"When I shared this plan with my wife, she thought I was joking"
A man completed an 18,300km road trip from London to Thane, Maharashtra.
It was a journey that spanned 16 countries and took 59 days to complete.
Virajit Mungale began his journey on April 20 and concluded on June 17.
He often visits his mother, who lives in the Raunak Park area of Thane. But this time, he decided to drive to India.
Virajit’s journey began in London and took him through France, Germany, Belgium, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Estonia, China, Tibet, Nepal and finally, India.
His adventure was inspired by his fascination with the Silk Route and similar journeys.
Virajit arranged permissions and legal clearances from each country and took a two-month leave from his job for the trip.
The first part of the journey saw Virajit accompanied by his Nepalese friend Roshan Shresta to Kathmandu.
Virajit explained: “I had planned this after reading about the historic Silk Route, and later after I read about a couple who had done it, but emails to the couple did not yield any response from them, I thought I’d plan it myself.
“When I shared this plan with my wife, she thought I was joking, but later, she supported it, and that’s how I planned the entire trip.
“Though it was planned before the pandemic, it got postponed until now.”
Virajit averaged between 400 and 600km per day, sometimes reaching up to 1,000km.
To ensure safety, he avoided late-night driving.
The IT professional continued: “We had done pre-maintenance on the SUV, but faced a minor technical problem when we reached Poland, but we overcame it, and it was a smooth drive from there.
“Being a British national, I did not have any issues entering European countries or any other country.
“All my documents were ready, and the legal processes were taken care of.”
Highlighting the challenges, he said:
“We did not face any major weather in any climatic conditions, though it was summer in most places.
“We had also reached the higher altitudes of 5,200 metres and faced minor altitude sickness, snow and extreme cold, altogether amazing experience but well prepared for that as well.
“Food was not a problem either, as apart from beef and insects, I eat everything.
“We would take a break after 3-4 pm and start searching for hotels or places to stay overnight.”
For the second part of the journey, Virajit was joined by his wife and a relative for the remainder of the trip.
His entire journey required nearly 3,000 litres of fuel.
Despite the huge feat, Virajit revealed that he would fly back to London and have his car shipped.
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