Summer 2024

 08-June-2024

Like many of the recent previous years, this year also. the road trip started with no plan. We decided to drive toawrds north and then figure out what to do. The first day, the plan was to reach Hyderabad since we started pretty late in the day.

We started from home at 9:20 am. Drove towards hyderabad. Arrived in Shell petrol station in Devanhalli after the Airport at 11:00 am. I always topup my car here because after this topup I can safely cross Hyderabad and fuelup again.

Drove for another 40 minutes and stopped at the Big Bay India highway pitstop at 11:45 am. This is a good place to stop because it has multiple restaurants and clean toilets.

Let the place at 12:45pm and drove for slightly more than two hours and crossed Ananthpur. Stopped again at Cafe Coffee Day in Gooty. Arrived in CCD at 3:00pm and stayed there for approximately 40 minutes. This point is almost the midpoint between Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

We drove straight to the hyderabad after this stop. We arrived at our hotel around 8:45 pm. We had our dinner and retired for the day. Here is the video for this segment.

09-June-2024

We had our breakfast, checked out and left the hotel around 8:30am. This was going to be s drive straight to Bhopal. We got on to ORR, exited on road to Nagpur. 

We drove for around 2:30 hours and stopped at a Jio-BP petrol station. refueled completely here and then drove on.

Around 3:00pm we saw a Vittal Kamath outlet just after Hinghanghat. Had some snacks there and a tea and then continued on. 

We crossed the Nagpur city and got on to highway to Betul. The road from Nagpur to Betul is great but it was raining that day.

We continued driving non-stop and finally arrived in Bhopal around 9:30pm.

10-June-2024

We had to pickup a member of our party from Indore airport and drop some members of our party in Ujjain. This drive was just for that.

Left Bhopal at 6:45am and drove towards Indore. Stopped at Sol Retreat for a small breakfast at 8:10 am. We had our breakfast and tea and continued driving towards Indore Airport. 

10:20 am arrived in Indore Airport, picked up members of our party and straight up drove towards Ujjain.

11:50 am arrived in Ujjain. We had to meet some relatives as well that took pretty much the whole day. Left Ujjain at 5:10pm.

Again stopped at Sol Retreat on the way back at 6:20pm . Had a small break there and then continued driving towards Bhopal.

Arrived back in Bhopal at 8:30pm

13-Jun-2024

We got some booking in forest rest house in Corbett at Malani so decided to drive to corbett and do few safaris there. The plan was to stay one night in FRH and then couple of nights in some resorts.

06:00am left Bhopal towards Noida. Did not want to stretch so decided to take a night halt in Noida. Drove for around 3 hours and stopped at K2 square highway retreat near Guna for our breakfast.

Left the place at 9:15am and continued driving towards Noida. As I was nearing Gwalior, decided to drive into the city and have coffee at Starbucks in Gwalior. It is a small detour and you end up spending around 15-30 minutes depending on traffic but it is in DB Mall and toilet facilities are nice. Finally arrived at Starbucks at DB City mall. Had the coffee and then left towards Noida.

Reached Agra at around 4:00pm and crossed the town. This time I tried bypass, it is in a better state now because you have to drive less on that canal road. The connectivity to YEW is also much improved.

Stopped at food court in YEW at 4:45pm, had something to eat and coffee and then finally continued towards Noida. I had booked Ginger hotel in Noida sector 133.

6:45pm Arrived in Ginger Hotel Sector 133. The hotel is like a budget hotel but decent for a night stay.

14-June-2024

Checked out and left hotel at 5:45am. Original plan was to have breakfast and leave but the breakfast timings were 7:30am so left early and decided to pickup breakfast on the way.

Took the new expressway towards Moradabad and then finally towards Kashipur.

We did not find any good place for breakfast, finally reached Kashipur and found a food court close to Corbett. Had our brunch there and then continued towards corbett.

11:00am arrived at Bijrani gate of corbett. I had booking in Malani FRH, the entry to that is from Bijrani gate itself. I had to wait for next couple of hours there for the safari driver to arrive.

Finally the driver arrived and we arranged for all the provisions and entered the Bijrani gate and continued towards Malani FRH.

After reaching the FRH, rested for a while and then went for a safari in the jungle. It was too hot and sightings were pretty sparse.

The FRH staff prepared the dinner, had the dinner and then slept off. We had another safari in the morning as part of this night stay at FRH. We had hoped for better luck.

15-June-2024

We got up early and left for safari at 5:30am. Again the safari was kind of a washout. We did not have many sightings but still it was an experience.

We finally got out of the gate around 9:30am. I had booked Corbett River Creek resort for one night in Corbett. Also I had another safari booked in the evening. So the plan was to checkin the resort, have breakfast and then get ready for safari in the evening.

The resort was quite far from Dhela gate from where my next safari was. So to catch the safari at 3:30pm, I had to leave the resort at 2:00pm.

This safari was also a washout, did not have many sightings. Finally came back to resort.

