Mumbai - Hisar - Patiala in my Swift Dzire Here is a running travelogue of my Diwali trip from Mumbai to Punjab. This is my second longest road trip as I have done a Mumbai - Chandigarh two years ago when I bought my swift dzire. I am in Ahemadabad as I write this. Here is a brief summary of the drive so far....
The plan was initially to leave on Monday early morning, however, husband and I decided since this time we have a 2 months old baby with us, we will leave in the afternoon on Sunday and halt at Ahemadabad on day 1. So we woke up at about 9 in the morning and started packing. With a baby, you pretty much need to carry the entire house with you in the car. So we finished packing at about 11.00, loaded the stuff in 30 minutes or so and left from our Mira Road house and 11.45. Went to Mandir to get the baby blessed and hit the road by 12.30 as the notorious Kashimira junction took some time to clear off. Here are the details.
Start Odo reading 31854
first toll at 31891 - 51
second toll at 31941 - 47
Reached vapi at 2.40 and took half an hour break at Mcdonalds. The journey was pleasant so far with minimal traffic.
third toll at 32006 - 51
fourth toll at 32120 - 55
Took a tea break at 7.00 between Surat and Ahmedabad for about 15-20 minutes. The baby was happy also to get some fresh air and carrying around in the lap. started again
fifth toll at 32208 - 70
sixth toll 32265 - 88
I had read a lot of advice on team bhp to go into Bharuch town to avoid the truck traffic on a certain bridge, however, since from Mumbai till now I had driven pretty much on a nearly empty road and I kept going straight hoping we will reach Ahmedabad by 7 or so. But my joy was short lived. Somewhere near Bharuch, I saw the biggest jam of my life. I could see cars and trucks as far as my eyes could see and it looked like it wont clear before next morning. Just when I was about to come to a stop, a courageous Maruti 800 driver took the divider and started driving on to the other lane which was absolutely empty. Although I am dead against violating traffic rules to save time, I was worried that we were running out of milk and water supply for the baby and it will be nightmare to get stranded in the middle of thousand of cars and trucks. I put the hazard light on and followed the maruti. another driver soon followed my car and we made a lane for ourselves at the extreme right had side of the oncoming traffic. I think this was one of the best decisions i ever made because the jam was so long that it would have taken us at least 5 to 6 hours to come out of it.
I tried filling diesel from the reliance plaza in the first half of the drive as it is recommended by many fellow BHPians however, the guys said that they have stopped dispensing diesel due to the fact that it is quite expensive compared to other fuel pumps and customers have stopped coming. I asked him whether this is the case with all the reliance pumps and he said yes. However, just before exiting the Vadodara Ahemadabad highway, I was able to refuel the car. It is indeed expensive as they charge 53.87 per litre. I pay 46 per litre at Indian oil in Mira road.
Till now the journey has been pleasant and I managed to reach Ahmedabad by 9.30 and we managed to get a very good place to stay with excellent service... Plan is to get some sleep and leave as soon as we get up in the morning. A friend has recommended that we dont go to Gurgaon and from Jaipur take the road to seekar, fategarh rajkot and then leading to Hisar. I am not sure of this route and If I reach Jaipur in late evening, I may take another night halt than venturing out on the unknown route. Any thoughts/suggestions on this would be appreciated.
Will update the log as soon as I take another long break tomorrow... |