Our Travel Plan

Here is our travel plan after lots of long discussions and all considerations. This is the route that we intend to take for 'The Great Driving Challenge' contest. The ideas behind deciding this route was to make us (we both and our Mitsubishi Cedia Sports car) cover as varied landscapes as possible. So we are covering the Malwa Plateau region of MP, Places and Deserts of Rajasthan, Coastal line of Gujarat. As a bonus, we travel through Maharashtra (richest state in India), Madhya Pradesh (heart of India), Rajasthan (most colorful state of India) and Gujarat (most vibrant state of India). Travel from Mumbai to Nasik, the "Wine Capital of India". Nasik is also the origin of river Godavari and has 'Trimbakeshwar temple' that contains one of the twelve Jyotirlingas (naturally occuring Lingas) in India. From Nasik travel to Indore, one of the fastest growing tier-III cities of India also known as Mini Mumbai. Indore's salubrious climate, picturesque landscape of the Malwa plateau and the flowing rivulets is the reason we decided to cover this city in our route. From Indore travel to Ratlam known for its Daal Baati/Daal - Bafla, with laddu and clarified butter one of the favorites of me and my wife. This place also interests my wife as it is good market for gold and silver with many shops selling a range of quality jewelry. From Ratlam travel to Udaipur i.e. City of Lakes. Udaipur is also known for its Rajput-era palaces. Particularly famous is the Lake Palace, which covers an entire island in the Pichola Lake. We would love to stay in one of the places here if TGDC team is kind enough to sponsor the same :) From Udaipur travel to Jodhpur that is also known as Sun City and Blue City. We would love to see and capture beauty and glory of Umaid Bhawan Palace and Mehrangarh Fort. A number of Indian delicacies like the delectable Makhaniya Lassi, Mawa Kachori, Pyaaj Kachori, Hot & Spicy Mirchibada have originated in Jodhpur. From Jodhpur travel to Jaisalmer that is also known as "The Golden City" famous for its Havelis and several ornate Jain temples. The surrounding desolate landscape around Jaisalmer evidences a stark, austere beauty. The musicians and dancers are also a major cultural export of Jaisalmer to the rest of the world. From Jaisalmer travel to Porbandar which is also the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi and Sudama (Friend of Lord Krishna). It also has an excellent beach and a brilliant azure sea about which not many people know. This is the reason we want to travel to this place and capture its beauty. From Porbandar travel to Somnath, the city of Somnath Temple that has most sacred of the twelve Jyotirlings of the God Shiva. Somnath means "The Protector of Moon God" and the Somnath Temple is known as 'the Shrine Eternal'as although the temple has been destroyed six times it has been rebuilt every single time. We look forward to visit this beautiful temple and capture all its beauty and glory. Travel from Somnath to Bhavnagar (cultural capital of Saurashtra). We also plan to visit the famous Jain temples at Palitana on the Shatrunjaya Hills, Sihor. We would also like to cover the Blackbuck National Park, Velavadar - the home of the famous Indian Blackbuck. From Bhavnagar we plan to travel to Mumbai via Vadodara (The City of Culture) and Surat (also known as the diamond capital of the world and the Textile capital of India). In Vadodara, we plan to visit great museums on the palace grounds such as the Maharaja Fateh Singh Museum and art gallery that are unique and carry artifacts from around the nation and the world. Apart from various other places in Surat, we plan to visit Dumas and Suvali, two well known health resorts on a creek emptying into the Arabian Sea. As you would have noticed, we are planning to cover various places that will cater to likings of people with varied interest who will follow our photos, videos and blogs. We plan to visit palaces, old monuments, deserts, lakes, temples, national parks, health resorts, museums and art centers during our visits to the places mentioned below. We also plan to try local delicacies and tell about them for the people who are interested in various cuisines. We noticed a pleasant coincidence after completing our route map on Google Maps. If you notice our route map kind of looks like a miniature version of India map. If not complete India, we are at least aiming to cover parts of India that gives our friends/followers a feel of different flavors of this wonderful country called India.