While driving towards resort, found a bunch of restaurants so had my dinner there, reached resort and retired for the day.

Here are some of the pictures from three safaris combined.

16-June-2024

We just decided to chill for a day in corbett, so we checked into Taj Corbett and pretty much did not do anything for the day.

17-June-2024

It was just too hot, so we decided to find some slightly cooler place. The plan was hatched to go to Mussoorie. As usual some members of the party were going to join us in Dehradun. So we decided to leave Corbett and stay the night Dehradun, pick up people from Airport and go to Mussoorie.

10:45am Checked out the hotel and left towards Dehradun. There were occasional traffic jams on the way for some religious functions happening everywhere.

2:45pm Arrived in hotel Re:genta Dehradun. This is a horrible hotel, avoid it at all costs.

Walked around the hotel, had dinner in a Dominos nearby. Finally retired for the day.

18-June-2024

Got up in the morning, had breakfast, checked out from the hotel and left for Airport for pickup.

Arrived in the airport at 9:50am, the flight had alreay arrived, waited for other members to join us and then left for Mussoorie

Arrived Mussoorie town at around 1:00pm, the town was horribly crowded. We spend more than one and half hour to cover last 2 kilometers. Finally checked into Hotel Savoy where we had planned on staying for next two nights. The hotel is pretty good.

In the night walked around the Mall, had coffee in starbucks overlooking hills and did the usual hill things. Finally as we reached back hotel, the weather took a turn to be interesting, complete hailstorm and it became chilly as well. Finally we got to experience the cool temperatures that we had come to Mussoorie for.

20-June-2024

Checked out from the hotel after breakfast, the next stop we had planned was to visit Agra. We had visited Agra multiple times, but this time we wanted to see the Moonlit viewing of Taj and the fort. We did not really want to do a regular day time taj.

While coming down the Mussoorie hills, there was signifiant traffic jam. We realized that was weekend and there was significant traffic that was going to and coming from Mussoorie.

We reached Dehradun and stopped in Mall of Dehradun for a bio-break and coffee at around 1:00pm

We took EPE and cross Noida and joined YEW.  Finally stopped at YEW starbucks for coffee and bio break at 5:50pm. We had booked for Taj viewing at 8:30pm slot, so we decided to drive to Taj directly. The Taj viewing was a flop show since it was clowdy so it was nothing but a bunch of dark.

After taj viewing, we left for our hotel which was ITC Mughal. We checked in and had our dinner and retired for the day. Originally we had planned on staying only for one night, but we decided to extend it by another night. Next day we did nothing. 

The following day, we had planned to going to the fort and then leave Agra for Bhopal.

22-Jun-2024

We got up, had our breakfast and left for the fort. There is sufficient parking near the fort. We also realized that in Agra, traffic lights don't mean anything.

We arrived in the fort and had a walk around the fort. It is really and magnificent place and not very crowded. 

We were finally ready to leave Agra at around 11:15am. We left the place towards Bhopal.

We reached near Gwalior and again decided to stop in DB Mall. A quick coffee in Starbuck and something to eat was really needed. We were done with this around 2:30pm.

We arrived in K2 Squared Highway Retreat near Guna at 5:25pm. We stopped there for a tea and some snacks. We left the place at 6:10pm.

We finally arrived in Bhopal at 9:45pm.

We spend few peaceful days in Bhopal and then our return journey started. At the last moment we decided to take a different route. Since we had decided to go via Mumbai, we also decided to go to Goa before returning Bengaluru.

25-June-2024

Since Bhopal to Mumbai seemed little longer in the light of Monsoon which was at full strength at this time, rather than taking risk, we decided to leave a day early and stop over in Indore for the night so that the journey gets reduced.

06:35pm We left from Bhopal to Indore. 08:40pm arrived near Astha. This time rather than stopping at Soul Retreat, I stopped at NH86 Retreat which is just opposite Soul Retreat. Did not find this place good. I think I will stick to Soul Retreat from now on.

10:00pm Finally arrived in Sheraton in Indore. The hotel was expensive and average. I would not recommend it. The only saving grace is its location.

Anyway, had dinner and retired for the day.

26-Jun-2024

Got up, got ready, had breakfast and checked out. I was on the road before 07:00am. Took the A-B Road towards Mumbai.

11:00am topped up near Dhule. There were couple of traffic police stops. It my all travels, I have found that you are most likely to be stopped in Maharashtra even on national highway.  

2:00pm Found a food court type of stuff with McDonalds, dominos and bunch of other restaurants. Facilities were pretty clean. This place was around one hour after Nashik.

04:00pm Reached pretty much outskirts of Mumbai near Bhiwandi. Lots of road construction and rains impeded the progress. In India large metros are always difficult to enter. 

Also I had booked Taj Mahal Towers and because of that I had to pretty much drive into middle of the city.

05:05pm Found a traffic signal where there was green light for right turn but straight was not allowed. Got completely confused and ended up paying a fine.

