Gujarat - The Highway Diaries - I

Day 1 - 20-Jan-17
My way is the highway

The occassion was a friend's wedding, location - Keshod and the dates of the journey were finalized. With the idea of a road trip at the back of our minds, we were looking at other options to travel. On the date of the journey, 20th January, three of us (Akash and Shiva with me) started off in Shiva's car. 

 While leaving from office that day, I had nothing but the journey on my mind! It was an exciting prospect to be on the road for 6 days. We planned
to leave Mumbai at 8 PM, but obviously, we left late. It was 10 PM by the time we crossed the dreaded Fountain hotel traffic at Ghodbunder road. We had planned to reach Surat before breaking for the next day. I got to drive as well, and the smooth highway made it easier to drive. After stopping at 1230 AM for a quick bite at a 24-hour McDonald's at Vapi, we started again. There was another tea break before we finally reached Surat at around 4 AM. We parked near a hotel, had another quick tea (because that's what road trips meant for us - lots of tea), and dozed off in the car for 4 hours.

Day 2 - 21-Jan-17


Our ride - The Time Machine
Our next destination was Rajkot. Two more (Jaggu and Pakya) would be joining us there. We started off at 830 AM from Surat and took the highway from Vadodara to Rajkot, and after the smooth highway, the road turned out to be a lot more difficult to drive because of the diversions. After an hour of driving on this road, we reached the Rajkot-Ahmedabad highway and the comfort of driving was restored. We made a couple of halts, for tea and for lunch at this dhaba called Sahyog, before finally reaching Rajkot at 6 PM. We booked a room at Hotel Tej Palace on Makemytrip (came pretty cheap). After the exhausting journey and lack of sleep, we dozed off as soon as we entered the hotel room. We had our dinner at a hotel called Swad Pakwan, delicious stuff - Must visit if you are in Rajkot. 

 Day 3 - 22-Jan-17

The Garba gang
After a good night's sleep, we were joined by the remaining two of the gang. After having a heavy lunch of Gujarati Thali at the same restaurant, we left for Keshod. Since the number of people went up to 5 from 3, it was a little cramped. And the boot was stuffed with luggage, and my guitar as well. This time as well, the highway was as smooth as a racetrack. And we made the 140 something kms journey in around 2.5 hours with a couple of tea and loo breaks. At Keshod, our host (Gujju) had arranged for our stay at a hotel in the busiest part of the town. We dined at his place and it was time to do, The Garba! And by the end of the night, I was comfortably dancing without missing a beat! Ready for the Navratris already!! 

We planned to visit Dwarka the next day, i.e. start overnight. We reached our hotel by 2 AM, and everyone agreed that if we slept now, we won't be able to wake up in time to leave for Dwarka. 

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