Hitchhiking in India

Rocking Adventure!

Our adventure is rocking with On The Rocks!

Thanks for supporting us!

Announcing another of our backpacking sponsor!

Wildcraft recognizes adventure enthusiasts and it has been their commitment to promote adventure sports in India for over a decade now. Wildcraft is sponsoring our backpacks and helping us prove adventure travel in India is possible!

They have been providing quality adventure sports and outdoor equipment for India’s young and the restless for over 10 years now. Wildcraft currently has 25 exclusive stores in 10 cities and an extensive network of multi-brand stores across India.

Wildcraft is now poised to take a giant leap to become an international brand that promises aesthetic, durable, ergonomic and functional outdoor and adventure gear. And the expertise for all this comes from within. They are available online at their blog, on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube too.

Meet our flashpacking sponsor!

Who can best support two travelers? Somebody who understands them, right? And our prime sponsor totally does!

MakeMyTrip.com, India’s leading online travel company is much more than just a travel portal or a famous pioneering brand - it is a one-stop-travel-shop that offers the broadest selection of travel products and services in India. MakeMyTrip is the undisputed online leader, with its share of the travel market extending to more than 50% of all online sales, a fact evinced by the trust placed in it by millions of happy customers.

MakeMyTrip understands the needs, wants, dreams, and aspirations of a traveller. From standard holiday packages to group tours to special exotic retreats, millions of people all over India and the globe have put their trust in the company for their holiday solutions. And it does its best to give them the time of their lives!

Oktatabyebye.com is India’s leading online community of travellers.  It’s a platform for travel enthusiasts to find travel information and share experiences, recommendations and honest advice on travel in India. It enables travellers to capture and share travelogues, photos, features and hotel reviews with friends, family and members. Oktatabyebye.com has over 20,000 traveller photos, 10,000 hotel reviews and thousands of travellers, who visit OkTataByebye.com daily to find and share their travel experiences.

Note:

MakeMyTrip was started by Deep Kalra, an entrepreneur. Although he is a successful one now, he still is a very approachable person and listens and responds to startups and recent entrepreneurs. Apart from this quality, I also admired the way he challenged the status quo and went on to change it with his company.

A special thanks to Damayanti Barua (of MakeMyTrip) for her support all along.

Meet our camping equipment sponsor!

While on our trip, our stay will be courtesy friendly locals and our resourceful ways, but we are prepared to sleep out in the open too! We needed some good backpacking stuff and On the Rocks is helping us out with it.

They are lending us almost all the expensive backpacking equipment including a tent, sleeping bags etc and whats more, we even get to keep some of the stuff :).

About Adventure on the Rocks:

‘On the Rocks’ is a store which rents and sells adventure gear in Hyderabad. Ritesh (who owns On the Rocks) is himself an ardent motorcycle rider and stocks gear for hikers, camping, motorcycle riders and so on. Being and avid biker and hiker himself, Ritesh’s advice is personal and authentic. On The Rocks is an Exclusive Adventure Store for all you adventure fanatics who love riding, traveling, camping, trekking and exploring nature. It is a store that provides all accessories for an adventure freak. 

Go check them out and get yourself all geared up for your next adventure. You can Contact them for any queries.

GHAC Endorses us too!

Thinking of having an adventure of your own? If you are in Hyderabad, that won’t be very hard. We have a very active adventure club here which can help you start an amazing one! GHAC (Great Hyderabad Adventure Club) is a non-profit club with nearly 2000 members which organizes adventure activities regularly in and around Hyderabad (and some away too). Weekend trips, village tours, trips meant for kids, everest base camp treks - they do it all. The best part is that all the activities in the group are organized by a team of volunteers and they have been doing a pretty good job at it.

GHAC is endorsing us on our little adventure and offered to support us in any way they can, and we are thankful to them for that!

Another Endorsement - Hyderabad Runners!

We have our second endorsement - from Hyderabad Runners! Thanks guys for supporting us!

As i’ve mentioned in my intro earlier, I have been a runner since some time now. I started running short distances and doubt if I would have gotten into long distance and endurance running if it had not been for this group. They are very welcoming, motivating, regular, fun and disciplined. Its members come from all walks of life and all ages (well, mostly above 25yrs) - from seniors like Mr. Hariharan who is over 60yrs old and still runs marathons and wins at competitive events to youngsters lilke Sachin who don’t mind waking up at an unearthly hour to train for their running targets. Members of Hyderabad Runners like Rajesh V and Satish M have been key in organizing the Hyderabad 10k run and the August Marathon which kicks off the running season in India. If youare in Hyderabad, do join the group and run with them, there are runs happening regularly in Secunderabad, Jubilee Hills and Gachibowli too - you join the run closest to you.

I will be running my 10ks on this trip with the Hyderabad runners t-shirt on and try to get running and Hyderabad Runners more popular!

— Ajay

We heart our Right to Walk!

All of us, who live in or have lived in cities know how hard it is to be a pedestrian. It is almost a rarity to find a footpath (sidewalk or pavement) along a road. And, if there is one, a pedestrian has to compete with streetside vendors, garbage strewn around and stinking walls (because of people using them as public toilets). It is common to see vehicles driving on the “foot”path during rush hour too (at least in Hyderabad). It is unfortunate that one of the first things that our city planners propose in order to ease traffic congestion is widening of roads. Any guesses how they achieve that? Right, they tear up the footpaths first. Little do they realize that this will only lead to more accidents and congestion because of pedestrians having to walk on the roads. This also means that all the trees on the sides of the road will be cut and driving on the road will be as enjoyable as cruising in a preheated oven. 

How is all this related to our trip? Hey, if there are no sidewalks, where are hitchhikers supposed to ask for rides from! And if we don’t get rides, we will have to walk, right? And we need a sidewalk to walk on, right?

We are proud to be endorsed and supported by the Right to Walk Foundation (the website is down right now, will be up in a day or two). Right to walk has been a fearless champion of pedestrian rights in Hyderabad and has been trying to ensure that pedestrian rights are upheld. The foundation has been filing RTI (Right to Information) petitions to make sure that the civic authorities are held accountable too. Can you believe that the municipal corporation and the R&B (roads & buildings) department have both been trying to wash their hands off maintaining the existing pavements in Hyderabad? If you want to stop this shirking of responsibility, you have to act too!

Support the R2W foundation and help in every way you can!

If you think this is a noble idea, do try it in your own city.

— Ajay R