Road Trip To Rajasthan from Kerala


Thread Starter #16
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truecitylover thanks for your opinion ,have decided to go for 15' tyre as spare. also getting the first service done prior to journey.
jaydev welcome, the more the merrier[:D]
are after market alloys for vento available ? if so which make to buy ? or will steel rims for spare be enough.
 
Thread Starter #18
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not planning to get alloy from dealer. its daylight robbery by vw. i am thinking of alloys from outside. exchange by vw is again robbbery. i had enquired about changing my music system they offered me rs 3000/for the one in the car, while new unit would cost about rs 25000/.
 
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not planning to get alloy from dealer. its daylight robbery by vw. i am thinking of alloys from outside. exchange by vw is again robbbery. i had enquired about changing my music system they offered me rs 3000/for the one in the car, while new unit would cost about rs 25000/.
Thats a good option. But, why not get a suitable tire with "Rims" outside?
 
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called up dealer who has informd that the spare wheel pit in the boot won't accomodate a 15' tyre. the spare will lie loose in the boot. so option of changing the spare wheel to 15' seems out of question. i will have to check it out myself tomorrow.
 
Thread Starter #22
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vento steel rims not available at kannur. 15' alloys available but has 8 bolt holes. will have to go to calicut.
 
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Thread Starter #24
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hi pals no inputs.[sleep] my plan for the trip is as follows.
start from home on 22/12/11 at 6pm. dinner at mangalore nh17
reach ankola by 1am on 23/12 via nh 17 ( total of 349 kms ). enter nh67 reach hubli by 6am ( 143 kms )
hubli - mumbai 430 kms via nh4 .start at 8am after rest/ refreshing at hubli. if possible cross mumbai. stay at / beyond mumbai on 23/12.
start fom mumbai on 24/12 early morning reach udaipur late on 24/12.halt in udaipur. 25/12 udaipur sight seeing. 26/12 start for jodhpur in afternoon after completing rest of udaipur.
reach jodhpur 255kms in 6 hours- halt at jodhpur.
27/12 tour of jodhpur& stay.
28/12 start for jaisalmer by 6am. 269 kms reach by 2. stay at jaisalmer. sun set at sam.29/12 jaisalmer.
30/12 leave for jaipur early via bikaner. visit deshnok reach jaipur by evening.
1/1/12 to 2/2/12 will be spent according to the plans of friends there. plan to visit bharathpur, and agra and fathehpur sikri. return journey on 3rd.
i will have my wife and 9 year old son plus two of my pals.my daughter has opted out saying that she will get bored by the long time spent in the car doing nothing.
car serviced and ready. bought map my india gps lx 130 model.getting rest of things ready.
 
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Haha,so the day has came,now here are some of my questions and words of advise(maybe already given,but still repeating):-
Questions:-
1):How many of you people can drive quite safe and long?(I mean how many of you companions are expert?)
2):Make sure that you people can carry the full night drives.Maybe you can do,but are your pals comfortable with it?
3):Have you taken the details of roads,weather and hotels etc at the places you are planning to visit?
4):Have you taken a good CAMERA to make us feel ENVIOUS??[evil]

