This was the 1st official long-distance trip that P & I were doing since we moved in. It was also extra special cos he was gonna be meeting my family for the 1st time. With some excitement, and a wee bit of anxiety we quickly packed our backpacks and we were in the car by 5.30 am on our way to pick up the friend & hit the highway. We’d dropped Chewy off at the boarding place the previous evening and knew he would be happy and taken care of there.
What did we pack?
Essentials – each one had a backpack containing all that we would need for a week’s travel. [we travel light]
Laptops + chargers, GoPro+charger
Some snacks for the road
A bag full of goodies for friends & family from Chitale [Bakarwadi, farsan & few boxes of sweets]
Water – 2 big bottles
Where was our halt for the day?
On day 1, we were headed straight to Bangalore. Yes. P had decided to cover the distance of nearly 842 km in a day, and our ETA in Bangalore was 9 pm.
We stopped along the way for breakfast, chai, just to stretch our legs, lunch, a few loo breaks and a short detour into Davangere to try the renowned Benne Dosa [Davangere to Bangalore was 264.3 km, around 4.5hrs]. This break took about an hour, and we were back on the highway headed to Bangalore. There were constant check-ins with friends, who kept giving us updates on where to expect traffic, where the speed radar cameras were and where to stop for coffee or decent loos. It was very different from my other road trips!
Since we had booked accommodation at an Airbnb on Bannargatta Road, we took the route Google suggested and finally reached the place by 9.15 or so. A total of 16 hrs is what it took us!
The Airbnb was located on a dead-end street, 5mins from Rameshwaram Cafe and overlooking the Oracle campus. It was a 2BHK apartment that was basic but comfortable. The location was the highlight, it was close to most parts of Bangalore. We had to meet a friend at HSR Layout which took 15mins, and Indira Nagar took about 30mins [all this on Sunday]. Guess we got lucky with traffic as well, there was barely any!!
While the partner & friend were game to go out and grab a few drinks, it didn’t really make sense. All of us were tired, I knew P was for sure exhausted and so took the call to order in & sleep. We ordered from a North Indian place nearby, roti daal and a starter – the food was fabulous following which we showered and hit the bed. But not before being told by a friend [from blore] to try breakfast at Rameshwaram cafe and to go early cos the place gets really crowded.
While snooping around on google maps, it dawned on me that Bannargatta Road and Bannargattta are two completely different localities. We were in JP Nagar, which was where a friend stayed. Gave her this update & we decided to catch up for breakfast.
Day 2- Sunday
Up and ready by 7 am, we were all set for breakfast and hoped it wouldn’t be crazily crowded. While we were ready to leave, we noticed a car was blocking ours and resorted to booking an Uber, but alas 2 of them cancelled. P meanwhile with the friend’s help was slowly but surely manoeuvring the car out of its space and managed to have it out free. Within 10 mins we reached the area, found parking and were all set to attack the food at Rameshwaram cafe.
Lo behold, the place wasn’t as packed as expected [I have been reading about this place online and while I felt it was overhyped, I was curious to try it out. and prayed the sambar wasn’t the Karnataka sweet sambar] But we did see a line slowly forming as we got closer to 9 am.
After spending a good hour+ at the cafe, we decided to head back to the room for a power nap before heading out to meet R [the one who lived in HSR Layout]. Once again, thanks to the genius level thought P had, the apartment was just 15mins from R’s place as well. Spent some time chatting with him & his family, playing a few games of Tic Tac toe & Connect 4 with their son before R announced he wanted to show us some stores, following it up with lunch.
Lunch was at Bier Library, Koramangala 80 Feet Rd. Another friend B joined us. The place was beautiful, huge and open~
You’d think we were tired and chilled the rest of the day, right? Ha ha. We headed to a coffee shop on CMH road which would be the place anyone who wanted to meet us could do so. Parked ourselves there for good 4hrs while friends came over, and we wrapped the night up at a friend’s house with some spicy Biryani.
Initially, when we made the itinerary, we were to stay in Bangalore for one more day, but since nothing was etched in stone, we decided to change plans and head out to Chennai on Monday morning. The friend who travelled with us headed back to Pune from Bangalore on Tuesday.
Stay tuned for more…
