So long the road calls

Jasmine Singh

We  normally aim for a destination, but do we ever reach that destination?  Better still, do we want to reach that final point? There could be many answers to this, philosophical and practical, but for someone like Dilpreet Singh Bindra, an hotelier, a traveller, an explorer, there is just one answer, ‘let’s just enjoy the journey and think about the destination later.’

Coming back from a long journey of 55 days, covering 18 countries, travelling 19,500 kms from India to London, Dilpreet’s most memorable accounts are only from the journey. “I knew the destination,” he laughs, so naturally the charm lay in the surprises that the road would be throwing at us.  

Dilpreet was part of the convoy of 13 SUVs organised by Adventures Overland.  Dilpreet of course drove his own SUV, after prepping it up for the long route ahead. “One needs to do a lot of planning for a road trip like this, lots of paper work, permissions, preparing for the boarding and lodging. But at the same time, one can never prepare really because you never know what that turn, that city, that country, that road will offer,” smiles the man who is also good at striking a perfect balance between work and passion. In fact, it is this passion to explore and to travel that also helps him a lot with in his hospitality industry. 

Dilpreet accomplished the Delhi to Bangkok journey last year, and this time, he wanted to take it a step ahead. “It was challenging of course, I was sceptical too but when the road calls there is nothing much one can do,” he laughs. Accompanied by his travel partners, Tushar and Sanjay, co owners of Adventures Overland and other travel enthusiast, set on this India to London road trip. 

“My eyes have seen such beauty, such warmth, my tongue has tasted such different foods, my heart has been touched with hospitality that it becomes virtually impossible to put it in words,” he adds culling out words that could best describe this once- a-lifetime experience. Driving through India’s North-east region, seeing the excellent infrastructure of China, following the old silk route, manoeuvring through forests, deserts, admiring the beauty of tulip lined roads of Kremlin, driving on the Autobahn in Germany and the final spot in London, Dilpreet has saw cultures, food, language change almost every day, literally. “Our convoy had Indian flag on it, and place we passed through, we were treated with such love that it is amazing. Though I have tabulated my entire journey on my Facebook page, there are so many incidents, people and places that have touched my heart but couldn’t be poured in words,” adds this travel enthusiast who is all set for another journey. Can’t help when the road calls!