Visakhapatnam to Kochi with a pitstop in Hyderabad. First long drive of 2016

"Life is all about exploration, experiences and exposure." This is what i decode "LIFE" as.

Driving is my passion and it was always been in a Tata Safari from my childhood. Now, it has been two years since I have purchased my first car – the Tata Safari Dicor 2.2 VTT and covered more than 30,000 km which I truly cherish. I was positioned in Vizag and was further transferred to Kochi. So the first road trip of 2016 starts from Vizag to Kochi with a halt in Hyderabad. Well the halt extends over 5 days as Hyderabad being my home town.

ORIGIN: Visakhapatnam

DESTINATION: Kochi

HALT: Hyderabad, Bangalore

TOTAL KM: 1960 KM

DURATION: 07 Days

DAY 01:

Started from Vizag on 08 Jan 2016 at 1700hrs for Hyderabad. Took the Vizag - Annavaram – Rajahmundry - Vijayawada highway and reached Hyderabad at 0200 hrs on 09 Jan 2016 covering 700 km. The road conditions are very good till Eluru but the stretch of the road from Eluru to Vijayawada is in a bad shape. Further, the road from Vijayawada to Hyderabad is a very good stretch where we can do speeds upto 140kmph. One can find many restaurants/dabhas all along the highway which are open till wee hours. There is a beautiful drive-in restaurant on the Vijayawada-Hyderabad stretch called the "Food Court 7" at Suryapet.

Day 06:

Started for Bangalore on 14 Jan 2016 at 1200hrs from Hyderabad. Took the Hyderabad - Bangalore highway which is a wonderful highway to drive on. Reached Bangalore at 1930 hrs covering 600 km. Did a night halt in Bangalore. We can locate few restaurants on the highway.

Day 07:

Started for Kochi on 15 Jan 2016 at 1200hrs. Took the Bangalore – Hosur – Salem – Coimbatore – Thrissur – Kochi road covering 660 km. Reached Kochi at 2130 hrs. The road till Coimbatore is very good especially between Bangalore to Salem. However, the road from Coimbatore worsens as we further move towards Thrissur mainly due to construction work and single lane ghat roads. Roads after Thrissur improve to a certain extent with few stretches being wonderful. Decent restaurants can be located at regular intervals all along the highway.