The bliss you get as you drive past those smiling faces at the doors of those petite houses, the calm you get when you drive along those gushing rivers and the rush you get when you drive to those hills with valleys so deep. The happiness those long and wide roads bring as you speed past a city with the sun setting in the background. The adventure you become a part of,and the misadventure that comes along. The skies and the seas. The wind, the sun, and the rains. The fortunes and the moments. The discoveries and the good times.
Welcome, to the world of Road trips; where the south pole can be your destination, the northern lights can guide your path, the west can be old and wild and the east can be miles apart.
Road trips are like the journeys of lifetime and what is interesting is that unlike earlier, borders are no longer barriers. Road trips have now gone international. What is however,even more interesting is that recently more and more Indians have been taking these international road trips.
In April, 2015 the Baid family, from Bangalore went out on an ultimate 111 day road trip across 11 countries.With money coming in from 14 different companies and the not so envious well wishers, with a given up job, and with around 120 days of granted leave from the school for the children, the family of four, had just about enough to kick-start their road trip.
The Baid Family (Picture Credits: dailymail.co.uk)
Starting from India, they first travelled to Nepal. From Nepal they then went on to China. From China, the family travelled to Kyrgyzstan.From there they went on to Uzbekistan, where a lady paid for an entire meal just because of her love for India and the Taj Mahal(and, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, they say). After Uzbekistan, they travelled to Turkmenistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Spain and finally France.
The route the Baid family travelled through. (Source: cntraveller.in)
But as fun as all this may sound, not everything was easy for the Baid family. From food to language, from weather to roads;challenges awaited them at every corner. It all started right after they crossed India and entered Nepal, which then, was hit by the earthquake. Being stuck at the bottom of the valley, the Baid family was perhaps lucky enough to not be hit by the rocks that were falling from above for five days straight. As they travelled to places beyond Nepal, the family of vegetarians, found it difficult to find diet friendly food for themselves. And these were perhaps few(two, to be precise) of the many problems they had to face.
But this was not the only family that dared to go out of the way (quite literally) to travel across countries, wait for it, by road. In June, 2015, a group of three mothers, (yes, you heard it right, mothers)from Delhi took a 97 days road trip across 17 countries. With the right amount of sponsorship, support and spirit, the three mothers started off from India, went on to Myanmar, from Myanmar to China, from China to Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Finland, Czech Republic, Germany and (phew!)the UK. Not only that, but also, their vehicle was the first Indian vehicle to cross the Arctic Circle(proud much?).
Women from Delhi who took a road trip to London. (Picture Credits: traveltriangle.com)
But just like the Baid family, this road trip wasn’t a piece of dense chocolate cake for them. While they were in Myanmar, these women had to face landslides. The bridges had been washed away and it took them almost five days to cover 200 km. Moreover, because they were three women in foreign countries, travelling in the night was not an option for them.
With these two stories and the misadventures, there is one thing you can be sure of, that the road is rough and the destination is far, far away. But another thing you should also be sure of is that, these potential adventures cannot really be the potential reasons for you to cancel that road trip you’ve been living to go for. But before you take off for that most awaited road trip, here are a few things you should keep in mind :
- Make sure you have a detailed itinerary for the trip. Figure out the places you want to travel through, places you want to touch and places you want to stay and admire.
- See what your budget looks like.
- Figure out who are your not-so-jealous and selfish friends and who could be your reliable sponsors because:
a) You definitely are not foolish enough to spend all your savings on the road trip(considering you might have to quit your job if you plan on going on 100–120 days long road trip).
b) Now that you need money, you will have to fish for sponsors and getting sponsors could be quite a task.
c)And now that you have limited number of sponsors, your not so jealous friends/relatives are the ones who would actually be of some help.
4. Split your money, half in cash and half in cards.You don’t want to go back half way through, just because someone got lucky picking your pocket.
5. Learn the basic phrases in other languages, the official languages of places you plan on travelling to. An Excuse me, Do you know English? or a Can help me? could come handy any moment. Also, brush up your sign language; because lets face it, How long will you survive on the two phrases?
6. Find out where will you need visas to cross the borders. Chances are you might have to coordinate with over 10 embassies before you actually start your road trip. And, do not forget to keep numerous copies of all the papers you need.
7. Branding on the car makes crossing the borders way easier. However, while crossing countries like Iran and Uzbekistan you might have to sweat a bit for permissions.
8. If you want to save on hotels, attach a camper van to the car. Not only will it help you travel in budget, but also save you the effort you will have to put into look for hotels. (And not to forget, the liberty of stopping whenever and wherever you want.)
9. Carry camping tents, just in case you find yourself stranded on a hill top and a portable stove for times you are in a country which believes that the greens are meant to be on the trees and plants and not in the pans. (Psst,stalking up on non-perishable food always helps.)
10. Carry a smile wherever you. Who knows, that friendly face might as well buy you lunch and a complimentary, curious-to-know-about-you, company.
11. Last but most important, don’t let the fear of losing way and facing troubles be your villain. Just take that road trip you’ve been planning on taking.
And, now that your are planning on taking that road trip,( I know you are)you know what to do before you drive away.And if it’s your first road trip, and you want to take it slow, Worry Not! There is a solution to that too.As a beginner, you can consider taking a road trip to the following countries:
- Myanmar: 2988.9km from New Delhi(54 hours)
- Nepal: 1012km from New Delhi (30 hours)
- Bangladesh: 1713km from New Delhi (30 hours)
- Sri Lanka: 3553km from New Delhi (78 hours)
- Bhutan: 2005.9 km from New Delhi (39 hours)
So where are you headed to?
Is it a desert or a forest? Is it a city or a country or a village? Is it miles away or poles apart? Will it be in the spring or the fall?
Or is it, a bit of all?
