From India To France: An Adventurous Road Trip By An Indian Family

Like a mountain trekker reaching the summit after hours of painful climbing, the reward is not just about the view at the top or the ability to say “I did it”. The reward is the preparation and the journey, the unexpected moments in between. That’s what makes anyone fall in love with road trips. They make the journey the adventure, the destination secondary.  They are a wonderful way to spend time together as a family, travel on a budget, and see a lot of the countryside.

Whoever thinks that road trip with a family is not so good idea then they must read about the Baid Family. 37 year-old Anand with his wife Punita Baid (36) went on an epic 111-day road trip from Bengaluru to Paris along with their kids Yash (12) and Driti (8). Yes, a road trip, in their Fiat Linea, from India to France, traveling 22,780 kms crossing 11 countries and visiting more than 50 cities.

They decided to take up this massive and challenging road trip after Anand quit his job and had some time on his hands, and his wife Punita too had 2 months of vacation. The parents even persuaded their children’s school to sanction extra days of leave to them for the trip.

They started their journey on April 8th, after securing visas that had them exchanging hundreds of emails with the embassies of the countries that would fall on their route. Their original itinerary was something like this:

India > Nepal > China > Kyrgyzstan > Uzbekistan > Turkmenistan > Iran > Turkey > Greece > Italy > Switzerland (Alps) > Spain > France

From climbing the massive sand dunes in western China,

To facing winds so strong their car swayed while driving,

And visiting the intimidating ‘Door to Hell’ in Turkmenistan, they had their share of goosebumps-inducing adventures.

They experienced nature’s marvel when the landscape changed within a span of a few kilometers in Kyrgyzstan.

And in a span of a few hours too! Nothing can prepare you for life better than travel.

Uzbekistan was a splash of colours, culture and stunning architecture. This was not something the kids would have learnt from books.

Iran wowed them with its beautiful heritage.

However, being vegetarians travelling in Iran, they faced trouble finding vegetarian food. So much so that they had to show pictures of vegetables to the chefs in Iran!

Of course, they carried their own stove and cooked whenever they could.

Like any journey, the road trip was not without difficulties. In Nepal, the first country they entered, they encountered a massive earthquake and were stuck there for 5 days.

But such is the beauty of travel; there is always something better in store ahead. Like Turkey, which was straight from a fairy tale from the days of yore.

Their drive through Turkish roads was every road trip junkie’s dream!

And, of course, the stunning country of Greece with its spotless white houses and crystal clear blue sea.

To many more adventures.

Life is busy. We’re always plugged in and focused on what’s “out there” or we’re too busy working through our daily routines. Spending long periods of time together gives us the opportunity to unplug and connect with each other on a completely different level. People often say that travel is too difficult and expensive with young children. While they may have perfectly valid reasons for this line of thinking, if travel is important then a fantastic solution is to load up the car and take a road trip. If you’ve recently said to yourself, “I need a vacation but the timing just isn’t right”, do yourself a favor and take a road. Open up a map, pick a destination you’ve always wanted to visit and go.

Image Sourced from their Facebook Page Overland Stories. Inspired by MensXP.