In March of 2020, we thought of this crazy idea of driving 2000 plus kilometers across the east coast of India – from Bangalore in southern part of India to Kolkata in eastern part of India.
Actually come to rethink of it, it probably was one of the wisest decisions of our life so far. As the CoronaVirus pandemic started to break out in India from late February, we were observing the actions taken by other countries.
Most of the countries were talking about lockdown as a measure of slowing down the spread of the virus. We started expecting that a nationwide lockdown might be implemented very soon in India as well.
From beginning of march we started planning for it and we started our journey on 16th of March. It took us 4 days to reach Kolkata and we went for self quarantine on 19th March in Kolkata. The Govt of India announced nationwide lockdown on 24th March at 8 PM with an immediate effect. So as it turns out, we completed our trip just before the lockdown that continued for next 2-3 months.
Many people were surely mulling on the idea for travelling to their hometown. And if you put an ear to the social circles, you could hear all kinds of opinions. Some said its safer to stay where you are. And some like us thought it is always better to get back to our near and dear ones in our hometown at a time of global crisis like this.
We had to travel back to our hometown Kolkata because we had to support our elderly parents during this difficult time. The “why part” was clear to us. But then the next question was obviously about “how”. How should I return to our hometown? By Air or Road or via Train? Air and Train travel included the risk of traveling with other commuters.
We definitely avoided airport because the risk was much higher there. Back then, not much safety measures were being taken by the airports beyond some basic checks. For example, the airlines were operating as usual with regular model of sitting arrangements and food services etc. Train was about risking ourselves with unknown co commuters for 2 long days. So instead we decided to trust on our beloved Maruti Swift Dzire which has been our partner in so many road trips. We started planning our road trip.
But before we could start, we had to prepare ourselves. We made a list of what we need for such a travel. Here’s how that goes:
- N95 Masks
- Protective Eye-wear
- Surgical Gloves
- Face Shields
- PPE Suits
- Hand Wash Liquid
- Hand Sanitizer
Now, back in March 2020, the situation was different from now. The e-commerce websites did not offer these things as much as they are delivering now. So we had to improvise.
Check out my other blog to know how we prepared ourselves – Preparing for a 2000 KM Road Trip in a Pandemic
To Drive or Not to Drive
We had no doubt about who would drive during the journey. We took a driver. Some may feel that driving themselves may be a good idea. Considering the long-distance and tiring journey, we are always in favor of suggesting that you take drivers. However, during a pandemic, it makes even more sense to take a driver. You don’t want your anxiety to take over you while you are driving one of the longest routes.
But getting a driver was not easy either. We could somehow arrange it. And in case, you are finding it difficult to get a driver, we suggest you to also check out
We asked our driver to reach our place on 16th March morning at 6 am. We wanted to start early because we wanted to reach Vijayawada at the end of Day 1.
Route Plan
For anyone traveling from Bangalore to Kolkata, the route includes these major cities
- Vijayawada
- Vizag
- Bhubaneswar
The first trip is from Bangalore to Vijayawada. And that has three options.
We took the shortest route from Bangalore via Chittoor, Nellore, Ongole, Guntur to Vijaywada. Our plan for day 1 was to reach Vijayawada by night. Then next day we would travel to Vizag. We intended to stay a bit longer in Vizag to enjoy the place. And third night, we planned to stay at Bhubaneswar before reaching Kolkata by fourth night.
The Journey – Day 1
The journey began on 16th March just 4 days ahead of My husband’s birthday which is on 20th March. We thought it’s a great opportunity we will celebrate this time at kolkata 🙂
We preferred avoiding the metro city Hyderabad, because there were more reported cases of Coronavirus at that time.
So we took the Nellore route which was comparatively risk free. We were afraid about the road condition though on this route since it was not the common path to go via nellore. We checked multiple blogs and many of them did not recommend this route. We however, eventually found it to be quite nice rather actually contrary to the opinions we saw on online forums. It was mostly full of National Highways with few exceptions where we had to take village roads. And the village scenery was extra bonus. All the roads were more or less smooth and we could maintain a good pace. Here is my video blog of this first part of the journey. Check it out to understand road conditions in detail:
We took quite a few breaks on the way. Although we originally planned to start at 6 am, we finally could start from Bangalore at 9am .
Let me set out the expectation – we are the kind of person more towards the side of enjoying the drive rather exhausting ourselves with relentless journey. Our car was Maruti Swift Dzire regalia edition and we have decided to take a driver in such a long elaborated trip.
