Hyderabad to London by Road in 83 days!

If Charles Dickens' 'A Tale of Two Cities,' was based on Dover and Calais and the French revolution, the same route became the last rung of this Dubai couple's adventure by road. They travelled 17 countries by road over 83 days battling various weather conditions ranging from minus 5 degrees to 35 degrees, sampled several kinds of vegetarian food, encountered a plethora of cultures and people to reach their destination London where they were greeted by both their sons - one who lives there and one who had flown in from Dubai.
First, the couple shipped their Nissan Extrem to Mumbai and started their journey from Hyderabad. It took them nine days in India and off they drove to Nepal, Tibet, China, Kazakhistan, Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia to finally reach Europe. They then travelled across various European countries to reach London. Wherever a country’s land mass ended, they drove the car into ferries to cross over water bodies and continued their unique journey. “ People welcomed us everywhere and we could speak to many NGOs and common people on the importance of education,” says Rajesh Soni.
Rajesh Soni, the Co -Founder of Blue Chip Real Estate and his wife Rama Soni are in their fifties and believe that you need a certain level of fitness to embark on a tour like this. While Rajesh is a cyclist, Rama doesn't miss her daily walks. “You need a fair amount of fitness to weather a trip like this at 50 years of age,” he adds.
What prompted them to travel this route? "We are avid travellers but had never considered adventure travel with a cause. We met a couple in Turkey, Cappadocia, who were travelling for a year and a half. They were revelling in their experience. It inspired us to no end," says Rajesh. So, in August last year they planned their trip. "Our tour would take us to villages, hamlets, small towns and cities. So we decided to speak to people on how important it is to be educated,” says Rama.
Ask them if they shopped along the trip and they reply in the negative. "We kept the shopping away and stored memories and moments on our phone cameras,” she says. Her most cherished memory was in Russia. "We had driven into a parking lot and I was trying to cook a meal when this Russian couple invited us home. They insist that we stay with them, cooked us dinner, hosted us for one night and even served us breakfast the next day," she adds.
How did the trip change them? "We found kindness everywhere. Through the route, whenever we needed help, we got it. We were looked after and that is such a secure feeling for travellers," adds Rajesh.
"As you grow older, your hobbies should come to the fore. Your children are usually grown up and have a life of their own. Now is the time to live a little for yourself. And there is no age to living your life well," adds Rama.
Their next big trip will be either Australia and New Zealand or Africa. For a couple that is vegetarian, how did they survive? " Besides our packed food, we found vegetarian food across the countries we travelled to. We were flexible and open to eat what was available in our food,” says Rama.
A trip well rounded, meaningful and complete.
Thank you Rachel D' Silva for the video edit.

[@christinedsouza1461]

Wow ❤❤

[@nehashishir4572]

Amazing.

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I was truly looking forward to hearing their story it's amazing how they went to London in 83 days thanks alot manju for the amazing interview it was very informative about how they did this