Words of advice:-
1):First of all,make sure that your car is in a perfect condition for long drives,please check the most forgotten liquid 'the coolant' levels before going long.
2):About food,be careful while eating outside.Eat light and nutritious only.In fact I'll advise you to take your first night food from home itself.My idea may sound weird but the reason is as follows:-
From the earlier days I joined my father in business after my intermediate I started doing long journeys for carrying out various works as ordered by papa.So everything was good at the starting every visit to Jaipur,Udaipu,Dehradun,Chandigarh etc etc meant a lot of outside food for me.Since I am a 'Shahi paneer' addict so it was my daily diet.Pizzas,burgers etc etc.Withing 15 days I started complaining of a continuous inflammation in stomach and when I consulted the doctor after 2 days of continuously facing the inflammation the doctor told me "The outside food,whatever it may be,even chapatis with 'Shahi Paneer' are not that hygeinic(Those people who say that 3 stars,5 stars etc give hygeinic food must learn from this,because I left nothing from Dhabas where food costed just 100 to Hyatt where dinner costed 900 per person)should be avoided at its most.
From that day itself I get my food packed from my home itself for one time and no such problems are faced by me now.
3):If your pals can drive then take care that during night drives,the guy on the front seat must be awaken with the driver and must know how to drive.
4):The weather here in north is very cold now a days,so take care,especially for your KID.
5):Near Agra you can find a lot of fog,so avoid night drives that time.
6):Take your warm clothes with you and take drinking water too with you.Why?In case you are trapped in a jam,then only your brought snacks and drinking water helps you.
7):Since I too make out the full night drives while going long,so it will be better that you people try to cover most of the ground between 9 pm to 7 am,in fact within these 10 hours you people can cover upto 800-900 kms if driven with a hard foot and visibility is okay.
Once I covered 590 kms in just 6 hours on a full night drive between 11 pm to 5 am.
8):While in Rajasthan,you people can spend good times while night drives,this is what I do.How?Simple,now a days the weather there is not that hot in day time,so simply carry out your sight seeing.while at night drive hard in the warmth of your car's heater and cover the distance.Reach your destination and sleep and then again repeat
the same cycle.

Many times I have made full night drives all alone in my car as well as with people where only I knew driving or others were not expert at it and I know what problems we face.After 10,however you are fresh,but your eyes will start revolting.after 12 you will feel tired and after 1,you will hate steering.So get your companions in a way that one drives for maximum 4-5 hours,this will help a lot.

Last but most important:-
All four of you adults must buckle up while driving,especially at night.Why?Because while the night drives your passengers at the rear seat must be sleeping.And everyone knows that speed is high in night drives,so in case due to any reason panic braking is done by the driver,then there are a lot of chances that the passengers at the rear get their heads banged at any metallic par of the car or get neck injuries.Your companions may feel it weird tieing seat belts at rear,but its safe for night drives.
Here is one such incident encountered by us:-
My cousin sister and her husband with his friend were coming from Chandigarh to Meerut and at about 1:30 in night due to some reason,the brother-in-law had to apply hard brakes to save some vehicle,since the sister was sleeping at the rear so she banged her head very hard on the front seat backs and get a neck injury.More than 20 months have passed,still they have to visit doctor due to injury..
So you got my point?

NOW BUCKLE UP AND GO ON....AWAITING PICS..
 
Thread Starter #26
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thanks vipul for your detailed suggestions.regarding camera i was looking for nikon3100, but its out of stock at present due to floods in thailand. so opted for canon 1100d. that too out of stock will get report tomorrow or else have to go for canon 550d( have to stretch my budget a little bit.) is there fog in rajsthan at present? will early morning start be possible?my pals are good drivers.
 
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thanks vipul for your detailed suggestions.regarding camera i was looking for nikon3100, but its out of stock at present due to floods in thailand. so opted for canon 1100d. that too out of stock will get report tomorrow or else have to go for canon 550d( have to stretch my budget a little bit.) is there fog in rajsthan at present? will early morning start be possible?my pals are good drivers.
About fog,I can't say because my last visit was about 12 days back and no plans for visiting there in coming fortnight.
But fog will not present any problem because there is quite less or no fog at all(quite less=negligible).[:D]
You can buy any small camera(Don't play with your budget now,take as much cash in hand as well as in accounts as much you feel safe carrying with you)so get a camera which is low on cost and can do the job well,who needs those high resolution pics sizing 3-4 MB here?I don't want those DSLR type pics,just get me pics none else.

Well,if your pals are good drivers then rest assured that your trip will be a 100% delight,if you encounter fog also then just keep driving(this is what I do)and fog is not an affair of more than 1-2 hours.So start as early as possible and since these are foggy days so its better to cover maximum possible ground before you encounter the fog.Right?

About driving in cold,please don't take me wrong way,I am not promoting anything but its just a suggestion:-
If you people feel it cold,then while driving long especially full nights,if you people drink then one beer(strictly one beer)can be useful as it will save you from cold,will remove quite drowsiness and tiredness too.If you people follow this,then be strict at the quantity.I generally follow this practice of taking a small amount while doing full night drives and it really helps.
 
