re: Planning to drive from Mumbai to Shillong Hello,
I'll suggest you read this travelogue by BHPian RedTerrano (To escape in-laws, I became an outlaw and fled to the waiting arms of the 7 sisters…and their cousin).
His trip starts from Pune and covers Northeast, and I believe you will find very useful information for your journey as this TL details it out till Shillong (and beyond). While the journey & travelogue itself is old (3 years back I believe), the TL itself is epic & worth a read
Also, to the best of my knowledge, the route chosen is quite good and I would prefer it over the route that takes you via North/Central India via MP/UP/Bihar. Furthermore, you can always look for specific sections of this route in the forum. For example, the Kolkata-Siliguri section has latest info available here (Kolkata - Siliguri route via Dumka, Bhagalpur or NH-12 (old NH-34)))
From my own experience, you can easily do Mumbai-Hyderabad (700 kms) in one day given some great roads between Mumbai-Pune then Pune-Hyd & an early start to avoid Pune city traffic. Especially as its your first day of the long trip. Happy to share tips with you in the attached PDF that I had prepared for a friend, and are based on my own experiences.
Thereafter, I agree with Sushil that its best you do 400 kms per day at max; if you aren't well versed with that area or new to long-distance drives. Also, why go through the hassle if you can enjoy yourself on this one-of-a-kind experience. I would definitely make a stop-go trip out of it (time permitting). I have driven a bit on WB NH in 2019 Dec, and I think this route should work out well.
Do go through the checks on the car as Sushil has mentioned, and also read up on the various good threads on long-distance/night/highway driving in the "Road Safety" forum and how to prepare for it.
I just wrapped up a 7000 kms road trip over 50 days (not all days were travelling!) with staycation mixed in, and my MS Baleno CVT was a charm. If your car service is due anyways, then get it done atleast 1 week before the trip and drive 15-20 kms to make sure all is well. I can go on with various tips, but one that I highly recommend is "prepare yourself & your family mentally" for the 3000 kms drive. That really helps (I had to work on it myself, as well as for my wife.... in the end, it was brilliant!)
Enjoy and have fun! Let me know if you have any Qs
Cheers!
Last edited by VT-RNS : 16th March 2022 at 20:12.
Reason: typos & new info
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