06:15pm Finally arrived in Taj Mahal Towers, checked into the hotel.

Walked around the hotel, walked around the Gateway of India. Finally had dinner in the hotel and retired for the day.

27-Jun-2024

08:45am We were ready to leave mumbai and breakfast in Taj Mahal Towers. Got on to Atal Setu, exited Mumbai and got on to Mumbai Pune expressway. 

09:50am stopped on food court in the middle of Mumbai Pune expressway.  Continued driving towards Satara, karad. We were advised not to take NH-66.

1:30pm stopped in a McDonald's on national highway in Satara. It took too long, there was some issue with payment so the order took really long time. Finally left the place around 2:30pm

This road is pretty scenic but there are large portions of road that are very narrow and you have to drive carefully.

09:50pm We finally arrived in Goa. We had booked Taj Aguada Fort Resort for next three nights and the plan was just to chill.

28-Jun-2024

This day was just for chilling around. We walked around the property and also took a stroll on Fort. Here are some highlights.

30-Jun-2024

Finally this was the last day of the trip. We checked out of the hotel and left for Bengaluru. We topped up our vehicle just outside Goa and then pretty much kept of driving with out stopping.

We had usual couple of stops by Karnataka cops and Goa cops related to Liquor where they checked our luggage etc.

02:00pm We joined the Bengaluru-Pune national highway at Dharwad.

We stopped at Hotel Guruprasad on the highway around Chitradurga at 5:00pm. Had a south indian thali and then continued on to our journey.

We arrive in our home at around 10:00pm.

This trip was around 7,000 kilometers and I have really stopped counting tolls and fuel money. You just have to pay, what is the point in counting it.

Christmas 2023

During Christmas of 2023 we did this interesting road trip from Bengaluru to north part of country. This is a travelog detailing that trip.

21-December-2023 I started from Bengaluru. The plan was to reach Hyderabad. The road near Telangana - Maharashtra border generally has potholes so I did not want to drive there in the night. So I decided to stay in Hyderabad and then continue onwards the next day.

22-December-2024 I started from Hyderabad after breakfast and the plan was to reach Bhopal by the end of the day. It was comparatively easy drive since the distance was not really very high. 

24-December-2023 After a day's rest in Bhopal, started towards Noida. It was a even less drive. I reached noida by the end of the day.

25-December-2023 Another day's rest in Noida and then I was ready to drive onwards towards Dehradun. Noida to Dehradun is a very easy drive. Roads are good and distance is not too much.

26-December-2023 It was a local excursion day in Dehradun. We walked up to Shashradhara and enjoyed a bit there.

27-December-2023 Another local excursion day in Dehradun. We visited Forest Research Institute and Guccupani Robbers Cave. Both are interesting places and you should visit them if you are in Dehradun. The purpose of our visit to Dehradun was to visit a friends place.

28-December-2023 Now that we were done with Dehradun, we have to start travelling back. But before we could go towards our home, we had to visit our village near Khajuraho. So we left for Khajuraho the next day.

29-December-2023 We had some official business to attend to in Chhatarpur and Nowgong so the first day was spend there.

30-December-2023 We drove to the village near Harpalpur, spent some time there and were back in Khajuraho by the end of the day. But first we needed a stopover in Chhatarpur.

After taking care of business in Chhatarpur we were on the road to the village.

The village Baindo is comparative a affluent village. Here are some drone shots.

31-December-2023 As the last day of the year arrive, we started our travel back to Bengaluru. The first stop was to reach Bhopal. I spent few days in Bhopal.

05-January-2024 Started early from Bhopal onwards towards Hyderabad. Reached hyderabad by the end of the day.

06-January-2024 Started after breakfast towards Bengaluru.

The total journey was around 6200 kilometer.

Bengaluru to Jaipur : Christmas 2022

 22-12-2022

During Christmas 2022 we decided to do a road trip to Jaipur. The plan was to go to Noida and then continue onwards to reach Jaipur and do some sightseeing.

We left Bengaluru around 7:30AM and drove straight to Hyderabad. The plan was to stay night in Hyderabad. For some reason we found hotels in Nagpur too expensive during Christmas so decided against staying there.

We stopped in Cafe Coffee Day near Gooty at 12:15 PM for about an hour and then continued onwards towards Hyderabad. 

We arrived in Hyderabad at 5:30 PM and retired for the day. 

23-12-2022

We decided to take a halt in Bhopal for couple of days. I was not feeling well so decided to stop over in my house in Bhopal and then continue after taking rest.

Since we just had to reach up to Bhopal, we decided to leave after breakfast. We were on the road at 7:00 AM. 

We stopped at the Highway Nest Mini near Borkhedi toll plaza for a bio break around 1:00 PM

We quickly crossed Nagpur town and got on to four lane highway connecting Nagpur and Betul. Just after four-lane highway finishes, there is a small hotel called Hotel Meghna where we stopped for some food around 4:10 PM. 

