A memorable road trip - Part 1

Magic happens when two young startups namely ‘ScoutMy Trip’ a travel portal that is ‘The Ultimate Road Trip Planner’ and ‘OYO’(On Your Own) Rooms, the hospitality portal, get together to give a few bloggers a magical roadtripping experience. The CEO and CMO of Scout My Trip commanded two vehicles with their exemplary driving (Mahindra Scorpio and Ford EcoSport), one an SUV, another a ‘compact SUV car’, on a two thousand five hundred kilometres trip from Delhi to Lucknow to Gorakhpur to Kathmandu and back to Delhi via Gorakhpur and Agra. All the night halts were at OYO rooms that were truly affordable and provided just what a traveller needs on a road trip – clean rooms, clean toilets, clean linen (the emphasis being on clean), excellent service, good food and free WiFi which is a necessity these days to remain connected. Overall they were Efficient, Innovative and Friendly to ensure a comfortable stay.

We met up at OYO Townhouse in Safdarjung Enclave and went out to Rajinder Da Dhaba in the neighbourhood for dinner and an opportunity to get to know each other.

The CEO, CTO and the CMO of Scout My Trip

After an amazing meal all of us were glad to see that we all loved to travel and explore food from all over the country and hence retired to our well-appointed rooms for a restful night.

Next morning all of us met up at the lobby at 6 a.m. raring to set out on an epic drive which would last nine days.

We were flagged off on schedule and were soon cruising on the boring highways and expressways to 

reach Lucknow in time for lunch.

We stopped over at a ‘Dhaba’ along the route for some energising parathas for breakfast.

After an uneventful drive we reached OYO rooms using Google maps.

The rooms were comfortable and air conditioned as the summer heat was making its presence felt strongly.

Once in Lucknow we got into two rickshaws and headed straight for ‘Tunday Kababi’ the best place in town for some excellent kababs. We were well guided by Saumya who blogs at Road to taste and is from Lucknow, hence a master of ‘what to eat’ and ‘what to see’.

After the delicious lunch we were led to a famous ‘Kulfi’ (frozen dairy dessert) shop for some yummy dessert.

Now we were all set to explore the historic monuments of Lucknow and so hired a large autorickshaw called Vikram to Bada Imambra which is also famous for its labyrinth passages called 

Bhool Bhulaiya, apart from the tombs and mosques.

The tonga beckoned to take us to Chhota Imambra which looked very pretty in the dying light.

All this exploration had our stomachs growling so off we went to Royal café for some unusual ‘Chaats’ (Chaat is a term describing savory snacks, typically served as a hors d'oeuvre) whipped up

 by the ‘Chaat King’ who also has a Facebook page and loves to interact with all his customers.

Next morning we set out for Gorakhpur but not without a visit to Chhappan Bhog for breakfast 

followed by chai at Sharma Tea stall and a brief visit to ‘The Residency’ and a short detour to the old

The Residency

Tomb of Bahu Begum - Gulab Bari

In the by lanes of Ayodhya

Awadhi capital - Faizabad (Umrao Jaan was born here) and then through the by lanes of Ayodhya. It was actually a wonderful drive made excitingly tedious by Google maps as it routed us via the shortest route through the tiny lanes of a wholesale market to OYO rooms Hotel Upvan.

The journey from Lucknow to Gorakhpur showed the versatility of road tripping by letting us visit and experience so much more than just a straight point to point trip. This is exactly where Scout My Trip helps by highlighting the points of interest on your route.

On reaching Gorakhpur we freshened up, had dinner and crashed out for the night as next morning we were off to Kathmandu in Nepal.

You can read all about it in the next post! I promise you, it will be as exciting a read for you, as it was a drive for us!