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..the thing iam not comfortable is that i don't know the way to by pass mumbai...
I think you're taking the NH66 till Karwar and then NH17 from Margao to Vashi (Vadkhal). This road will take you to Panvel.

This is the log I collected from my recent trip to Leh.

1. Head towards Kalamboli. This is where the Pune-Bombay expressway ends.

2. Keep going towards Bombay. You will cross several flyovers through Kharghar and Belapur. Belapur can be identified by the large number of office buildings to the left (including Konkan Bhavan, Park Hotel). After Belapur, the road climbs up a hill and comes down to the other side. The traffic signal at that junction is the Uran Phata. After crossing that signal you will cross Nerul (you will see the light pillars of the DY Patil cricket stadium on your left), and you climb up a flyover after crossing Nerul.

3. Ahead of the Nerul flyover, you will see a complicated flyover coming up (the Turbhe flyover). Over the flyover is Bombay(it curves away to the left). Your road is the road to Thane (marked straight)( keep to the right and avoid going on the flyover). This place is Turbhe. Keep going straight and you will reach a messy junction with a signal and then a flyover curving away to the left. Keep below the flyover to the left (flyover starts to the right) and keep going straight. SET your trip meter here, since from here (Turbhe) exactly 10 kms you have to take a turn.

4. You are now going on the Thane- Belapur road - goes through industrial area. First you will cross Turbhe Railway Station (RS) on your left. You will see a few flyovers – take only the straight subway type flyovers and avoid the 2 ones which curve to your left. You will see the Reliance Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) to your right. You will cross the Rabale and Kopar Khairne RS to your left.

5. 10 kms from Turbhe, the road goes down into a subway and in the subway, turn left. This is Airoli, and the subway (after you turn left) goes under the railway line. DONT go straight although that also goes to Thane. The left turn will be marked for MULUND.

6. Keep going on this road ( the Airoli Bridge road) and you will cross the Thane Creek (1 km bridge), at the end of which there is a toll gate (Rs 30). Followed by an octroi gate. You will hit the Eastern Expressway (EEH) - flyover going from left to right. Left goes to Ghakopar/Bombay, straight to Mulund, and you turn right towards Thane. Down this road after 1 km is a flyover after which is a toll gate (Rs 30). After the toll gate, you will see trucks line up at another octroi gate and a stone tower, indicating that you have left Bombay and entered Thane. The road goes up a slope and when you come down that slope you see a flyover. Go over the flyover. 1 km down the road around a long curve, you will see another flyover - go on it - and this is a 1.5 km elevated road

7. After you come down this long flyover, you will see yet another flyover - sign boards saying Ahmedabad, Nasik (on flyover).DO NOT take this flyover - go underneath (left side). The road meets traffic coming from the left, and curves to the left to meet first a small junction, then a small round. Keep going straight - you are now in the Ghodbunder road. You will see the Cinemax multiplex on your left, Ford showroom on your right.

8. Go on this road 16 kms and you will reach the NH8 junction at Ghodbunder (immediately after a toll gate - Rs 15), which is after you climb up and down a small ghat. Some flyovers under construction on this road. At the NH8 junction, turn right (left goes to Dahisar/Bombay) and it is all the way.

Even if you wish to take the NH4, from Gokarna and plan to take the Pune-Mumbai expressway, you can use the above mentioned route.

II. Before entering Surat, make sure to stick a yellow sticker (vertically) on your right head lamp.

III. Make sure to take a PUC (Emission certificate)

IV. Ensure even the co-passenger puts on the seat belt. We paid 100 bucks as the co-pas was not wearing the belt.

Good luck with your trip and have a safe journey.

Regards
Avinash
 
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Hey,what's the reason behind that?
The yellow sticker creates a reflection, when you switch on the head lights and driving in the fog, which helps people driving in the opposite direction. This is a rule in GJ/RJ/PB. I think its a rule in Delhi too.
 
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