3:00 PM, Friday, 4th August 2017. I left office early after setting my "Out Of Office" automatic reply in Office Outlook for next 12 Days. Precisely till 9:00 AM, Wednesday, 16th August 2017. These are going to be days free from office work. These leaves (2 sets of day in August, and October) were requested and approved beginning of the year itself but without any specific plan.
There were a lots of noise around getting "Heritage City" tag for Ahmadabad and this led me to explore all "World Heritage Site" in India. "Hampi" got stuck in eyes. First look, and it looked amazing. Below is one of my photographs from Hampi taken on 12th August 2017.
Before you go (execute), you plan. Being a Project Management Professional, it becomes kind of opportunity to practice planning process. Catch travel planning process here.
Plan and Schedule is available, tickets and "Home Stay" booked at least 2 months ahead of travel date, backpackers preparation for travel takes mostly 3-4 days ahead of travel. She (my wife) is accountable for all packaging for travel. We don't pack food as this is one of the thing you want explore all the way.
I was at home by 4:00 PM. I wanted to read more about Hampi and places around it like Badami, Aihole, and Hosepet. We completed our discussion around residential society we live in and was up reading "Hampi Vijayanagar"at 7:00 PM. I have read about "Vijayanagar" and "Krishnadev Rai" in our high school books, and Hampi being great capital city of "Vijayanagar", this book was a great read.
Onward railway reservation (on Monday) from Ahmadabad Bagalkot (169 KM prior to Hampi) was still RLWL (Remote Location Waiting List) on till Friday and this waiting mostly does not confirm. I was expecting to get "Tatkal" on Sunday. But one call from Pune changed it all. We rescheduled onward travel via Pune. New route was, Sunday evening to Pune, entire Monday in Pune with brothers family, Travel to Solapur via Intercity Train (9:30 AM), and further to Bagalkot by another train.
We reached Bagalkot at 7:30 PM. It was little dark and we were not sure how to reach Hampi as non of great apps like "Ola", and "Uber" not serving this geography.
We left railway station and collected local cab providers number from hotel nearby. Cab guy promised to join in few minutes. We grab this opportunity to snack over and rest on roadside itself. Though we were waiting for Cab Guy to reach us, we kept exploring travel option to Hospet. People suggested option like Bagalkot-Pune Express buses, Long distance shared cabs, Intercity buses, and a train in the morning at 3:30 AM.
We reached Bagalkot at 7:30 PM. It was little dark and we were not sure how to reach Hampi as non of great apps like "Ola", and "Uber" not serving this geography.
We left railway station and collected local cab providers number from hotel nearby. Cab guy promised to join in few minutes. We grab this opportunity to snack over and rest on roadside itself. Though we were waiting for Cab Guy to reach us, we kept exploring travel option to Hospet. People suggested option like Bagalkot-Pune Express buses, Long distance shared cabs, Intercity buses, and a train in the morning at 3:30 AM.
I kept calling cab driver to confirm if he is coming or sending someone else to pick us and drop at Hampi. I was worried because it was getting dark and another 170+ kilometer before we reach our destination.
Amit Bhatt
Amit Bhatt is an Entrepreneur, Creative writer painter and conceptualize. He is a Problem Solver and Technology Buff. I Love all things beautiful like Art, Music, Cloths, Food, Architecture, Design, Journey Writing. I am detailed oriented, curious, aloof, and self-sufficient by nature.
Comments
Post a Comment