At around 10:30am, we stopped by at a highway CCD which had an attached petrol pump – we had our breakfast, took fuel and renewed our pollution testing certificate on that same station. It was a really good beginning of the trip the place was great, surrounded by mountains. Food was delicious but we had taken our precautions very seriously i.e sanitizing hands frequently , putting face masks tightly if there is anyone in close proximity. But you know what – the main beautiful part of a road trip is that you do not have to worry about missing out a flight – you can stop by as per your wish and spend some time as per your liking. Another huge advantage of road trip is – things are under your control like we decided to stop by in comparatively low key quite places where human interaction was minimal. We were avoiding more popular crowded restaurants.
We always had a dream to explore India on a road trip but the opportunity came finally during a pandemic. Although we had taken extreme protection throughout the travel, we decided that a few breaks and visiting some less crowded local places on the way wont hurt. And we could not allow this dream journey to be not least enjoyable – isn’t it!
In evening of day 1, we crossed Tirupati. I was surprised how quickly we could ome to Triupati from Bangalore, but somenow never had managed to come over to this place of religious significance in our faith. By this time, Tirupati board had decided to shut down Tirupati and hence the place did seem to have a deserted look. I am sure in a normal situation, a place like that must be thronged by huge mass of people. We crossed Tirupati, and we decided to stop by a roadside as we recalculated our plan. As per the time, it was becoming impossible to fathom that we will be able to make it to Vijayawada.
By the time we crossed Tirupati it was almost dark. We stopped on roadside to enjoy the sunset view on the way near Kalahasti. The sun was setting over the mountains and it was a divine view to say the least.
We decided to have our late lunch cum evening snacks at Kalahasti. Kalahasti is a temple town in Chittoor district situated midway after crossing Tirupati. I did not know of this place but it seemed like a place which is also quite famous for Hindu shrines. Lot of people were in the area and the place looked busy. Our driver told us that many people who intend to visit Tirupati, they book hotels in Kalahasti as lot of good hotels are available in this at a much cheaper cost. We wanted to go to the most popular hotel called MGM Grand in Kalahasti for the food. But when we reached there, the MGM Grand staff told us that the restaurant is not serving food so late in the day and they will resume serving again after another hour or so. We could not delay that much and decided to move on to another nearby hotel called Hotel Riverview. It turned out to be a neat little restaurant. We initially thought it to be just a small restaurant, but later we understood it to be a part of a much bigger hotel which had a nicely decorated garden inside.
After having food at Kalahasti, we proceeded towards Nellore. We decided not to drive past 9 pm.
We had booked our accommodation at a hotel named Royal palace. Nellore town has very few good hotels and this seems to be one with reasonable cost for a night stay. The staff did help us in taking the luggage from car to the room. The receptionist was a bit worried about if we are married or not and needed to see our ID proofs etc. to be confirmed. While that felt bit odd, I guess it was his job to do so. The hotel had elevators and the rooms were clean. We changed the bedsheet and pillow covers with the ones we were carrying. We sanitized door handles etc. before going to bed. We ordered some room service. It was a decent city hotel with clean room and good food. We had chicken curry rice with eggs, Dal Tadka and butter Naan and ended our day with a perfect good night sleep.
Day 2 – From Nellore to Vizag
We woke up at 6 am and started a little early because we had to cover a long distance today, at least up to Vizag if not upto Gopalpur in Odissa. We decided to enjoy a beach destination on the way. Either Vizag or Gopalpur on Sea in Odisha.
We decided to skip the buffet breakfast at hotel to avoid using shared crockery and cutlery with other residents at the hotel. Instead we had bought some biscuits and chips on our way. We sort of tried to not stop for anything other than a lunch.
We went for lunch when we reached Vijayawada. We went to Paradise Biryani, one of the most famous chains of Biryanis in southern India. We took the chicken biryani and loved the taste. The place had quite a few people, so insisted on getting a secluded seating arrangement in order to avoid sitting with others. We sanitized our plates ourselves. We rubbed sanitizer and then cleaned it with tissue papers that we were carrying ourselves.
We constantly drove 900 kms without much break. We only stopped for tea at a roadside place. It was important that we reach Vizag by night. And we indeed were able to make it by night. At night, there was not much to see and we went straight to the hotel
At Vizag we stayed at the Hotel named “The Park” which was a lovely private beach property. Since we could not go to any public beach places due to the corona virus fear, so actually it could be useful to stay at a beach resort with private beach. At least we can enjoy spending few hours relaxing by the sea.
