This Family Drove from Bangalore to Paris with 11 Countries in between

Namma Bengaluru folks, Anand and Punita Baid took their two pre-teen children on a whirlwind road trip {on a really, really slim budget} across the world in 111 days, driving in a Fiat Linea. Now that’s one journey of a lifetime.

The duo together with their kids Yash and Dhriti planned a transcontinental road trip roughly modelled on the Silk Route and covered Nepal, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Spain and then finally to France. The epic journey was done in 111 days. Calling themselves the Little Family of Explorers or LIFE, the family raised funds for this trip from 14 companies, some crowd funding and also from family and friends.

Nearly 2,500 emails were exchanged with 12 embassies to acquire the bunch of visas need for this epic journey. The vegetarian family survived in unfamiliar terrain by cooking simple meals for themselves on a makeshift stove. Apart from experiences such as swimming in the Caspian sea or visiting the world’s largest burning cater, the family also got caught in challenging situations such as the Nepal earthquake. But the most important part of this journey, according to Anand was the realisation that when you travel far away from home and assimilate so many nouvelle experiences at such a frenetic pace, then you are bound to grow as an individual, both inside and outside.

This story was first published in Condé Nast Traveller. Read the entire story here.