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To give an overview, I have been traveling to different parts of India, but I haven't recorded anything as such. Those are mostly images for my personal use. I am trying to give back to the travel community with this blog.
Someone who is planning for a long trip with a route of more than 1000+ km may get some help with this write-up.
So, to give a background, I am Mithlesh, working as a consultant with one of the Big 4 in the Data Analytics field. I do dashboard development and have also worked on several projects for automating day-to-day tasks.
I have also developed several AI models and Gen-AI applications in the past, which were designed to help students ask questions and get answers before Google launched their AI assistant.
These days, I am settled in Hyderabad, but not many know that I hail from the Jammu and Kashmir parts of India. My Hometown is in Safakadal, and my family lives in Jammu these days.
In Hyderabad, we have a small family of three (my wife & daughter), who accompany me wherever I go for travel.
I used to drive UM Renegade 300 and have done more than 1000 km on a motorcycle.
My schooling was in Kendriya Vidyalaya Bantalab, Jammu, and then I moved to Chandigarh for my graduation, which happened at Dr. Ambedkar Institute for Hospitality and Catering Technology.
After my graduation, I got an Executive Trainee offer with Aamby Valley City, Lonavala, where I was promoted to Management Trainee after a short time, and I completed the 2 years of training.
After completion of my training, I went for post-graduation with the Pune Institute for Business Management, based out in Pune.
As I already told you, I work as a consultant with one of the Big 4s, but I joined Karvy after my post-graduation. Karvy got closed because of some issues, so I had to leave the organization (I still haven't received the full and final amount).
Then, I worked as an HR Consultant for several organizations and also worked as a Guest Lecturer with ISTD (Indian Society for Training & Development), delivering lectures for HR Analytics for Doctorate courses.
My plan for a road trip from Hyderabad to Jammu and Kashmir has been pending for a long time now. So, I am determined to complete that trip by the end of this year. I have been working hard to get settled. I used to see my friends going on Ladakh Trips, enjoying their days, but I had to grind for a few years to get what I have today. Not much, but as I have a family, I always wanted a home, which we were able to buy a few years back.
Although I am from Jammu and Kashmir, after completion of my 12th, I went to other states, so I never actually got time to explore my state.
All those years, when I could have explored Jammu and Kashmir, I had to grind for several hours working hard (literally hard), as I was in Banquets working as a Tandoor Chef in Aamby Valley City, Lonavala. I had even completed 17 to 36-hour shifts for major events like the Enchanted Valley Carnival & BMW Drag Race, which used to happen at Aamby Valley City's Airport.
We had always planned to do a road trip together as a family to Jammu and Kashmir, covering some of the beautiful places where we have lived, like Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur, etc.
It's not that we will be covering Ladakh this time because we are planning to do that sometime later once we have completed our Hyderabad to J&K road trip.
The total distance from Hyderabad to Kashmir is around 2300 km, which might have some stops in between, like Nagpur, Indore, Delhi, Chandigarh, and Jammu. There are two options. The first one is to complete 1000 km in one day or to complete 500 km per day to reach Jammu and Kashmir. While we were traveling from Hyderabad to Nagpur one day, we met a YouTuber who was trying to go from Bangalore to Ladakh via Manali on his bike, and he was traveling at least 700 km every day.
He was trying 1000 km every day but was limited to 700 because traveling at night is not that easy.
I am planning to take the Bolero B6, which is an SUV with good ground clearance as well. I could have taken Kiger as well, which is a crossover and has good ground clearance and is even automatic, but I am thinking of something that will give me better visibility across all directions, and I don't expect roads to be as smooth as they are in Telangana State. So, I am thinking of taking Bolero this time.
I have done long travel in Kiger as well, and as it is a petrol engine, it is smooth and reliable, but as I am planning to visit Kashmir, and that too in winter, so having Bolero makes more sense. Although beautiful, Kashmir has several areas that are not well connected via good roads, and there are a lot of mountain ranges that I plan to cover.
Also, Bolero is an SUV with minimal electronics, making it easier for me to focus on driving. There is one more reason why I am taking Bolero, and that is its popularity and commonality, because of which its parts and mechanics are available in all the places around India. There is one or other Bolero being driven on roads, may it be in the form of a truck or camper van, so getting it repaired if something breaks down might be easier.
I have also ordered a simple mobile stand for the Bolero, as I don't like any trapping types of phone stands in the car. So that cell phone stand is a simple flat surface with some indentations to place the phone and can rotate on its axis, which will make it easier for me to navigate as Bolero doesn't come with any Android Auto or Apple Car Play. This will help me focus on the road, and I will not have to look anywhere else to check my direction, etc. Plus, I am also thinking of using my old phone as a dashcam or a recorder to record trips on the go, which will help capture the journey.
I could have bought a new dashcam, but I wanted to utilize my old Android phone, and having a backup phone is always good because most of the time, the primary phone should be used for important stuff like calling; hence battery management is also important.
Talking about phones and gadgets, I am also planning to download songs on a USB, as Bolero comes with a USB slot for playing music, which is great because I won't have to worry about connecting to YouTube or Spotify if there is a bad network to enjoy music.
