While the slideshow gives you the glimpse of our travel trails, we try our best to capture the same in words… Randhir My tryst with road trips started very early. The earliest one I can barely remember (I less than 5 years old!) was along with 8 others from the family of Bro, Mom & Dad, 1 Grandpa, 2 Grand Moms, Dad’s grand mom and a Man Friday set out on this monumental quintessential char dham trip. We all packed in a 1970’s ambassador Mark I which roared from Bhilai in Chattisgarh to Bhusaval to Dwarka to Haridwar-Badrinath - Patna-Darbhanga and back to Bhilai… a trip of over 3000 Kms covered in 27 days and driven entirely by dad and navigated by some very basic maps. This Mark I Ambassador took us along many road trips as far and wide as Puri, Kathmandu, Khajuraho, Indore, Ujjain, Jhansi, Delhi, Agra and numerous local short trips. I grew up inheriting the love for roads, passion for exploration and the romance of the Indian country roads, the diversity of experiences, rich local culture and a lifetime of memories… In my college days, my faithful Kawasaki Baja RTZ took me around Manipal-Udupi-Mangalore, Coorg, Baroda, Raurkela and finally Bangalore… As I started my job, the Santro took the roads to Tirupati, Mysore and lot of local places of interest. I also had a memorable trip with friends where we covered the entire length of UK from London-Midlands-Loch Ness-Edinburgh-Inverness-Gloucester-London and all this in early spring- an experience each of us must go through… the sights of the never ending Mustard fields, rolling lush green meadows, the millions of livestock in the farms, the magical English country side, opulent churches, occasional castles and never ending lines of Daffodil – truly Wordsworth coming alive… Pratima I got my first vehicle, a Maruti Omni van, at the age of 17. Dad and Mum were very particular about not allowing me to ride a two wheeler, so with impeccable logic I asked for four!!! By the time I was 19, I was driving confidently all over the country. I still remember the joy I used to feel at being able to take off, windows rolled down(those were the days when "pollution" was a word in the dictionary), music on high and a smooth drive ahead of me! Coming from a conservative Marwari family, it was my first taste of freedom, my biggest thrill of being in control, of mapping my path......oh! the metaphors it held to my naive little heart! I became the designated driver to my family and took them on many road trips to Tirupati, Kerala, Goa, Chennai, Mysore etc. Since then, I have driven many thousands of kms, in varied terrain, various continents, changing weather, many vehicles - but the romance, the thrill of being at the wheel with an open road in front of me, takes me back years instantly! Together We have been almost objects of envy for the amount of travel we have done together. What started as a honeymoon road trip in New Zealand where we covered about 1800 KM scaling the entire length of the country in 8 days. Besides bringing the romance of nature into our love story, we realized that a significant part of happy life together would be spent travelling. Since then, we have been on the roads of Mauritius, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Spain, Sri Lanka, UK, US, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia. Whether it was driving on the "Romantic Route" in Bavaria, the Autobahn in Germany, the varying landscapes in New Zealand, each trip has been special and full of memories to treasure. In India we have made Cauvery our ally by tracing her life defining route from Coorg till she leaves Karnataka. Our plan is to see her meeting Bay of Bengal at Cuddalore someday… We have driven around Rajasthan, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Goa and Tamil Nadu, and our thirst remains unslaked …