If you know me, you would know that I will immediately raise my hand for a road trip. As long as I even remotely know the person I am going out with is safe, I am ok. As long as I know silence is on the agenda during a road trip, I am game. The trips make me think. Lots of things. Randomness.
Parents, brother, husband and the kid. The car and yours truly. All of us started off from Hyd to Hampi at around 7.30 AM. Late by my dad's standards. :-) We should have hit the road around an hour earlier, left to him. But heck, how would you predict the potty time of the kiddo? On empty stomachs and slightly sleep laden eyes, we zipped along the first 50 Km driver by my dad. You should know him. He is a smooth driver. He is safe and he is also stylish (well- he is my dad, d-uh!). We took the first stop for breakfast at a nice drive in on the highway. Bangalore highway is beautiful. Wide and smooth roads. We hit the road again to reach catch the Mahboobnagar- Raichur road.
After a few kilometres off the highway was a 2 lane road. Basically single on one side so we started trudging along slowly, yet steadily. The drive to Hospet took us around 7 hours with no lunch break. We booked into Royal Orchid and had a light lunch/snack. The family that we are, we usually do a patel trip. So we touched upon Tunga bhadra dam. Little K was thrilled beyond limits when she saw the musical fountain. She almost started dancing to the fountains. :-)
The next day an entire day, we dedicated it to Hampi ruins. How I felt about Hampi is another blog post altogether. We saw destruction. We saw ruins. We had lunch at a place called Mango tree. Supposedly the best restaurant in town. Unfortunately it's horrible. To my standards, its bad. And you can easily miss lunch.
We went back to the hotel around 6 ish. I am not someone who likes souvenirs. It carries a lot of emotions and I hate living in emotional clutter. It makes me attached to a place. That drags my life. My office desk for example is not personalized. My house is not. No photos. But for the first time in my life I liked some stone statue kind of things. I bought them. And gifted all of them. But I liked the process of buying them. :-)
On the way back, we chose another road. We went through Bellary. And touched Mantralayam. To be honest, I was'nt too interested in the mutt. If you are devotional or know Raghavendra Swamy's stories, you may find some solace in the place. So after my parents grabbed quick lunch in the mutt there (I cant eat in places like that- the snob in me can starve but eat in a place where I am not comfy in), we found our way back to Kurnool. Around 70 Km from Matralayam. It took us 3 hours. No kidding. It was absolutely horrible. Single lane roads which were muddy and were under construction and extremely bumpy. The moment we touched Kurnool and saw that 6 lane highway, all of us breathed a sigh of relief.
Kurnool Hyd is 220 Km. It took us 2.5 hours to reach Hyd. Easy peasy. It was beautiful and exciting. With my bro on the wheel, you should expect it. He is a master on the highway. Hitting the home mile was a much awaited event for all of us. You see it took us 12 hours on the road for us that day.
Road trips are interesting. Infact fun, when it's with the right people. I dont like to go on them if I know the agenda is bonding with someone. I would rather get off and walk. I dont like talking during trips. Maybe few times when I feel like it. Not empty chatter.
Here is to one more experience in my life.
Parents, brother, husband and the kid. The car and yours truly. All of us started off from Hyd to Hampi at around 7.30 AM. Late by my dad's standards. :-) We should have hit the road around an hour earlier, left to him. But heck, how would you predict the potty time of the kiddo? On empty stomachs and slightly sleep laden eyes, we zipped along the first 50 Km driver by my dad. You should know him. He is a smooth driver. He is safe and he is also stylish (well- he is my dad, d-uh!). We took the first stop for breakfast at a nice drive in on the highway. Bangalore highway is beautiful. Wide and smooth roads. We hit the road again to reach catch the Mahboobnagar- Raichur road.
After a few kilometres off the highway was a 2 lane road. Basically single on one side so we started trudging along slowly, yet steadily. The drive to Hospet took us around 7 hours with no lunch break. We booked into Royal Orchid and had a light lunch/snack. The family that we are, we usually do a patel trip. So we touched upon Tunga bhadra dam. Little K was thrilled beyond limits when she saw the musical fountain. She almost started dancing to the fountains. :-)
The next day an entire day, we dedicated it to Hampi ruins. How I felt about Hampi is another blog post altogether. We saw destruction. We saw ruins. We had lunch at a place called Mango tree. Supposedly the best restaurant in town. Unfortunately it's horrible. To my standards, its bad. And you can easily miss lunch.
We went back to the hotel around 6 ish. I am not someone who likes souvenirs. It carries a lot of emotions and I hate living in emotional clutter. It makes me attached to a place. That drags my life. My office desk for example is not personalized. My house is not. No photos. But for the first time in my life I liked some stone statue kind of things. I bought them. And gifted all of them. But I liked the process of buying them. :-)
On the way back, we chose another road. We went through Bellary. And touched Mantralayam. To be honest, I was'nt too interested in the mutt. If you are devotional or know Raghavendra Swamy's stories, you may find some solace in the place. So after my parents grabbed quick lunch in the mutt there (I cant eat in places like that- the snob in me can starve but eat in a place where I am not comfy in), we found our way back to Kurnool. Around 70 Km from Matralayam. It took us 3 hours. No kidding. It was absolutely horrible. Single lane roads which were muddy and were under construction and extremely bumpy. The moment we touched Kurnool and saw that 6 lane highway, all of us breathed a sigh of relief.
Kurnool Hyd is 220 Km. It took us 2.5 hours to reach Hyd. Easy peasy. It was beautiful and exciting. With my bro on the wheel, you should expect it. He is a master on the highway. Hitting the home mile was a much awaited event for all of us. You see it took us 12 hours on the road for us that day.
Road trips are interesting. Infact fun, when it's with the right people. I dont like to go on them if I know the agenda is bonding with someone. I would rather get off and walk. I dont like talking during trips. Maybe few times when I feel like it. Not empty chatter.
Here is to one more experience in my life.
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