshi, Vedganga, Panchaganga, Koyna, Neera, Kadwa, Ambica, Bhima, Mindhola, Tapi, Narmada, Vishwamitri, Mahisagar, Sabarmati, Gambhiri, Banas, Mansi )

Route Taken: 
Bangalore (E-city) - Nice Road - Tumkur - Sira - Hiriyur - Chitradurga - Davangere Byepass - Ranebennur - Devaragudda - Haveri Byepass - Hubli Dharwar Byepass - Belgaum Byepass - Tavandi - Kolhapur - Karad - Satara - Kasara - Pune - Pimpri - Bhosari - Peth - Sangamner - Sinnar - Devlali - Nasik - Ozar -Vani - Saputara - Waghai - Vansada - Kharel - Navsar- Surat Byepass - Ankleshwar - Bharuch - Baroda - Ahmedabad - Gandhinagar - Chiloda - Pranij - Himmatnagar - Shamlaji - Ratanpur - Bicchiwara - Kherwara - Rishabhdev - Udaipur - Mangalwar - Chittorgarh Byepass - Bhilwara Byepass - Nasirabad - Kishangarh - Jaipur Byepass - Manoharpur - Shahpura - Kotputli - Behror - Neemrana - Dharuhera - Manesar – Gurgaon

These are some of the photos from this Bangalore to Gurgaon road trip

These are some experiences and memories from this Bangalore to Gurgaon road trip!

Random experiences are what make a great road trip, but being stuck in traffic before your journey starts, is one best avoided! So time your start to avoid traffic.

Take along enough water, but don't overdo the snacks. If you are really into the roadtrip you wouldn't snack much anyway. 

When you're not driving catch up on your sleep. Never know when you might be required at the wheel.

Avoid Dhabhas where buses are parked. They would take too long to serve.

Try to taste the local delicacies while on your way. Kolhapuri mutton for example. Gujarat is a dry and mostly vegetarian state (just saying).

Knock Out beer is the best beer in this country.

Maharashtra has the worst roads among the so-called developed states in the country. But if you feel like kissing the tarmac as soon as you enter Gujarat, just remember Karnataka, AP and TN also have good roads (mostly)!

Something happens to vehicles when they enter Gujarat. They lose the ability to pick a lane and stay in it. They are constantly straddle two lanes and block your way.

The country side across India is beautiful. There are so many places you can stop to get magnificent views.

Ten years back, Delhi started expanding westward towards Gurgaon. Today, its knocking on the Rajasthan border at Bhivadi. In the next 20 years, Lahore could be a Delhi suburb!

It is not about the car you drive, but how you drive it. Before you upgrade your car, ask yourself if you made the most of your current one.

I leave you with this gem from a truck bumper, "Duniya ka sabse bada rog, kya kahenge log"

Drive safe!

Observations from a road trip

1. Do you have a car, money to buy fuel but sit at home on a pleasant Sunday noon, thinking how bored you are? Its time you get car-jacked. The thief would make better use of your car.

2. Traffic on the road and at the wine shop is much thinner on Sunday.

3. I've always known that Punjabis are loud, but drunk Punjabis are louder than a Pioneer music system, belting out Psychedelic rock.

4. A drunk Punjabi forgets directions within 10 mts but can still buy awesome cake. Road trips are infinitely more fun when drunk Punjabi is around (No offence to Punjabis, your women are hot!)

5. No Punjabi, drunk or sober, would accept non-kadak roti at a Dhabha. It insults everything they hold dear in life. (It should insult all Indians, if u ask me)

6. The Indian countryside is infinitely beautiful. You do not have to visit these extortion rackets called "country resorts" to enjoy the beauty of nature.

7. If you are going to start a bonfire from the stump of a tree by the lake bed, on a starry half-moon night you better have along more liquor and meat or at the least some newspapers so u don't have to sit on wet mud.

8. The setting mentioned in #7 can be considered romantic, only if you are in company of a partner of the opposite sex

9. No one takes kindly to being pissed on, especially dying embers of a bonfire you are trying to put out. Watch out for the fire flakes!

10. You can always coax a dhaba guy to make a 5 egg anda burjee, even when his menu mentions only 1 egg anda burjee

11. After several rounds of KingFisher Light, it just takes one Knock Out, to knock you out!!

12. Stay Cool. Even as you skid on a dirt road you have hit by mistake and dust flies all around, waking the passed out men in the back seat. Your calmness will put them back to sleep in no time. There is no greater sin than disturbing the slumber of a drunk man.

13. Before you embark on a road trip - Fill your tank and empty your bladder, repeatedly!

14. Im happy I could keep my vow of abstinence, through this trip!

The Beer Chronicles

This is the story of 3 bachelors in their late 20's and their tryst with 8 rounds of beer during a road trip.

Round 1 - Nothing

Round 2 - Burp!

Round 3 -
Krazy Kumar - "You idiots bought only 3?"
Me - "Guilty"
Krazy Kumar - "The point about beer is when you're done drinking, there should always be another 2 bottles around"
Me - "Guilty as charged, My Lord!"

Resupply

Round 4 - Boys stop on a bridge and pose for photographs and also take photos with the beer bottle and of it. Said Beer bottle is treated like a deity..

Round 5 - Boys stop on the middle of the highway and pose for photos - again, this time while sitting on the middle of the road

Round 6 -

"Maa"

Boys reminiscence about their mother and how they understand them the best. There was also almost a, "Mere paas maa hai" dialogue, almost..

Round 7 - 2 Boys talk about this awesome woman in their office, and her charms and her voice and her eyes and declare that if only she were not married with kids, she would have definitely been proposed to. Me say "Hmmmmmmmmmm...."

Round 8 - Boys congratulate each other on an awesome roadtrip!! :-))))