Pan India Road Trip

One Car – Two Guys – One Country

20,661 kilometers and 70 days is what it took us to cover each and every state in India.

We dreamt of travelling all around India in 2010 and in 2015 this dream was set alive when we ‘flagged off’ from Surat (Gujarat) on 30th of August’ 2015 for this trip. Calling it the PAN INDIA ROAD TRIP (PIRT), this trip covered each and every state (all 29) in India.

A trip like this had never ever been done before. Either someone was attempting a record or just travelling the known places or leaving out the North East completely. We made it a point to visit anything and everything that comes in our ways.

From Lonar Crater Lake in Maharashtra, Laxmi Vilas Palace in Gujarat, Ranakpur Jain Temple and Kuldhara in Rajasthan, Rakhi Garhi in Haryana, Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) in Punjab, Pangong Lake in Jammu and Kashmir which is a part of Leh – Ladakh region, Gue in Himachal Pradesh, Rishikesh in Uttarakhand, Delhi, Taj Mahal in Uttar Pradesh, The Scindia School in Madhya Pradesh, Bodh Gaya in Bihar, Gurudongmar Lake and Nathu La Pass in Sikkim, Tawang in Arunachal, Khonoma in Nagaland, Loktak in Manipur, Mizoram, Unakoti in Tripura, Living Roots Bridges in Meghalaya, Hajo in Assam, Maluti in Jharkhand, Kolkata in West Bengal, Chilika in Orissa, Borra Caves and Araku Valley in Andhra Pradesh, Chitrakoot Falls in Chattisgarh, Golkonda Fort in Telangana, Mysore in Karnataka, Meenaxi Temple in Tamil Nadu up till Kanya Kumari, Alleppey in Kerela and Goa.

This list is just 25% of all the places we went to. We visited more than 120 sites and drove across more than 90 cities during the trip. Along with all the travelling and driving we made it a point to involve ourselves in adventure activities like Bungee Jumping, Rafting, Sand Dunes Bashing and Sky Diving.

Even with different languages spoken and different cultures followed in every part of country, people were similar when it came to their nature. Whenever and wherever we got stuck or had problems we got helped out of the situation. The Army, Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and also the Police came to our rescue whenever needed. We were invited for a cup tea at sun-down in Kashmir by some army men, Army in Arunachal made it a point that we were safe when our car broke down at the Sela Pass while it was snowing; BRO pulled our car out when it got stuck in 3 feet mud in Manipur; the Police helped us out of a curfew in Manipur again. In Himachal Pradesh, on our way to Spiti Valley, we had a tyre puncture while it was freezing outside; one of the local guys from the BSNL department, without any alternate motive helped us fix that and so on. There are many more stories too.

We just did what we wanted to do, without any other clauses added to their trip. With no restrictions what so ever, we followed our hearts and made a successful trip out of this.

Apart from taking photographs, we have audio and video recorded some of our experiences too. We preferred staying at home-stays to get a firsthand experience of the life there. People were always courteous in sharing their life stories and giving them more motives to travel.

When asked what we came back with, we just have one answer, ‘Memories, some new friends and an experience to talk about. We fulfilled one of our dreams, what else could we ask for.’

Follow this on Tripoto and we will be updating our day by day travel experience of all the 70 days along with photographs soon.