9 pm Saturday, after the ofice, me and my friends decide to go to Pondicherry by booking a self drive car. We have been planning a short one day right from the start of the month, many yes and no and finally we made the car booking. It was going to be my first experience with a self drive car drive. This was the time when I was still getting used to driving and this was my primary motivation to go for the trip. Rohan and Ajinkya steped in for the trip too, without whom I wouldn't have started off this trip. One funny thing about self drive - when self drive concept was first launched in India, I used to hear about it a lot from friends. I used to think that self drive means it will drive itself, meaning an autonomous vehicle. I was like Wow !! India has a high tech car fleet and I wondered why Tesla and other companies were fighting so hard over autonomous vehicles technology. It was afte couple of months that I realised the actually meaning of the term Self Drive.
No, getting into the details about current trip. We planned a single day trip to Pondicherry. 300 kms approx total journey. We booked Ford EcoSport from Revv (Similar to Zoomcar) from 4 am in the morning to 10 pm. We were not sure about weather to start the trip at 4 am or 6 am. Anyway, we booked from 4 am and the car was to be delivered near our society by the company. Surprisingly the Delivery man called at 10 pm and he was ready to deliver it by 12am. We were more than happy to take it early without any extra charges but we were sure to start our trip at 4 am.
Midnight - He came and he delivered. We took it and went for a 15 kms spin in our area just to get the feel of the car. That 15 kms was enough to make us change our decision. We decided to leave at 1:30 am. Now, we idn't had any rooms booked and we searched few online. Most of them had 11 am checkout time, which was suitable for us. Atlast we thought we will reach Pondi and then search. None of us had our mobile phones charged above 50 %. Parents were obviously worried because of many reasons but finally we both came to agreement and I left.
Rohan told he will drive to Pondi since it was night time and Ajinky and I were very much okay with it. So off we went. There are many routes to Pondi from Mahindra World City. Two famous one are - one from Chengalpattu and ECr road and other one was via Tindivanum. We crossed the Chengalpattu and in the excitement or what I don't know, we missed the Chengalpattu turn. We were determined to go through ECR and so we found a new route and we all were travelling on it for the first time. Only Google to our rescue. The new route was very remote and felt like a forest region. On one on the road except us for plenty of kms. At times it became less of fun trip since there was nothing aroud us for several kms. Finally we joined the ECR road and all was good from then.
We reached at around 3:30 4 am. I made few calls to see if can get any cheap rooms for few hours. Btw we had reached some beach by this time. It was all dark and we were not sure how close we were to the wters. We parked the car somewhere close and started searching for options. I was damn sleepy but my friends seemed to be immune to it. After half an hour of fruitful attempts we decided to sleep in the car itself. Car off, windows down, seats reclined. I had put an alarm to wake us at 5:15am so that we didn't miss the SunRise. We were chatting and also trying to sleep. It was cool and brezzy night filled with wavy sounds. We doxed off in another half an hour and had 30 mins of sleep before the alarm went off. It was the Best and most Refreshing Nap of the year. My friends too experienced the same. I was no more sleepy and the rising Sun filled us with New energy. We were on the beach till 7 am.
Now, morning time, we all were hungry and needed something to fill our stomach. It was not easy to find a hotel for breakfast. It was after 15-20 km of driving in the city that we found some place to eat. Also, by now I had taken over the steering wheel. I felt confident that I can drive mid-size cars too. Anyway, we were the first customers for the day at that hotel and got our food really quick. It was only 7:30am by the time we finished. An hour of driving more and we were at Zuca. Its a nice Chocolate shop, recommend you guys to visit. It is little on the expensive side but worth it. Some more driving here and there by Ajinkya and me and finally we were ayt Promenade. We had decided to have Lunch at Xtasy cafe and then go home. We were somewhat tired now. We reached promenade, roamed here and there and what not, just to realise that it was only 11:30am. The cafe opened at 12:30pm. That day we realised how slow the time goes when you actually have nothing to do.
It was getting impossible to kill time and we decided to go to Mahabalipura. It is between Pondicherry and mahindra World City. That was to be our Lunch spot. We reached by 1 pm, had some lunch and were heading back home by 2:30 pm. We didn't know our trip would end so fast. I drover almost 120 kms on my way back. It was a fine mixture of Good and Bad driving HAHAHAHA !!! Many of the things I did for the first time on that trip. Like Night road trip in a car and then sleeping off in it. Driving a mid-size car and that too for such a long distance. I was feeling little sleepy but I didn't tell my friends. They would have never let me touch the driving wheel if I had told them this.
