To all the girls out there, you can do it. This ones for breaking the limits. xoxo love
Hi folks! so I recently went to self drive trip to Puducherry from Chennai via Mahabalipuram. I didn't wanted a typical trip and wanted to explore it as much I can within the set budget, which required a lot of pre planning and some on the spot decisions. (which happens to be my forte):)So here is my rough guide on how I did my first ever solo self drive trip, hope it inspires you to do your own solo trip as well 🙂.
The Car
I had a flight from Mumbai (BOM) to Chennai (MAA) and I had pre booked my car from IndusGo, It's a car rental company operating in South India. They are fairly reasonable priced and had many options of the cars to choose from. Once I booked the car, I made sure to call them and confirm my booking. You can also ask them to deliver car directly at the airport parking, I did just that because it was convenient for me as I wanted to start my self drive adventure from the Airport itself to get used to a completely new car, besides, why take a Taxi when you can drive yourself?!!
Things to know before you book your Car:-
-Ask for a car which is manufactured recently (within the last two years). Newer usually means a better quality and less abused.
- Do not take an oversized car, which means if you are traveling solo or as a couple a hatchback is more convenient as it's easier to manoeuvre, find parking and saves fuel by giving better mileage.
- Try to pick a car from reputable brand which can be serviced almost anywhere. In my case I wanted to choose between a Maruti and a Hyundai as they both are equally serviceable anywhere. I ended up selecting Maruti.
- You must know your kms of travel (a good approximation) to efficiently select "with fuel" or "without fuel" option of the car rental company. A little bit of maths goes a long way 🙂
- Always set your pick up and drop points which are the most convenient for you, even if you have to pay extra. Remember you will be in an unknown location trying to find your transportation with your luggage, the chariot always comes to get the queen/king not the other way round. 🙂
Things to know once you receive car:-
- Make sure you check the condition of car and its odometer to know the km it has been driven when it was handed to you. (try to ensure its less than 5 lakhs, best to have it around 2 lakhs).
- Double check the car papers and its insurance papers to avoid any legal hassle. Mandatory ensure the date of cover is beyond the date you handover the car. Some of these car rental guys loves to play on edge which ends up in nuisance to us.
- Make sure the form is filled in front of you with all the details checked thoroughly, ensuring scratches, dints and nicks are documented and photographed in front of you.
- Check tires and make sure your car has a tool kit for emergencies.
- Most of the companies give the tank fuel reasonably filled, make sure you fill your fuel tank before starting out your journey.
- Drive the car extra safely for the first 20 kms to get familiar with the car. Which means no speeding over 60 and keeping safe distance at all times. Tip- Maintain your cool at all the time even if someone scratches your car, hits your car, cuts your path or even verbally abuses you. Remember safety is the only priority. Do not get out of the car to confront anybody, lock yourself in the car in case of any emergencies and call police if require.
The Route
Whenever you are planning for a road trip make sure you give preference to the scenic route. To make most of the journey, make sure to mark the places you will love to see and be flexible for surprise pit stops and unplanned explorations like cute little cafe on the road side or some beautiful natural sceneries, that's the whole point of self driven road trip.!! When driving between two cities always take national highway and known routes, avoid detours to unknown places and travelling after sunset, plan your trip so that you start your drive after sunrise and reach your destination before sunset.
Things you should do and places to visit
Always plan a day ahead, about your things to do and places to visit, I usually create my todo list a day prior which helps me to analyse the map and start my day efficiently. For example, I wanted to visit Auroville which is on the outskirts and it takes around 3-4 hours, so I planned to visit it in morning and ending the day by exploring the night markets following with a dinner in nice cafe.
Places to visit:-
- Marina beach in Chennai.
- Mahabalipuram light house.
- Krishnas butterball In Mahabalipuram.
- Auroville
- Rock beach
- Promenade beach
- Sunrise point at Pondicherry
Cafes and Restaurants:-
-Le cafe - A cute little seafront cafe with limited food options but the best view for breakfast and late night dinners.
-PY cafe and restaurant - A cute little cafe set in pastel tones with good drool worthy food.
-Cafe Xtasi - amazing wood fired pizza with veg and non veg options.
-Tanto Pizzeria - An amazing place to eat while in Auroville. The place offers many pizza options to choose from veg and non veg.
-Suruguru - a perfect place for vegetarians.
-Dilliwala6 - North Indian restaurants with an amazing set up and good food.- Blue line The Promenade - A sea facing restaurant with awesome goat cheese pizza.
-Auroville
Stores you must visit:-
-Casablanca
-Sund'art
-Kalki
-Auro boutique
-Janaki
Where to stay
As I was driving the car throughout, I made sure to select a place which offers parking and is easily accessible by car, since majority of the touristy routes gets converted into one ways in Puducherry which creates hurdle to manoeuvre a four wheeler. Especially when all the two wheeler traffic break the one way rule constantly. Try to select a place which is reasonably close from places you plan to visit. I wanted to explore white town so I opted staying in one of the hotels in the same area rather than Auroville which was suggested to me. But to each their own, make sure you know the purpose of your trip.
My Cost
Round trip Flight - INR 9,379 (USD 134)
Car for five days - INR 4,210 (USD 60)*
Petrol - INR 2,800 (USD 40)*
Hotel in Chennai - INR 3,500 (USD 50)*
Hotel in Puducherry - INR 12,800 (USD 182)*
Food and Misc - INR 4,500 (USD 65)*Total = INR 37,189 (USD 532)*
-Cost indicated is the full trip of 4 nights 5 days.
Map
One of the best tip that I have ever received is this - open Google map app and select your route and then just type "OK MAPS" that will select the area you are in and you can easily download that!!!
Until next road leads us to more beautiful places!! keep tripping 🙂
