B'luru to Paris in 99 days by road

Bengaluru to Paris in 99 days, by road! If that’s not adventurous enough, what is? Diving straight in, a family of four from the City is all set to kick off this exciting drive on Sunday.

They will be on the road for the next 15,000 kms, a gruelling drive spanning 13 countries to complete a task rarely attempted before!

Heading the expedition will be 38-year-old filmmaker and educator Anand Baid, driving a Fiat Linea T-Jet petrol car. Sharing the ups and downs of this adventure will be his wife Punita Baid, son Yash Baid, 12, and eight-year-old daughter, Dhriti Baid.

“The trip will take us through Nepal, China, Kyrgyztsan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Switzerland , Spain and  France,” Anand told Deccan Herald.

However, the land trip will be punctuated by a 12-14 hour ferry ride from Greece to Italy. Anand and family, who call themselves LIFE (Little Indian Family of Explorers), had completed a 6,100km drive in the same car last year. That 21-day trip had taken the LIFE team to destinations across Rajasthan, Maharastra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

But Anand knows the Paris road trip would be much more challenging on multiple fronts: Food, weather, safety, fuel,etc. Yet, the family is ready to tackle those tricky mountaneous terrains of Kyrgyztan, Nepal and Tibet, and weather that could wildly change from three degrees to 35 degrees.

Food could prove to be a tough issue. “All of us are vegetarian, and we would be travelling through predominantly non-vegetarian territories. To beat the odds, we will pack loads of food items and cooking equipment.”

Adventurous detours and camping are high on the LIFE agenda. Also on the menu are explorations of the live craters in Turkmenistan, the intricate Persian architecture in Iran, Black Sea swimming in Turkey and a walk through of the French destinations of art and culture.

Filming, documenting
So, will the entire trip be visually documented? Anand, a filmmaker of 14 years would want to do that, but that wouldn’t be an obsession at the cost of the family. “We will definitely try to share our experiences to all. The objective of this trip to show everyone that such a travel by road is actually possible on a budget,” the team leader explained.

Planning much in advance, Anand had to go through a Herculean travel documentation process. “I had a high budgetary concern. The entire project had to be meticulously planned, including preparing documents for the car to avoid any customs-related issues later.”