[Update 7th Jan 2025]: I have already taken a Spotify Premium Membership, so I should not have any issues listening to the songs on the go. This will also keep USB ports open for charging mobile phones when required. Although Bolero B6 has a 12-volt socket that I am already using to charge my phones and other devices. I am now planning to buy rubber wheel chocks and snow chains as we might get snow while traveling to Kashmir, and most of the cars require Snow Chains to easily travel to snow areas because of the black ice that accumulates on the road.
A dashcam is something that I am still thinking about, but I am limited by my Budget.
One of the important things to consider is what we are going to take with us. Other than clothes, we will be having some gadgets and safety equipment as well because our distance is huge, and I don't want to be stuck anywhere in between. So, some of the things that I am thinking to include are as follows;
As we are traveling from Hyderabad, our travel itinerary might look something like the below;
This trip could be made a bit shorter if we went directly from Hyderabad to Bhopal, which might take around 17 to 18 hours, but on the first day, we can stretch that much. It depends on what works best in the situation. If we skip Chandigarh, then again, it will be a shorter trip. Sharing one more alternative that will reduce our exploring time in other cities;
This seems a more viable option as we will reduce some time and can enjoy our trip, but we won't get much time to go out shopping in Delhi or spend some time in Chandigarh. Which is fine because we are thinking of spending some time in Kashmir. There is one more alternative: During COVID-19, Vrinda traveled from Nagpur to Delhi nonstop, which is around 1000 km and seems doable, but in both cases, we will have to stop at Nagpur or Bhopal.
Also, while traveling, we don't know and might end up spending more time at some of the destinations. It depends on what we enjoy and where we might want to stay for the night. It seems the trip will be around 15 to 25 days maximum. I have seen people do trips like these in shorter durations, which is also good, but I want to take a good rest in between, so it seems we might end up taking the first route at the end.
Let's see what will be practical, and everything will mostly turn out when we start our journey. What are your thoughts? What should be the itinerary that we should take? Do you have a better itinerary as well? You can log in and comment the same below, as it will help me plan if there is a better route to take. I am also going to update this blog daily to keep you guys updated about what is happening and how things are turning out about the overall travel.
[Update 7th Jan 2025]: Well, we have finalized our route, and it will be Alternative 3. We have tried to make it as detailed as possible with distances and hours in between. This is because we want to ensure that we have some days for rest as well, and we also wanted to segregate every day as per actual dates.
Now, if I can leave home by 14th Feb 2025 (Fri) for Nagpur, then I will get a day in advance, which will help me in taking more rest in Delhi as I will also have to juggle some work with driving.
There seem to be some changes in our trip, and now we are going via Jaipur as I need to attend my Uncle's housewarming on 15th Feb. So now we are adding our finalized Alternative 4.
This is probably the most viable route for this time, and we might adjust the Kashmir trip in the Jammu days itself. I will keep you updated about the same.
I believe the overall cost of travel should be anywhere between 60000 INR to 90000 INR. Below is the cost-wise distribution, which is the approximate value, and I will provide actuals after the trip.
Total: INR 85000
This seems to be justified as I am traveling with my family. If I had gone via airplane, then it would have been 60000 to 80000 INR, approximately, for 3 people traveling on a round trip. Without a car, I would have to take cabs and taxis, which is another expense in Kashmir, as Union Cabs might charge anywhere from 3000 to 5000 INR, which is a separate cost as our private taxis are not allowed after certain parts in Gulmarg which we would have already paid 15 to 20 k.
So, taking our vehicle makes more sense. This would also enable us to reach places where cabs might not take us, and we would be more flexible in stopping or changing our plans in between, which usually happens when we have a child with us.
We took Alternative 4 for going to Jammu and Kashmir. The trip was good. Hyderabad to Nagpur is comfortable. Started early in the morning and reached there by 3 PM. Then, we took rest and next morning headed for Bhopal. Nagpur to Bhopal is just amazing. Although when we enter MP, the roads start getting rough, the views like the Ghat area, etc, are just amazing. Also, the overall distance is within 300 km, so the trip gives us enough time for us to relax afterward.
We had booked Radisson Bhopal as that seemed the best option as we have year old daughter with us for which we also had to get meals prepared for the next day, and hygiene is something that was on priority.
The next day, we left around 8 AM after having breakfast and also packed meals for our baby. Then we went to Jaipur. Now, Bhopal to Jaipur is a straight road, and sometimes, it also takes us from internal state highways, which makes the trip a bit tiring. We tried covering the distance as soon as possible, but 11 hours is how long it took us as we had to take some rest in between as our baby was also with us. Having said that, Jaipur otherwise is amazing. There are plain roads with agricultural lands around, and the road is also acceptable, but it's just that because we are using a lot of internal roads, we are not able to go beyond 60 kmph on this route for several kilometers.
Then spend some time in Jaipur and also attend the housewarming function of Uncle. Then we left towards Chandigarh, which is again great, and we witnessed many expressways. Having said that, we need to ensure that we have a good amount of petrol because the Peripheral Western Expressway that bypasses Delhi has very few petrol pumps.
Then Chandigarh to Jammu and Kashmir is easy as I have done it several times and have good idea about the same.
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