Indian couple drive through 22 countries to reach London

For 60-year-old Hemang Thakker, taking up the challenge of a 55-day driving trip across diverse countries was not an easy task. But, after completing the trip on 8th October, passing through Turkey, central Europe, Scandinavia and Western Europe, Hemang and his wife Priti felt that this was the most exciting time they ever had in their life.
A total of 23 people which included Hemang and his wife from Mumbai apart from couples from Indore and Tanzania, families from Bengaluru and Shillong, a lady from the UK and other individuals from Nashik, Goa and other places were originally scheduled to start the road trip from India to London. However, one route that started with Myanmar was not feasible because of the war situation in Russia and visa issues in China. The other route that passes through Pakistan, Afghanistan is also not feasible. Due to this the adventurists got their car delivered to Iran and started their road trip from Iran to reach London in 55 days.
Hemang in a group of 10 cars drove 16011 km passing through 22 countries. The journey included passing through 174 tunnels, staying at 31 hotels overnight, and taking 2 cross country ferries & 6 Fjord crossings. He had to buy 1320 litres of petrol at 34 fuel stops during the journey. Interestingly the petrol prices varied from £1.30 to £2.25 a litre.
Usually driving 10-12 hours a day, Hemang’s longest day was a 930 km drive. As Hemang says, “it was a physically very demanding journey as you transit between low and high temperatures. They travelled through Nordkapp which was 3 degree Celsius and also to Bandar Abbas which was 45 degrees. During the trip, they met lots of locals and have hundreds of stories to share. One of the interesting meetings was with the Indian Ambassador in Norway, who also invited them for high tea.
Apart from the happy times, there were also some sad points in the journey, one of which came when a car met with an accident. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, but the car was not fit to be driven anymore and had to be transported. One of the low points of the journey was in Poland, when the Indian couple from Tanzania, got the news that the lady’s mother was no more. The whole group was sad to hear the unfortunate news and the couple had to exit the journey from Poland. The most difficult border crossing was from Iran to Turkey, which took 6 hours.
According to Hemang, “Iran was one of the most welcoming countries and they enjoyed meeting with people there who were very curious to have pictures with them. Though food is always a challenge on these kinds of trips, especially for vegetarians like Hemang and Priti, they were lucky to find Indian restaurants at most places. One of the places they loved the food most was Poland. However, as every Gujju knows, Hemang had secured Khakhra, Thepla and Puri in his luggage – though they did not stay for the whole trip. Hemang has shipped the car back to India and will reach his home in 4-6 weeks.