Currently I am at Chennai airport and waiting for my flight to take me to Bombay. It is les than 48hour Mumbai trip. I always wanted to do this - have a very short trip to hometown. I am excited to meet my friends and something related to Cars too. Next post will have the details about my new adventure - Click here to read next post. Do let me know about your Self Drive and Night Ride experiences.
Recommended Reading -
Car Drives so Far
One From the Bar
No, getting into the details about current trip. We planned a single day trip to Pondicherry. 300 kms approx total journey. We booked Ford EcoSport from Revv (Similar to Zoomcar) from 4 am in the morning to 10 pm. We were not sure about weather to start the trip at 4 am or 6 am. Anyway, we booked from 4 am and the car was to be delivered near our society by the company. Surprisingly the Delivery man called at 10 pm and he was ready to deliver it by 12am. We were more than happy to take it early without any extra charges but we were sure to start our trip at 4 am.
Midnight - He came and he delivered. We took it and went for a 15 kms spin in our area just to get the feel of the car. That 15 kms was enough to make us change our decision. We decided to leave at 1:30 am. Now, we idn't had any rooms booked and we searched few online. Most of them had 11 am checkout time, which was suitable for us. Atlast we thought we will reach Pondi and then search. None of us had our mobile phones charged above 50 %. Parents were obviously worried because of many reasons but finally we both came to agreement and I left.
Rohan told he will drive to Pondi since it was night time and Ajinky and I were very much okay with it. So off we went. There are many routes to Pondi from Mahindra World City. Two famous one are - one from Chengalpattu and ECr road and other one was via Tindivanum. We crossed the Chengalpattu and in the excitement or what I don't know, we missed the Chengalpattu turn. We were determined to go through ECR and so we found a new route and we all were travelling on it for the first time. Only Google to our rescue. The new route was very remote and felt like a forest region. On one on the road except us for plenty of kms. At times it became less of fun trip since there was nothing aroud us for several kms. Finally we joined the ECR road and all was good from then.
We reached at around 3:30 4 am. I made few calls to see if can get any cheap rooms for few hours. Btw we had reached some beach by this time. It was all dark and we were not sure how close we were to the wters. We parked the car somewhere close and started searching for options. I was damn sleepy but my friends seemed to be immune to it. After half an hour of fruitful attempts we decided to sleep in the car itself. Car off, windows down, seats reclined. I had put an alarm to wake us at 5:15am so that we didn't miss the SunRise. We were chatting and also trying to sleep. It was cool and brezzy night filled with wavy sounds. We doxed off in another half an hour and had 30 mins of sleep before the alarm went off. It was the Best and most Refreshing Nap of the year. My friends too experienced the same. I was no more sleepy and the rising Sun filled us with New energy. We were on the beach till 7 am.
Now, morning time, we all were hungry and needed something to fill our stomach. It was not easy to find a hotel for breakfast. It was after 15-20 km of driving in the city that we found some place to eat. Also, by now I had taken over the steering wheel. I felt confident that I can drive mid-size cars too. Anyway, we were the first customers for the day at that hotel and got our food really quick. It was only 7:30am by the time we finished. An hour of driving more and we were at Zuca. Its a nice Chocolate shop, recommend you guys to visit. It is little on the expensive side but worth it. Some more driving here and there by Ajinkya and me and finally we were ayt Promenade. We had decided to have Lunch at Xtasy cafe and then go home. We were somewhat tired now. We reached promenade, roamed here and there and what not, just to realise that it was only 11:30am. The cafe opened at 12:30pm. That day we realised how slow the time goes when you actually have nothing to do.
It was getting impossible to kill time and we decided to go to Mahabalipura. It is between Pondicherry and mahindra World City. That was to be our Lunch spot. We reached by 1 pm, had some lunch and were heading back home by 2:30 pm. We didn't know our trip would end so fast. I drover almost 120 kms on my way back. It was a fine mixture of Good and Bad driving HAHAHAHA !!! Many of the things I did for the first time on that trip. Like Night road trip in a car and then sleeping off in it. Driving a mid-size car and that too for such a long distance. I was feeling little sleepy but I didn't tell my friends. They would have never let me touch the driving wheel if I had told them this.
Currently I am at Chennai airport and waiting for my flight to take me to Bombay. It is les than 48hour Mumbai trip. I always wanted to do this - have a very short trip to hometown. I am excited to meet my friends and something related to Cars too. Next post will have the details about my new adventure - Click here to read next post. Do let me know about your Self Drive and Night Ride experiences.
Recommended Reading -
Car Drives so Far
One From the Bar
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