Traveling and exploration is a zeal to people as it provides relief from their day-to-day work life and improves productivity in their day-to-day life.
In Travelling, Road Trip has a different fun than going by other means of transport, as someone rightly quoted “It’s not about the destination, It’s about the journey”.
In order to plan and execute a successful road trip, one needs to have proper planning, need to follow some checklist to have hassle-free and memorable travel. Road Trips can be of various types depending on the people with whom we travel like Family, Friends and also on the distance we are planning to do. Here in this article, we try to cover the scenarios of the long road trip through Indian states based on personal experiences.
Getting your Car ready:
- Get your car serviced by your regular or trusted mechanic at least 2-3 days before the trip. Once it is serviced, take it for a short spin to ensure there are no issues.
- It is advisable to carry coolant oil and a pair of brake pads along with you especially if you are planning to go on a trip of more than 2000 kilometers. If you are planning to go on extensive hilly areas and ghat roads, due to excessive usage of brakes they get heated up and will wear out early before it’s regular life.
- Inspect the condition of your tyres and check whether it is due for tyre change. Good tyres always play a major role in long road trips. It will give you peace of mind that it won’t provide any trouble and also boost mileage efficiency.
- Check your battery and get the tyres alignment and rotation if required done before the trip.
- Make sure you are carrying the stepney (spare) tyre with the required tools such as a jack and other tools, a puncture kit.
- Not many people are aware of changing tyre, they rely on mechanics. It is always important to learn how to change the tyre, this will come handy in emergency situations where you don’t have any support. One can learn from YouTube and practice a couple of times with your car.
- Check your car headlights in dark condition to a wall whether they are in proper condition and get them aligned if it is required.
- Always carry wiper fluid, windshield cleaner liquid, a couple of Microfiber cloth towels in your car, and some water bottles which can be used to clean dust and insects from your car windshield and headlights in your night travel.
- Just double-check before you are starting that you are carrying the required documents like Registration Certificate (RC), Driving License, Insurance, (Originals to avoid trouble in some states) and if any required state permits for commercially registered (Yellow Plate) vehicles. No state permits are required for inter-state travel all over India for Personal Registered (White Plate) Vehicles. You are required to take some permits for all types of vehicles in specific areas in states like Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, and some other areas. Please do some investigation about the place you are visiting before.
- Ensure your car is fitted High Security Registration Plates (HSRP) number plate to avoid unnecessary troubles in some states with cops.
Things to carry:
- If you are traveling to an unknown place, better have a navigation system equipped for your car or purchase a windshield mobile holder for better navigation and driving experience.
- Don’t just blindly follow Google Maps in unfamiliar cities and in narrow roads, always look for sign boards, especially for one-way or you will end up caught by a traffic police and a challan.
Driving Tips:
- Have a tight and disturb less sleep before night and always start your driving day early as possible preferably around 4 AM in the morning based on your target distance for the day.
- Avoid starting at night time if you have a long distance to cover, because generally, we all get sleepy after 2 AM and our mind will become mentally tired unless it is your daily job. So, sleep for the night and start early in the morning.
- Not everyone is capable of driving long stretches continuously in a single day. So plan accordingly based on your capability and have another person drives along with you on the trip. So that you can share the driving and reach the target without stress.
- Do not overstress yourself with driving in a single day by setting long kilometers target. If you feel dizzy and tired, pull over your car to a rest area and take a rest.
- One fact is that, At night times, you will be able to cover a good distance and avoid police troubles. But it is not always safe in terms of driving and security, especially in unknown areas.
- If at all you feel dizzy and sleepy at any time, pull over your car to the rest area without a second thought. You might feel like, you can continue driving but concentration levels will get weak. So it is not at all safe.
Planning & some tips:
- Create a rough plan on an Excel sheet on a day-wise itinerary.
- If you are traveling to an unknown place, better have a navigation system equipped for your car or purchase a windshield mobile holder for better navigation and driving experience.
- Don’t just blindly follow Google Maps in unfamiliar cities and narrow roads, always look for sign boards, especially for one-way.
- Always have an adequate balance in your Toll Plazas Fastag account and set auto top-up if you feel it is needed.
- Carry a First aid kit and necessary medicines.
- Always carry some cash in your hand, and don’t completely rely on ATMs, Cards, and UPI in remote areas.
- Make hotel reservations in advance if you are planning for a night layover. Prefer hotels outside of the core city to avoid morning traffic.
- Do some analysis on Google Maps about hygienic restaurants and stopovers before you start the trip for washrooms especially if you have females traveling with you.
- Always carry water bottles, snacks, and eatables.
The above article is written based on personal and shared experiences. Let us know your views in the comment section.