2018 Flood took all hopes from our Keralites. My wife gifted me a Bajaj Avenger Cruise 220 bike just one week before the flood. That time I was working in UAE and my family was on vacation. Bike was selected because of my teenage son influence. After one week flood happened and picture is in front of you all. Once every thing come to normal, we give our bike to dealer for repair. We can get a replacement but lack of information we plan to get our bike repair.
I always like to travel and keeping a cruise bike in home I started to dream to do some thing special which I don’t do before. At the end I get to a conclusion to make a solo bike trip. Planning was started and route was decide. I get maximum information’s I can and one day I landed in India for my trip. I use to make three to four days trips in my old bike and each trip excited me. Keeping this experience I plan a 16 day trip with 3 day off each week.
| Day | From | To | Time | KM |
| 1 | House | Waynad | 6.33 | 236 |
| 2 | Waynad | Madikeri | 4 | 153 |
| 3 | Madikeri | Dharmasthala | 3.58 | 141 |
| 4 | Dharmasthala | Udupi, Kollur | 3.56 | 181 |
| 5 | Kollur | Murdeshwar, vascodagama | 4.26 | 211 |
| 6 | One Day Stay | |||
| 7 | Vascodagama | Kolhapur | 5.12 | 235 |
| 8 | Kolhapur | old Sangvi | 4.6 | 241 |
| 9 | One Day Stay | |||
| 10 | old Sangvi | Solapur | 4.4 | 261 |
| 11 | Solapur | Secundrabad, Thirupathi | 6.4 | 315 |
| 12 | Thirupathi | Nandyal | 5.4 | 304 |
| 13 | Nandyal | Chitoor | 5.25 | 291 |
| 14 | Chitoor | Neyveli | 5.1 | 230 |
| 15 | One Day Stay | |||
| 16 | Neyveli | Velankanni, Puttukkottai | 4.51 | 214 |
| 17 | Puttukkottai | Thoothukudi | 4.42 | 274 |
| 18 | Thoothukudi | Kanyakumari, Thiruvanathapuram | 4.54 | 230 |
| 19 | Thiruvanathapuram | House | 6.58 | 252 |
| 78.05 | 3769 |
First 3 – 4 days travel, there was body ache and each night I think it is very tough to complete the trip as per my plan. I was 43 at the time and most my friends discourage me to continue. I can know their concern, they love me and they always think only about me. If any health issues happen or any accident, their list was big. I just look the dream trip and all other worries are in vain. I keep on going. My wife use to encourage me in our daily online meetings. Her friends scold her ” How you allow your husband to travel alone such distance alone”. She is a bold women and I always respect her courage to handle such situations. (Once I come back she share she was also worried but she was pretending courageous to keep my dream success). Thanks god for giving such a good life partner.
I visit Pune and stayed one day there. My brother is staying in Pune, old Sangvi. He just undergone an operation and he was in bedrest that time. Because of our nature of work, work location we use to meet once in 5 years even he is my only sibling. He stay in Pune and work in Qatar, I use to stay in Kerala and working in UAE. I thank god to give an opportunity to meet him when he was sick.
Back to childhood days : I visit Bolarum near to Secundrabad. My childhood memories was filled with Bolarum ways. My father was an army men and we use to stay in a rented house just opposite to army camp. Still I have memories of kite festival we use to play with all our friends. For my surprise, our old house where we use to stay is still in the same condition even all near by areas change with big buildings and flats (Construction was not approved in this area because of army camp). Ayyapan temple and all other was same with slight developments.
I spend a whole day in Neyveli. My wife was born and bought up in Neyveli and each and every corner was in my mind. I just want to see how my wife live, so I went to her each schools, colleges where she studied, temples she use to visit and houses they stayed. Neyveli is a township and her father use to work in Neyveli Lignite (NLC). I also meet my father in law friends who still working there. All photos was shared and confirmed.
Food : I use to take foods which is familiar to me. I prefer to do the same. Some people use to try street foods or native foods which is not preferable. When I travel in north it was not much applicable but even then we can find some place where we can get our food, it need a little more effort.
Stay : I use to find cheap and best lodge for stay which is around 300 – 600 RS. Most of the place we can get as per our calculation, some places we have to compromise.
Luggage : Try to minimize your luggage, use dresses which can wash and use in one day time. Always keep a rain coat. We can’t predict the climate even we check and confirm the weather forecast before our trip.
Always chase your dream, do what you like. Don’t wait to get situation to get perfect. There is no a perfect situation, once you decide, that is the right time. Best of luck for your dream trip.