We started from there at 4:45 PM and continued towards Bhopal. Finally arrived in Bhopal at 7:40 PM.

Next day we took rest in Bhopal before continuing.

25-12-2022

We started at 6:30 AM towards Noida. It was early so did not have any breakfast. 

We reached near Guna at around 9:10 AM. Near Guna you will find K2 Squared Highway Treat right on the highway which is a pretty good place for a break and breakfast. We left the place at 9:45 AM.

Finally around 3:00 PM we entered Yamuna Expressway. Drove till the mid point and stopped at The Food Street for some lunch.

Arrived in Noida at 6:40 PM.

27-12-2022

We got ready around 9:00 AM and left for Jaipur. 10:55 AM we stopped at Mcdonalds for some food and bio break. 11:20 AM we started towards Jaipur again.

Impromptu we decided to visit Neemrana Fort-Palace. On reaching there we learnt that you can't just visit the fort. You have to buy a ticket for food or you should be staying with them then only you can visit. So we left that place and joined the Jaipur highway back.

We stopped at the food street at around 1:20 PM. I badly needed a coffee. I had still not fully recovered.

We started from the food street at 2:20 PM and continued towards Jaipur. 

4:45 PM We arrived in The Lalit, Jaipur. The hotel was very crowded and checkin itself took couple of hours. After resting for a while, we decided to drive to the Hawa Mahal area and find some food.

28-12-2022

We started after our breakfast and reached Jal Mahal at 12:15 PM. We spent some time there and after parking our car in Jal Mahal area, took a rickshaw to go back to Albert Museum.

1:30 PM we arrived in Albert Museum and spent around an hour in the museum. It is pretty interesting museum.

We left towards Amber Palace and after parking our car in the parking, tool a Jeep to visit Jaigarh and then Nahargarh.

After visiting these two forts, we arrived back at Amber Fort at around 5:45 PM. We bought the ticket for light and sound show and then went into the Amber Fort for a quick walk around.

Then we went into the light and sound show which got finished at 8:45 PM, We started towards our hotel and stopped midway for some food at a place called The Vegetarian Grill.

29-12-2022

This was the day to leave back to Noida. We stayed at the hotel in the morning and decided to leave around 2:45 PM. 

This was a simple eventless journey back.

We stopped for a quick break at The Food Street around 6:30 PM. We left the place at 7:20 PM. 

We arrived back in Noida at around 10:45 PM.

Next few days we spend in Noida to take care of some things.

03-01-2023

We started our journey back to Bengaluru. As usual the first stop was Bhopal.

8:30 AM We left Noida and got on to Yamuna Expressway. We stopped at the food court in the middle of YEW for a quick coffee at around 9:20 AM. We again stopped at the next rest area on YEW at around 11:10 AM. 

We exited YEW and quickly got on to Gwalior road. We crossed Dholpur and crossed Morena. We stopped at the Subhim Highway Resort for a bio-break.

We couldn't find any decent place for food after that, so we continued driving to the same K2 squared Highway Treat near Guna.

We finally arrived in Bhopal at 9:00 PM.

Next few days we spent in Bhopal

06-01-2023 

We left our home in Bhopal towards Hyderabad at around 6:30 AM. We stopped in Hotel Meghna just before Betul at 8:30 AM for some breakfast and continued onwards towards Hyderabad at 9:20 AM. 

We stopped at Borkhedi Toll plaza after crossing Nagpur for a bio-break at 12:30 PM. 

We arrived in Hyderabad around 8:00 PM.

07-01-2023

We decided to take it easy since we just had to drive from Hyderabad to Bengaluru. We got up, had our breakfast and then checked out around 11:30AM. 

We drove non-stop for next few hours and stopped just before Ananthpur at Cafe Coffee Day for a break at 3:40 PM. 

We left from Cafe Coffee Day after an hour and crossed Ananthpur. 

We stopped at Shell Petrol Station near Aroor for a top-up and bio-break.

We arrived within Bengaluru city limits around 8:00 PM, had our dinner and reached home.

Jan - Feb - 2022 : Day 9 : Returning Home : Noida to Jhansi

 11-February-2022

Left Noida around 3 PM straight on to YEW. The food court was completely jammed with cars so we carried on to the end of YEW for bio break.

Our search of a proper bypass for Agra continued. We again got lost but eventually emerged on the other end of Agra.

Found a dhaba near Morena and found it to be rubbish. So we continued on.

Finally stopped at the MP Tourism hotel near Morena.

Around 10 PM reached Jhansi. We stayed at Hotel Lemon Tree.

Jan - Feb - 2022 : Day 8 : Chhatarpur to Noida

 07-February-2022

We left Khajuraho around 9:10 AM and headed to Chhatarpur where we had a day full of bureaucratic things to be taken care of.

Our entire day was spent in the city. We had to take care of some legal work. meet some government officials etc.

