Our road trip starts on May 15^th. The route that we have mapped out is Pune – Hubli – Udupi – Kozhikode – Kochi – Thekkady – Munnar – Bangalore – Pune. This is the route that we have planned currently, but who knows? Things might change as the tour progresses.

 

Initially, Suphala and I made up our minds to go on a road trip. How we came up with Kerala is a long story. When I mentioned this to our friends Nimit and Kiran, they were very excited and keen to join us on this trip. They were scheduled to drive to Goa with other friends of theirs but in their mind, they wanted to go with us, especially Kiran. Somehow things did not work out with Nimit and Kiran and we decided to do this trip ourselves.

 

Suphala and I have been working hard and we haven’t taken a break for the last 8 years. Of course, we’ve been on small weekend trips but none of them as exciting as this one. Suphala mentioned in passing to one of our neighbors, Monali, who is also a good friend of hers. Monali and Siddharth were pretty much thrilled about this whole concept and that’s how they agreed to join us.

 

Initially we were pondering about our mode of transport. Since it was going to be a road trip, it was a given that we will drive. Siddharth owns a TATA Indica V2 and mine is a Fiat Palio Stile Sport 1.6. The two cars have distinct advantages and disadvantages of their own. While the Indica is a diesel car we could expect savings on fuel, and the Fiat (petrol) is the one with power. Finally we have decided to the Fiat!

 

My car has been serviced recently and is all set to go. I’ve got a few things to take care of though. I’ll need to fill up my tyres with Nitrogen, so that these long drives don’t heat up the tyres. Also, I need to get a luggage carrier (or rack) which will enable us to carry enough stuff (I’ve been telling Suphala that we’re not going away forever, so you don’t need to pack our entire home. Lol) We’ll have to be careful of what we pack in, considering that we have limited space (The fiat palio is a hatchback, as you all know)

 

Yesterday, the four of us spent some time on www.holidayiq.com and booked our accommodations in Udupi, Kochi & Thekkady. We are yet to book a hotel in Munnar. In Bangalore, we’ll stay with my aunt (mausi) in Jayanagar 7^th Block.

 

It is my first experience of blogging, so I’m going to be experimenting with mobile blogging on the way and you can expect updates quite often. I will use my Windows Mobile phone to upload images and text to this blog. I’m not sure of the availability of broadband or wi-fi hotspots along the way, so there might be some technical glitches. I hope this is entertaining and informative to all of you.

 

Thanks for participating!