It's Happening

Wednesday, July 13

We got a call from Prachur on 8th July that the vehicles are to be shipped in the next week. Of the 10 cars that are part of the expedition, 8 are to reach JNPT (port of embarkation) on Wednesday, 13th July

They gave us a list of the spare parts that should be taken in the car. Other than this, one cannot keep any stuff or it would attract customs duty. 

All the cars assembled at Hotel Orchid near the airport on the 13th at 9.30 am. Its raining cats and dogs since the past few days and today is no different. There is however a small problem, for 8 cars there are only 7 drivers. Once again my man Friday, Ravi came to the rescue. He volunteered to drive one car.

A road trip throws unexpected surprises and challenges which need you to think on your feet. I got a taste of this even before the trip has started. I had no idea that a car can only be loaded on the ship with an empty fuel tank but mine had the tank full of diesel. At that moment I was totally stumped. A few frantic phone calls later we narrowed down on to a Toyota service centre in Vashi with the help of my nephews, Rahul and Vinit. After getting the work done we reached JNPT.

As always the port formalities were superbly managed by Prachur and Amit. We handed over the cars to the shipping agent. AO had arranged for taxis to take us back from the port which was very thoughtful of them as there is no transportation facility available there. 

The vehicles will be on the July 20th sailing and reach Bandar Abbas in a week's time. We will fly there on the 12th of next month and take delivery of our cars. Our trip's flag off is on the 15th of August