5:15 PM we left Chhatarpur towards Noida. As we got on to NH-39, we decided to try an alternate route back. We turned towards Hamirpur and then finally to Agra Lucknow expressway. Unfortunately that was a very bad decision.

Road were horrible and took long time.

Around 9PM we got on to four laned highway NH-19.  We stopped at a road side dhaba which was horrible.

Entered Agra Lucknow expressway around 10:15 PM. 

Entered YEW around 11:20 PM. We had to exit Agra Lucknow expressway and get into the town roads because we were very low on fuel.

Midnight we stopped at the food court on YEW. The place was completely closed. So we used toilets and left quickly.

We arrived back in Noida at around 2AM.

Jan - Feb - 2002: Day 6 : Trip to Chhatarpur

 06-February-2022

We had some important things to be take care of in Chhatarpur. So we decided to do a short trip from Noida to Chhatarpur.

We left our place around 7:45 AM and left towards Yamuna Expressway. 9:20 AM we stopped at the food court in the middle of YEW.

We exited YEW around 11:20 AM.  We tried to take some byepass around Agra. Got lost multiple times. Finally emerged on the other end of Agra.

2:50 PM stopped at MP Tourism hotel near Morena for our Lunch. Lunch was good. Service was slow.

4:35 PM took NH-39 towards Chhatarpur. The road is in impeccable condition. Only issue is that one has to get into Mauranipur. In this area if you have to refuel your vehicle, be cautions, you will be crossing MP and UP border multiple times and there is a price difference of almost 15 Rs. per litre between MP and UP. UP is cheaper by almost 15 rupees.

Arrived Chhatarpur town at 6:30 pm. Met some people with whom we had some work the next day. 

It was late so we decided to have dinner in chhatarpur. Found hotel Rudraksh and had our dinner there. Food was reasonable.

We arrived in Khajuraho around 9:30 PM. We decided to come here because hotels are better in Khajuraho compared to Chhatarpur. 

Jan - Feb 2022 : Day 5 : Bhopal to Noida

 05-February-2022

We started from Bhopal to Noida around 5:00am.

6:30 AM, we joined the highway near Biora. 

The highway from Bhopal to Noida via Guna is in a good condition exception the city bypasses of Guna and Shivpuri. It takes time around that place.

8:00 AM we stopped at K-Squared highway resort for our breakfast.

12:00 PM Stopped at Barista near Gwalior for a coffee. This cafe also has fallen into a state of disrepair. Toilets were in bad condition.

2:15 PM  took agra city bypass as suggested by google maps. Not a great road but saves considerable time.

4:00 PM Stopped at the food court in the middle of Yamuna Expressway.

6:00 PM Arrived at our home in Noida.

September/October 2021 -- The Trip with purpose

I wrote about my father's passing away in a blog post in my other blog. He passed away of COVID-19 during peak of pandemic in April -2021.  Because of the peak of pandemic, he was cremated with COVID protocol on the next day after his death and we decided to hold off to other rituals for a later date and time where it might become safer for people to travel.

September 2021 during pitru paksha, we decided it was the right time to continue and complete the first set of rituals related to his passing away. After his cremation, we had kept his last remains in our garden and asthi visarjan was the first step to kick start the set of rituals that were to follow. 

Here is the travelog of the road trip that we undertook to bid final farewell to my father.

1. Day 01 -- 17 September 2021, Bengaluru to Hyderabad
2. Day 02 -- 18 September 2021, Hyderabad to Bhopal
3. Day 03 -- 19 September 2021, Rest day at Bhopal
4. Day 04 -- 20 September 2021, Official Work at Bhopal
5. Day 05 -- 21 September 2021, Lots of bureaucratic work at Bhopal
6. Day 06 -- 22 September 2021, More bureaucratic work at Bhopal
7. Day 07 -- 23 September 2021, Asthi Visarjan at Prayagraj
8. Day 08 -- 24 September 2021, Asthi Visarjan and Back
9. Day 09 -- 25 September 2021, In search of North Indian Rivers, Bhopal to Noida
10. Day 10 -- 26 September 2021, Towards Haridwar and Rishikesh
11. Day 11 -- 27 September 2021, Noida to Gwalior
12. Day 12 -- 28-September 2021, Gwalior to Orccha
13. Day 13 -- 29 September 2021, Orccha to Ujjain
14. Day 14 -- 30 September 2021, Ujjain to Omkareswar and Back
15. Day 15 -- 01-October-2021, Ujjain to Bhopal
16. Day 16 -- 02-October-2021, Dashmi Rituals
17. Day 17 -- 03-October-2021
18. Day 18 -- 04-October-2021, Terahvi Rituals
19. Day 19 -- 05-October-2021
20. Day 20 -- 06-October-2021, Bhopal to Bhedaghat
21. Day 21 -- 07-October-2021, Bhedaghat to Amarkantak
22. Day 22 -- 08-October-2021, Amarkantak to Nagpur
23. Day 23 -- 09-October-2021, Nagpur to Bengaluru

This completes the total trip. The total Toll paid was Rs. 7778. Total amount towards fuel was more than Rs. 80,000/-.

