5997 km Epic Road Trip in Kia Carens with kids: Manipal to Noida & back

Now that I had a 7-seater car, we planned to take them along on this trip. It would be my wife, mother-in-law, three boys aged 9, 11, 13, one baby girl aged 2.5 years and the driver, me.

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This was my best summer vacation so far. Why? Because I drove 5997.40 kilometers. 

Places visited: Kolhapur, Wagachiwadi, Vashi, Surat, Udaipur, Jaipur, Noida, Delhi, Gurugram, Agra, Jim Corbett, Guna, Dhule, Shirdi

The car: Kia Carens Prestige Plus Diesel Manual, March 2023 model

With a sense of adventure, we set off on this month-long journey that took us through vibrant cities, historical landmarks, barren landscapes and breathtaking natural beauty. None of these were off the beaten track – you might not even see anything special about any of these places, but they were new to us and the kids. We now have memories and experiences that will last a lifetime. The time spent travelling together is something that we will cherish forever.

This travelogue captures the essence of our 5997 km journey in our trusty Kia Carens. I’m not a creative writer so do not expect a magic weave of words that will keep you enthralled. In fact, I’m the opposite of that – my work requires me to be clear with my words, formatting and layout, so that the message is communicated clearly. We did not click pictures at a lot of places, as I had no plans of writing this travelogue before starting the journey. Need to do that next time; especially of the food and the landscape.

It’s the keeda that counts!

Don’t remember when this keeda germinated, but my wife’s sister had recently moved from Bombay to Noida, and since my wife and kids always spent a part of the summer with her mom and sister, going to Noida this year was a given. We had 3 options – train, flight or by road. Last year, I had taken my car to bring them back from Bombay at the end of summer. That was a fun and comfortable solo drive, and I knew the car and I could handle longer journeys. So, I suggested to my wife the idea of driving up to Noida and she was game.

Summer is also when my sister’s kids come over from Bangalore to Manipal for the holidays. Now that I had a 7-seater car, we planned to take them along on this trip. It would be my wife, mother-in-law, three boys aged 9, 11, 13, one baby girl aged 2.5 years and the driver, me.

Another big reason to take the kids on a road trip was to get them off the screens – everyone’s screen time has increased after Covid and its very difficult to get them into other activities.

These are the boys during the Covid Summer of 2020. Then started the online classes, and they are addicted now.

The Drive Plan

The plan was to limit the drives to around 400 km per day, since the kids would not enjoy the trip otherwise. Google Maps was my go-to app for all the route and time planning.

• Day 1 – Manipal to Kolhapur since we wanted to visit Sri Mahalaxmi Mandir
• Day 2 – Kolhapur to Vasai (Sister-in-law’s house)
• Day 3 – Vasai to Surat (my cousin's house)
• Day 4 – Surat to undecided stop
• Day 5 – Undecided stop to undecided stop
• Day 6 – Undecided stop to Noida

I was unfamiliar with routes beyond Maharashtra, so I sought advice from our most-travelled bhpain Parag Sachania about a month earlier, regarding stops for Day 4 and Day 5.

Some of my questions to him included (don’t laugh):

• I have never done a multi-day long drive before this.
• Firstly, is it possible?
• What pains can I expect?
• What precautions do I need to take?
• Any exercises I need to start doing now?

He said he would plan the whole drive from Bombay to Noida along with a list of places of interest along the way. Then he reminded me of the main thing I had not considered. “You will have to also factor extra time spent due to election related checking all across the route in both directions at least till elections are over.” We would be travelling during peak election season cutting across multiple states. I had to add at least an hour to the daily drives - damn!

Parag’s suggestion was

• Surat – Ratlam: via Halol-Godhra-Dahod-Mumbai Delhi Expressway
• Ratlam to Kota (250 km): Via Delhi Mumbai Expressway
• Kota to Noida (465 km): Via Delhi Mumbai Expressway
• Other alternative is to do this via Ahmedabad Himmatnagar Udaipur route too.

The problem with the Kota route for us was that there were no rest-stops or restaurants. He suggested we pack and carry food for that leg. That would have been very difficult for the kids. And the kids wanted to see the desert and camels on the road because my sis-in-law had shared videos of camels taken during their drive to Noida earlier in the year. (Realised only later that the desert is nowhere on the way )

Since Parag had also said “Camels you will start spotting soon after crossing Himmatnagar”, we decided to take the Udaipur-Jaipur route. This way, we could also visit some famous tourist spots along the way.

The Final Plan – Leg 1 (April 17 – April 23)

• Day 1 – Manipal to Kolhapur
• Day 2 – Kolhapur to Vashi
• Day 3 – Vashi to Surat
• Day 4 – Surat to Udaipur
• Day 5 – Udaipur to Jaipur
• Day 6 – Jaipur to Noida

With the family in Noida, my plan was to fly back to Manipal 2 days later as I had to vote on the 26th and attend to office work. My sister, who would be with my mom while I was away, also had to go back to work in Bangalore, and to vote. I would then return to Noida after a week and spend some time there before starting the return leg after the 12th of May.

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