Tag Archives: Drive To London

Road to London # 10 – Setting New Records Adds Thrill

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In continuation of earlier blog RTL # 9 – My Brave Bachchus

Once I decided to go for this journey, I was reading through the experiences of people who had been through similar journeys, in the past.

There are a few who have driven from London to Delhi.  There is also the story of three friends who started from London and got stuck in Afghanistan – they were sent back after a week’s experience in an Afghan prison. There are some who had to return halfway due to health or political problems.

Tushar Agarwal has a series of Guinness and Limca records for his driving achievements.  Amongst several others, he drove from London to Delhi with his wife.  He and his friend Sanjay Madan also have to their credit,  a 70,000 kms self-driving trip through 51 countries in 6 continents!  Whoa!

I wanted to make a record too!  But it is absolutely difficult to beat their records.  But I am heads up on one factor.  Being senior in age has its advantages.  I beat them hollow in age. While interacting with Tushar, he realised and hinted that I would be the senior most person to take up such a long self-driving trip.  That aside, Pushpa and I could be the senior most couple to achieve this.  That we could attempt to establish these new records added to our excitement.  Yes, if I am fit and confident enough to do it and face the problem in the process of achieving it!

That would be another record for us!

When Nishi agreed to join the expedition, I realised that it would be an another record.  She would be the youngest to take such a journey. We should be celebrating her 10th birthday on the way, if all goes well, in China.

Possibilities of setting these three new records – (a) senior-most individual  (b) senior-most couple and (c) youngest individual boosted our spirits even further.

Written : Badri Baldawa

Edited : Meeta Kabra

To be continued…………………..

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Road To London # 9 – My Brave Bachchus

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In continuation of earlier blog RTL # 8 – The Influential Hidden Character

The route I planned for my route within India, from Mumbai to Imphal would pass through places of historical and religious importance, national parks and sanctuaries, entertainment centers and caves, toy trains and ropeways etc.  These are the places which would be of special interest to children.  We would also be embracing through some of the most beautiful places in the world.  Any one passing through these would develop a special relation with nature.

Generally the inbuilt dangers of adventure travel are hyped.  They are projected as much more dangerous than they actually are.  This discourages youngsters to take such trips.

One of my grandchildren Nishi was with us in the 9-day Iceland driving trip.  Inspite of

all the known fears, Nishi joined us for Iceland.  During problematic situations there, Nishi proved to be the calmest and bravest amongst the three of us.  Any problem we had, whether it was on top of a lava or an ice mountain, mobiling on glacier, running around huge waterfalls, she smilingly enjoyed facing them, as if she was playing a new game. I realised during that trip that kids are in fact, more mature in handling problems!  I was wondering if I could create some interest in such travels in the youngsters of our family.

I have four grandchildren.  One is just 3 years old and the other three are in the 9-14 age range.   I thought it would be great if the children joined the journey.  It would be a life-time experience for them at such a young age.

I sent a message to my children, inviting any one grandchild to join us.

Yes, “any one” was for a good reason. The travel is scheduled at exam season. Naturally they hesitated.  We got “no” as an answer from all of them. Never mind!

After a week or so, Nishi and her parents, Nilesh and Seema, probably re-thought about the opportunity. They asked if it was too late to for Nishi to join us, subject to her permissions from her school.

Nishi lives in Chelmsford, Essex, UK.   Her school authorities were extremely excited about the experience she would get in this trip!  They were thrilled in an instant and granted her special permission. The Head of Academics wrote, “What a fantastic experience (it would be)! Nishi’s teachers are aware that she will be absent and nearer the time I will liaise with them in order to ensure work is provided for Nishi whilst she is away…..We very much look forward to hearing all about Nishi’s travels when she returns!”.  Fantastic!  What a positive approach and support from the school! Nishi confirmed to take the journey with us.

Once I had the confirmation from Nishi, I added a few places en-route which would be of special interest to her.  But I did not extend beyond 21 days. I deleted some of the places of lesser importance.  I revised my itinerary.  Probably, by now it has had 10+ revisions.  I back-calculated and provisionally fixed 26th March 2017 as the day for departure from Mumbai.