Day 11 -- 27 September 2021, Noida to Gwalior

 27-September-2021

As I have mentioned in one of the earlier blogs, colleges are ongoing. Even though we wanted to leave early, the classes were there till 5:30pm so we left after the classes go over.

6:00 PM Left Noida

7:50 PM Stopped on the food court on Yamuna Expressway

11:30 PM Arrived in Taj Usha Kiran Palace in Gwalior

Day 10 -- 26 September 2021, Towards Haridwar and Rishikesh

 26-September-2021

09:40 AM Left Noida towards Haridwar and Rishikesh

11:28 AM Stopped at the Starbucks for a cup of coffee

1:10 PM Being Pitru Paksha, Haridwar was very crowded. In anycase I was looking for the river. I could a place where I could reach Ganga River.

Continued towards Rishikesh. Rishikesh was also very crowded. It was impossible to even cross the town. I crossed the town and drove towards Badri Nath.

2:20 PM Stopped at Neelkanth Bridge which is 10 kilometres beyond Rishikesh on the road to Badrinath.

After spending around an hour, I left the place for Noida.

6:15 PM Refuelled the car at a Reliance Petrol Station

10:00 PM Arrived back at home in Noida.

Dussera 2020 Road Trip

After locked down in our homes for most part of 2020, we decided to make a contact free road trip from Bengaluru to Bhopal, Delhi and back during dussera vacations.

Since we had decided to make this trip contact less, the plan was to carry everything and not stop at any intermediate place. The two stops were at Bhopal and Noida where we have family.

17-October-2020

If you prefer to see the stuff in video, here is the video for the day's travel.

Since we were going to do a non-stop drive, we left pretty early. We were on the road by 3:30am.

08:40 am We continuously drove for almost 5 hours and stopped near Mahbubnagar at a truck stop and cooked breakfast for ourselves. The whole stop, cooking and eating lasted for around one hour that gave us ample time to rest and stretch our legs as well.

10:20 am We stopped at Bharati 97 Food N fuel for topping up the car and using the restrooms in the associated food court.

1:05 pm We crossed the outer ring road and stopped at Cafe Coffee Day for using their restrooms. We ordered hot coffee to make sure we are not taking advantage of their facilities without bringing some business for them.

6:40 pm We stopped at Borkhedi toll plaza to use their restrooms. Some of the toll plazas have comparatively clean and usable toilets while some are horribly maintained. This was one of the better ones.

2:20 am After this stop, we had a continuous drive till Bhopal and arrived at Bhopal at twenty past two AM.

Next couple of days were spent in Bhopal in taking care of some things.

20-October-2020

06:06 am We left for Noida. We planned on going from Guna highway. There are multiple paths to reach Guna highway and I seem to always get confused about them. We decided to following what google maps told us and this was even though the good route, it was not the best. The best route was via biora which we used while returning.

09:38 am Just after Guna we found this clean and hygenic resort called K-Square highway treat on the highway and we stopped for tea. We carried our own flasks and ask them to fill hot tea in those flasks.

2:04 pm We stopped just after Morena on the road to have our lunch which we had packed and carried from home.

04:10 pm We entered Yamuna expressway. Just stopped to use toilet at the rest area.

7:00 pm We arrived in Noida at our home.

Next couple of days were spent in resting and taking care of some things locally.

23-October-2020

09:40 am We left our home in Noida and straight away we were on Yamuna Expressway.

11:20 am While coming to Noida, we had not refueled our car so we stopped on YEW and refueled our car in one of the rest areas.

2:35 PM Stopped at Subhim Highway Treat just after Morena for toilet break.

3:35 pm Stopped at road side to have our lunch which we had packed from home and were carrying it with ourselves.

6:20 pm Stopped at the same K-Square highway treat for tea break and toilet break.

10:30 pm We arrived back in our home in Bhopal.

25-October-2020

4:35 am We left from our home in Bhopal to our home in Bengaluru. The plan was to again drive non-stop till Bengaluru.

7:30 am Refiled the car at Reliance petrol station near Hoshangabad. Toilets are bad and dirty.

11:30 am Crossed Nagpur and refilled at Reliance petrol station. We did not need to refill but needed a bio break.

2:40 pm Stopped at roadside to have our lunch which we had carried with us. Make a tea on roadside and continued on.

5:45 pm Entered Hyderabad ORR and exited at 6:30 pm

7:05 pm Stopped at Hill Park food court at Mahbubnagar but found completely useless. Most restaurants have closed down. Just used the toilets and left the place.

7:30 pm Refilled the car.

7:45 pm Stopped at the roadside and had our dinner which we had carried with ourselves.

2:30 am Arrive at our home in Bengaluru.