The Park was having some wedding arrangements that time and the property looked even more beautiful due to the arrangement done by the wedding planners. We avoided people but enjoyed the property. Our day 2 video captured both the journey and our experience of staying at The Park Vizag hotel. You can also see how we enjoyed the beach within the property
Checkout our Day2 video here
Day 3
We woke up with a beautiful flowery view outside of our hotel window. We did not realize how beautiful it was on the previous night. But the daylight made us feel blissful in the morning.
We checked the beach from a distance and when we understood that practically no one was there on the beach, we decided to venture out to the beach. The beach was closed initially you need to call the gatekeeper and the person came and opened the gate so that we can access the beach property.
It was breathtakingly beautiful with a nice arrangement of rocks in the beach. One side beach was surrounded by the mountains and in the other end there was an old lighthouse . It was so beautiful.
Nonetheless we again skipped the standard buffet breakfast and instead ordered in-room breakfast and tea. We left hotel around 12noon.
We also checked out the famous RK Beach in vizag which was very nearby from our hotel. We stopped there, checked out the beach – but frankly speaking, I loved The Park’s private beach better.
We went further to eventually cross the Krishna and Godavari river. We drove constantly till we crossed Andhra border and entered to Odissa in the early evening. We had a plan initially to halt at Gopalpura beach which I have heard is quite a nice beach.
We however had to ditch Gopalpur this time. Gopalpur is almost midway between Vizag and Bhubaneswar. And we decided that we have time to reach Bhubaneswar and we should try to do that instead of wasting another day just because of Gopalpur. I could come back to Gopalpur in my return trip is what I told myself.
There was a very important virtual meeting that I just had to attend. In the early evening, we therefore halted at a place to book a very cheap nearby hotel. The objective was to just attend this business meeting video call from there. The hotel was quite shabby and I was relieved to get out of their once my call finished. This delayed us a bit.
On the way to Bhubaneshwar in the dark of the evening, we suddenly realized that there is no locality around us for quite some time. Actually it was like 1 hour since we saw any roadside house or hut, it was dark thick forest like area all around us. Apart from street lights, there was no other light. We did felt a bit unsafe. At that time we were not aware that the road we are travelling through was basically a dense forest called Tungey. While there are not much wild animals, people have told us that the place is quite infamous for highway robberies etc. If we had known earlier, we might have rather stopped at Gopalpur. Later we heard from locals about the incidents in that area. Thank god we passed through the forest without any incidents, but I would strongly advise you to cross this area before sunset or rather halt at Gopalpur.
We reached Bhubanewar around midnight and checked into a hotel named Oyo Townhouse. It was a good city hotel in the heart of the the town. My experience is good in this OYO, though normally I avoid Oyo hotels because they are “couple friendly” and therefore filled with shabby folks and dimly lit environments. But fortunately this hotel wasn’t bad. Staff were friendly and sophisticated. Room was tastefully furnished and offered amenities like AC, Card Payment, Geyser and a lot more.
We had a plan to start next day very early but eventually failed to do so. And it was a good thing. We had been invited by one of our relatives, who were based out of Cuttack (Cuttack is 20km from Bhubaneswar). Initially we hesitated, because we had a plan to go into self quarantine for 14 days, after a long road trip like this, before meeting our family or loved ones. And they live with their kids. But eventually we changed our mind because they insisted so much with so much love. They genuinely would have felt bad if we did not go. We maintained human distancing and spent some good time in the morning.
We left their house at around 1pm after having a delicious lunch and drove another 6 hours to reach Kolaghat, West Bengal by the evening. We stopped by a roadside Dhaba. It was good in hygine and less crowded. We had tea in paper cups and some stacks.
From Kolaghat, it was a straight journey and we entered Kolkata through Bali bridge and Dakshineswar. It was a happy moment as we finally made it to our Home to our near and dear ones. We have our own flat in Kolkata, we went straight to that flat instead of meeting our family members. We were not sure if we were infected by corona virus or not. We did not want to take chances with our elderly parents. We self isolated ourselves for 14 days. Our family members did visit us (who can stop them!) but we made sure that they are staying far away from us for the first 14 days. After the 14 days, it was another happy moment when we went back to our parents.
We took a very early decision of moving to our hometown. And we are glad that we did it. There’s nothing more important than taking care of of your elderly family members and staying with them during a pandemic like this. I hope everything gets back to normal as soon as possible, but till then I am going to be protecting my family by staying closely with them.
Checkout vlog here:-