Driving the beast to Kolkata

An idea which I had for quite long, got fulfilled over the weekend. For last 10 years I always wanted to go on a multi day road trip, unfortunately it never happened due to various reasons. In Jan this year, finally I could plan on this trip from Bangalore to Kolkata. After WFH option got extended and kids schools got into summer vacation mode, I thought it's the right time to hit road. The plan was to drive down to Kolkata, stay here for couple of months and then drive back. So on April 9, 2021 started out journey from Brookfield around 3:30 am (was delayed by 1 hr), with wife and me at front and kids at back.. On the back seat got air inflated bed, for kids to sleep during the journey. Since I was the only one driving, so ensured that we took adequate rest and lots of fluids across the journey. The journey was to travel a distance of approx. 1950 km over 3 days. 

• Day 1 - Bangalore to Rajamundry (810 km) 
• Day 2 - Rajamundry to Bhubaneswar (629 km) 
• Day 3 - Bhubaneswar to Kolkata (454 km)

Day 1 - Bangalore to Rajamundry (810 km)

Since this was the first day of the journey, josh was very high. We started with full energy, even kids were up so early in the morning. While entering Andhra Pradesh we were stopped by police, they asked were are we going. We replied Kolkata and were allowed to go. On the way we stopped over for breakfast at a restaurant called Ugadi, which was after Tirupati.

On the way we took a detour at Ongole towards Chirala and had dum biriyani at a roadside dhaba. The Biriyani was served fast and was good.Post lunch we resumed our journey and with few bio break in between we reached Rajamundry and checked in to Hotel Anand Regency. You can read my review here. The hotel guys were nice enough to offer a 15% discount as we The route from Bangalore to Rajamundry was descent, on NH16 we got lot of diversions on the way. After Eluru, Google Maps suggested another road. That was the biggest mistake we did. Since we drive an SUV we were actually saved, the route was nearly empty, and it would be better to say that there is some road between the potholes. So one suggestion always stay on NH16. 

Day 2 - Rajamundry to Bhubaneswar (629 km) 

Next day we started around 7 am. Was delayed by an hour. Google kept on suggesting alternate routes. This time much wiser we decided to stick to NH16, and that cut down our journey by 1 hr. The construction on NH16 continued. Near Anekapally there were major construction. Once we entered Orissa the route was much better. Finally around 9 pm we checked in to Hotel Hindusthan International, Bhubaneswar. You can read my hotel review here. 

 Day 3 - Bhubaneswar to Kolkata (454 km) 

Day three we started quite late around 8:45 am. After crossing Cuttack we got into a road block which lasted more than an hour. Post which we had a smooth drive. 

We were stopped at West Bengal border by police, most probably it was election duty check up, as all private vehicles were stopped by all commercial vehicles were allowed to pass. 

The NH16 construction work ended as we entered West Bengal. Dive on NH16 was smooth and without much hassles. You need to pay Rs. 10 as toll on Second Hoogly Bridge and thats the only toll we paid in cash (as Fast Tag, is not accepted there). We reached Bansdroni our home destination around 8 pm. 

Overall it was a journey which we loved. The final ODO reading 

 Dashcam video

We lost the Day 1 recording. 

 Day 2: Rajahmundry to Bhubaneswar

 

 Day 3: Bhubaneswar to Kolkata

 

 Expense Breakup

• Toll: INR 2005 
• Diesel Cost: INR 7581 
• Hotel Stay: 
• Hotel Anand Regency - INR 3405 (inclusive taxes)
• Hotel Hindusthan International - INR 4032 (inclusive taxes) 
• Food: INR 3508 (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner), we carried lot of snacks, juice, water bottles with us
• Fun: Unlimited (this is why we travelled by car)