Total toll paid on this trip was ₹ 4795. Total fuel consumed was around 475 litres. The prices varied from low eighties to high eighties per litre. So assuming an average of ₹ 85 per litre. It would be around ₹ 40000.

Please follow me on my YouTube channel LiveDriveBimmers. 

Summer 2019

It is the month of April again and summer vacations have started. Along with the whole nation is about to undergo general elections.  Being on the road during elections is a difficult proposition in India. There is additional checking and you have to be prepared to be stopped and the whole vehicle checked at any point on the road. In order to minimize the inconvenience to ourselves, we decided to restrict our travel plans to areas which have already undergone voting or areas where voting was scheduled much later. We could not completely accomplish this, but we gave it a try.

The primary tourist places to be covered were Panna, Chitrakoot, and Khajuraho. As a bonus, I also visited the National Museum in Delhi which was a delight. Here is the itinerary that I followed.

1. Bengaluru to Hyderabad (18-April)
2. Hyderabad to Bhopal (19-April)
3. Bhopal (20-April)
4. Bhopal (21-April)
5. Bhopal to Panna (22-April)
6. Panna National Park (23-April)
7. Panna to Khajuraho via Chitrakoot (24-April)
8. Khajuraho (25-April)
9. Khajuraho to Noida (26-April)
10. Noida (27-April)
11. The National Museum (28-April)
12. Noida (29-April)
13. Noida to Bhopal (30-April)
14. Bhopal (01-May)
15. Bhopal (02-May)
16. Crescent Water Park (03-May)
17. Bhopal to Hyderabad (04-May)
18. Hyderabad to Bengaluru (05-May)

The trip was total of 5321 kilometers, consumed more than 500 liters of diesel. The total toll paid through FasTag was Rs. 3290. There were few instances of toll payment through cash since the machine was not working. We can assume that the total toll payment was closer to Rs. 4000/-.

Noida to Bhopal

30-April-2019
It was the day to start unwinding the journey. The first stop while travelling back was Bhopal.
7:30 AM Started from Noida.
9:00 AM Stopped at Costa Coffee in the rest area on YEW.

1:00 PM Stopped at Barista Gwalior for lunch.
Normally I travel through Dabra, Datia, Jhansi, Malthone, Bina. Google suggested to go via Guna Shivpuri. So we decided to take that route.
5:00 PM Stopped at Shanti Dhaba & Restaurant on NH-46. The place was alright but the toilets etc were not kept clean.
8:40 PM Reached home in Bhopal.

Khajuraho to Noida

26-April-2019
8:35 AM We left Khajuraho and decided to take route via Lucknow Agra expressway. We were not sure about the quality of roads.

The roads were bad to average till the time you join Lucknow Agra expressway. We reached expressway around 3:45 PM. Till that time it was very slow progress. If one is driving on this route, it is better to wait until you hit the highway to look for any food places. Dhabas on the way are really bad.

There are some sectors where the road is really bad.
4:30 PM We got on to Yamuna Expressway.
7:15 PM We reached Noida.

Summer 2018

It's summer vacation time again and time for another road trip. This year the plan was to visit Amritsar, Dalhousie, Dharamshala, and Shimla.

Following was the itinerary that was decided for this trip.

1. 07-April-2018 Day 1 -- Bengaluru to Nagpur
2. 08-April-2018 Day 2 -- Nagpur to Noida
3. 09-April-2018 Day 3 -- Break in Noida, mostly rest day
4. 10-April-2018 Day 4 -- Noida to Amritsar and Amritsar Local sightseeing
5. 11-April-2018 Day 5 -- Amritsar Local and Wagah Border
6. 12-April-2018 Day 6 -- Amritsar to Dalhousie
7. 13-April-2018 Day 7 -- Dalhousie Local
8. 14-April-2018 Day 8 -- Dalhousie Local and Khajjiar
9. 15-April-2018 Day 9 -- Dalhousie to Mcleod Ganj
10. 16-April-2018 Day 10 -- Mcleod Ganj and Dharamshala Local
11. 17-April-2018 Day 11 -- Mcleod Ganj to Shimla and The Mall
12. 18-April-2018 Day 12 -- Shimla Local
13. 19-April-2018 Day 13 -- Shimla to Noida
14. 20-April-2018 Day 14 -- Noida to Mitaoli, Padavali, Bateswar and Gwalior
15. 21-April-2018 Day 15 -- Gwalior to Bhopal
16. 22-April-2018 to 27-April-2018 due to some personal work to be taken care off, the drive was suspended in Bhopal for a week.
17. 28-April-2018 Day 22 -- Bhopal to Nagpur
18. 29-April-2018 Day 23 -- Nagpur to Bengaluru

The was a trip that I enjoyed a lot. We saw places that were very different than each other and offered something interesting to view.

During the trip, we drove a distance of 6065 kilometers in approximately 107 hours. Approximately 610 liters of diesel was used up. Approximate toll amounts were more than Rs. 4000/-. 

