Sept 5, 2023 – Drive to Lucknow
For the first time, we loaded up the car yesterday before 4 pm. We just had two runs in the morning to put in the last few items like food, water etc. The clothes were packed a couple of days back and the kitchen items got packed yesterday. Today we drove from Gurgaon to Lucknow.
The Start and Reaching Lucknow
We left as planned at 6.40 am. The roads were not empty but it was smooth sailing. We got onto the Yamuna expressway by 7.50. A distance of approx 50 kms took us an hour and ten minutes. The Yamuna expressway was almost empty. The Delhi roads had several school buses as it was school time, but very few people were going to Agra today :).
We crossed the first toll at Jewar and reached the Mathura toll by 8.57 am. Our plan was to refuel and have our breakfast at this place. Amma had made dosas last night, so we ate that for breakfast. There are several restaurants at “The Food Street” incase you haven’t got food with you.
Note : The toilets at this place are totally clean. I tipped the lady who was keeping it that way and she gave me a bright sunny smile !!.
The Indian Oil fuel station, Swagat, is right next to the food plaza. We refuelled here as the Agra Lucknow expressway didnt have any petrol pumps when we drove on it in 2018.
It’s not very different now, except that you do have a fuel station about 100 kms into the expressway at a place called Muhabbatpur. There is a food plaza, public conveniences and an Indian Oil fuel station.
We stopped here to make ourselves a cup of coffee. We reached the hotel in Lucknow by 3.04 pm and were in our rooms by 4 pm with all the luggage that we wanted with us. I got to park on basement 3 because the hotel is fully booked but it was a homecoming for us. We love the Hyatt Regency at Lucknow.
Some trip stats –
Total Toll paid – Rs. 1125. Almost evenly split between Agra Lucknow Expressway and the Yamuna Expressway.
Total time including breaks – 9 hours 24 minutes.
Total break time – 65 minutes.
Who gets to drive ?
This time we decided to rotate our driver duties every couple of hours. Both of us love to drive, and I try to corner the lion’s share of driving especially long distances.
But we consciously tried to take turns and it was better this way. Earlier we would fight about the change over and count the kilometres that each of us has driven. But now, we have grown over that obsession :):). Also, we have stopped bothering about rushing to the destination. We leave early and drive at a comfortable pace, taking enough breaks along the way.
Someday we hope to drive without a destination in mind …. that would be closest to the kind of people we are – nomads.
A short video that captures this drive. Please do subscribe to our YouTube channel @90rollsroyces for more such videos.
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