While not many of us would dare to venture out and drive a car for 22,200 km on a road trip to London even at a young age, Badri Baldawa had the guts to do it at the age of 73!
Badri Baldawa is a chartered accountant and businessman based in Mumbai, who set out on a road trip to London with his 64 year-old wife, Pushpa Baldawa, and their 10 year-old UK-based granddaughter, Nishi. The trio pulled off the 22,200 km long journey in a period of 72 days in their BMW X5.
The planning began in 2016. The couple started charting out the route along with some friends. Driving across India, they reached Imphal, and from thereon to Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, China, Russia and then on to Schengen and finally to London.
On his Facebook page, Badri Baldawa wrote,
There was no other alternate route to drive to London from Mumbai: if I were to drive via Pakistan and Afghanistan, there was no guarantee that I would make it alive. We could not go north via Tibet either, as China would not allow it.
Their journey began on March 23 with a flag-off ceremony at the Goregaon Sports Club.
Below is the route the trip followed on their road trip to London:
The route followed by Badri Baldawa on his road trip to London Facebook
They took 24 days driving to Imphal where 12 other vehicles joined them. It took them so long to reach Imphal primarily because they wanted to explore a number of places in the country and share the experience with their granddaughter who is based in the United Kingdom and was traveling with them.
Badri Baldawa with his wife and grand-daughter in a temple in Madhya Pradesh Facebook
On their way to Imphal, they also stopped at the ghats of Ganga in Varanasi.
Ganga ghat in Varanasi Facebook
Moving on to Bodhgaya, and from there on to Bhutan, they had already spent 12 out of 72 days in the lap of nature.
Continuing their journey to Meghalaya, they saw Mawlynnong, the cleanest village of Asia and also Cherrapunji, the wettest place on the earth.
A picture clicked in Mawlynnong Facebook
The three enthusiastic travelers could not hold their excitement as they crossed the border of India to reach Myanmar.
Indo-Myanmar border Facebook
By the time they completed one month of their journey, they had reached China and had, amazingly, crossed 4 nations in 4 days. A thrilling experience! Isn’t it?
On May 1, they had already traveled for 10,500 km, completing half their journey and entered Europe on May 27.
Driving for another five days, Badri Baldawa, Pushpa Baldawa and Nishi finally reached London on June 2 after traveling more than 22,000 km in 72 days!
Here is a picture of their car with Indian flags in London.
Baldawas finally complete their road trip to London Facebook
And then it was time for a family reunion and some more adorable pictures!
Baldawas with their family in London Facebook
There is no doubt that it is their passion for travel that gave them the courage and the zeal to cross so many boundaries and reach their destination with smiling faces! Could there be a better testimony to the saying that age is just a number?