Summer 2018 -- Day 14

20-April-2018
10:45 AM We started from Noida, quickly got on to Yamuna Expressway. We had planned on leaving earlier but we got delayed and we ran the risk of sun-set before we could reach today's destination.
11:45 AM Stopped at the rest area on YEW for a break and coffee.
Since we were running late, we decided to skip Lunch and have a driving lunch in the car itself so that we can give us enough time to see all the place that we had planned on seeing.
4:20 PM We reached Mitaoli or Mitavali. This is where one sees a circular temple.

The temple at Mitaoli located on an isolated hillock is known as Ekottarso Mahadeva Temple among the local inhabitants. The place of this temple is rather peculiar and is very much similar to the layout plan of Chausath Yogini temples which contain cells in a circle around the main temple similar to the one located at Bheraghat near Jabalpur.
The temple has an entrance from the east and contains small cells against a pillared verandah. Some of these cells contain sivalingas. The main shrine in the center is placed on a raised circular plinth and has a Siva Linga. On the basis of the inscription, this temple was constructed in 1323 AD by Maharaja Devapala. At the foothill of the temple, some life-sized stone sculptures of Kushana period, adorned with heavy ornaments have been recovered which are now displayed in the archaeological museum, Gwalior Fort, Gwalior.
We left Mitaoli temple at 4:56 PM  for Padhavali temple which is a 6-minute drive away.
5:02 PM We arrived in Padhavali temple.

The temple of Garhi Padhavali originally consisted of Sanctum Sanctorum and Mandapa, which is mostly obliterated except ornately designed Mukhamandapa, standard on the entrance of the temple.  Built over a considerable raised Adhisthana, it might be dedicated to Siva, as evident from the huge Nandi found from the temple ruins. The interior of the structure is richly carved with designed, friezes of sculptures of various divinities of Brahmanical pantheon -- Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshwar, Surya, Ganesha, Chandi, and incarnations of Vishnu. The reliefs also narrate the mythological story from the epics and Puranas. The carvings reflect the art and culture of the period.
The study of the original feature of the temple shows, it was built during 10th century AD. Later on, the temple was fortified by the rulers of Jat Ranas of Gohad during 19th century AD.
We left Padavali at 5:23 PM towards Bateswar temples which is a 5-minute drive from padavali.
5:33 PM We arrived in Bateswar group of temples.

A group of ruined temples spread over the western slope of an isolated hill is located south-west of Padavali village in Morena district of Madhya Pradesh. Made of stone masonry, the ruins comprised of the temple remains, gateways, stepped tanks, architectural members, Amalakas, Brahmanical icons etc. This group of temples can be stylistically ascribed to post-Gupta to early Pratihara period ranging from 6th to 9th century AD. It shows the early stages of development of temple art. The earliest group of temples are having sanctum proper with flat roof while the temples of later phases are possessed with curvilinear shikhara over the sanctums. One of the surviving temples, dedicated to Lord Siva known as Bhuteswara temple, shows all the features of Pratihara art.
Some of the temples are reconstructed by the archaeological survey of India recently in its original form and renovated most of the structures.
This site has hundreds of temples and their remains. We spent almost an hour here. By this time sun had almost set and we left the place of the hotel in Gwalior.
We had booked ourselves on Hotel Deo Bagh. Here is our review of the place.

Summer 2018 -- Day 4

10-April-2018

With one day's rest, we were charged up to continue our journey.
06:20 AM We started from Noida,
07:10 AM We were on the other end of Delhi.
As we reached Murthal, we were looking for Amrik's Dhaba but the new toll is so close to the dhaba, by the time we realized we had reached Amrik's Dhaba, we were in the toll lane.

07:54 AM We finally stopped at 70 Mile Stone Dhaba and Restaurant. The place is decent, food is good. Here is my review of the place.
10:51 AM Stopped at Midway Dhaba for another break. This is just an average place. I would suggest to avoid it.
At this time we discovered that one of the tires in the vehicle had an irreparable puncture. We tried to repair it few times but it wouldn't just hold. So we decided to look for options to repair it. Since we were about an hour away from Ludhiana, we called BMW service center in Ludhiana. They had just one tire. We decided to get it repaired there before continuing on the journey.
12:20 PM We reached Krishna Automobiles in Ludhiana. BMW dealers offer very good service, there is only one problem with them, they have no respect for people's time. Even though we told them that we are on a long trip, they took six hours to replace one tire. Anyway, we left the place at 6:28 PM.
8:46 PM We reached Amritsar and arrived at our hotel. We were staying at Hotel Sawera Grand. Here is our review of the place.

On arriving, we decided to have our dinner at Brother's Dhaba which is located just opposite to the Town Hall and Partition Museum. We walked up to the place. The food was good. Here is our review of the restaurant.

After dinner, we straight away decided to visit the Golden Temple. In night time it is a sight to see.

Partition Museum