Thereafter my other grand daughter Ruhi, settled in Pune, also expressed her interest to

join us.  We reconsidered, if we could accommodate her too.  But, then we had to be practical.  It was a long journey.  We weren’t comfortable with the idea of more than three persons + luggage to survive for that duration, in one car!  Pushpa and I are in our 60s and 70s.  Managing ourselves and our health itself is a good enough challenge!  We could manage one child.  Managing two children and their health could potentially become difficult on a long journey. Against our own wishes, we had to restrict to one child only.

A week after, I sought the blessings of our Guruji, Jagathguru Sri Sridharacharyaji of Ayodhya.  I explained our plans.  He called back to say that I should change the date of departure.    I could not have shortened the number of days as it was already hectic.  Nor did I want to miss any of the selected places.  Undoubtedly, leaving a day or two earlier would provide a slight relief to the itinerary.  Guruji therefore, fixed the flag off time as 10 am on Friday, 24th March 2017 as auspicious!

So it is now 23 days of travel from West to East of India, before we cross Indian borders.

That is not all,,,,,, abhi picture baaki hai!

Written : Badri Baldawa

Edited  : Meeta Kabra

  To be continued …………………

Road to London # 13 – The Route

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                            Continued from Road to London # 12 – “Soham”, the Companion….

Right from the beginning, we knew that driving to London through the Western borders would mean going through Pakistan and Afghanistan, which might not be the safest route. The Himalayan mountain range on the North and oceans on the South rule out those routes. That left only the Eastern route through China.  There are roads linking from Nepal and North-Eastern parts of the Indian border, but entry is restricted only for the Kailash-Mansarovar pilgrimage.   Thus we had to cross China, some parts of the old USSR, now countries like Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, certain European countries before we reach United Kingdom. This is a drive of about 45 days from the time we cross the Indian border.  This itinerary was considered as almost final for the tour.

Pushpa & Badri Baldawa with Soham

Pushpa & Badri Baldawa with Soham

Myanmar is a country I have been wanting to visit for long.  I heard of it as Burmah where Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose founded the Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army) to fight for independence. The ruling military junta changed its name from Burma to Myanmar in 1989.

However there was an update that though the entry point in Myanmar is safe, the exit point, Muse was not very peaceful.  Therefore the route to China had to be changed.  The best practical alternative was to drive to Thailand, cut across Laos and then enter China. This added two countries to the itinerary and increased the overseas travel from 45 to 47 days and the number of countries from 14 to 16.

We need to drive for a fortnight to cross the Chinese territory and reach Kyrgyzstan.  I was very happy when I realised our next destination country was Uzbekistan. It would give us an opportunity to visit Tashkent where our former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri breathed his last. From there on to Kazhakstan before we touch the border of Russia.

As per the original plans we planned to enter Belarus through the Kurgan border from Moscow. It

From Mumbai - Road to London

From Mumbai – Road to London

was not possible to get vehicle permits for Belarus from Russia.  In October 2016, the Belarus–Russia border was closed to foreigners.  Therefore, the itinerary had to be re-routed again.   Instead of entering through Belarus, we would now drive further north and enter European Union through Latvia and Lithuania.  The onward drive thereafter is easy through Czechoslovakia, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France and finally to The United Kingdom.  Once we enter UK at its South East, we would drive to London.  This revision added two more days to the itinerary.

However this created another technical problem.  If we left the Indian border as per original schedule on 16 April 2017, we reach the China border on a Sunday.  The border is closed on Sundays. Hence the departure from India was postponed to 17 April 2017.

All these changes made the total countries visited from the original 15 to 18 (excluding Bhutan).   The total number of overseas driving days increased from 45 to 49.   Add to that the 23 days drive to reach the Indian border. The total duration of the tour now is at a total of 72 days!

The action begins in less than 10 days on 24th March 2017. We would love to see you all cheer us when we leave at a small flag-off event. Please do come!

Written : Badri Baldawa

Edited  : Meeta Kabra

To Be Continued ………….