3.5 lacs INR Pondy trip ЁЯШй
I usually write all good experiences about all my trips but why always good days to be shared, today I'll share my a horrible experience of recent trip to Pondicherry.
After lockdown got relaxed; we were on road trip and our next destination was Pondicherry. We reached pondy on 20th Feb 2021.
This is not the first time we travelled so long, We had few road trips before, but this time from Mumbai to Pondicherry was quite long journey. We had 1 stop at "Hampi" as I shared in my earlier blog post. But from hampi to Pondicherry , it’s gonna take a day to run car so, for saferside I booked hotel online; Just in case of late arrival we should not hop here and there to check hotel rooms decency.
As per my regular routine of before travel checklist, i had information that "White Town" is the best location to stay in and also easily accessible from all the tourists spots I had marked.
Most of tourists prefer to stay at central location , this is for the best local transport and maximum availability of hotels and food options.
Further moving to our disaster day ....
We reached there at night by 11 and of course because of whole day journey we were pretty exhausted and went to sleep after check in.
Next day morning when I called reception, for breakfast timing, He said " We are providing breakfast in room, because we have rooftop restaurant and because of rain it’s closed today".
I marked some rain showers late night when we arrived but that was not noticeable one. Then after having breakfast we got ready for city view.
When we reach at reception , that time we noticed that there were 6 feet water blocked on road and we can’t go out.
We went there by our DUSTER car. Most of the hotels here, don’t have proper raised parking areas. either they have underground one or open parking.
Our car was fully under water for more than 10 hours. What shouldn’t have happened had happened ! We were 22 hours drive away from our home. Called our Mumbai showroom for help and they advised, if car is in fully under water then don’t start engine directly before scanning.
It took 8 hours to drain water. We have noticed that many people visited pondy during that day for weekend getaway. Those who came from nearby locations took help of car towers and towed there vehicles to there home. But we were 1,318.9 km away from our home
Most people don’t speak hindi or english languages in Pondicherry then we cannot expect service industry people to do the same.
Had bad day struggling with them for our car, arranged nearby car repair mechanic , who towed our car to his workshop arranged total scanning for car,
We found that full engine was dripping water from all holes and it’s all main parts has gone. Total estimated repair cost was 2.5 to 3 lacs and days required for that repair were 15 days minimum. Parts has to call from nearby renault service showroom.
Pity us. What could you do in such a situation.
We arranged car transport from Pondy to Navi Mumbai that cost us 30000 plus we had to fly back on emergency flight that cost us 20000 (for 3 of us) Also we couldn’t complete our further travel destinations.
It means, a regular fun trip of family got worst and cost us more than 3.5 lacs INR
Most dramatic was; when your national NEWS TV channels doesn’t shows such a news and we had to prove to insurance team that there were trouble in another corner of our country . SHAME !
Thankful to our hotel staff extending our stay at free of cost and providing us help to deal with local in their language.
Attached some links of local news for reference.
What have I learned from this ?
- While booking hotels with parking insure hotel has floor parking rather open oneЁЯШП
- Always take insurance which cover of natural calamities ЁЯСНЁЯП╗
- We found other hotels at cheap rate but comparatively good one than ours, so book for a night in emergency case and next day you can find your compatible hotel nearby.
- Be financially ready for such travel shocks ЁЯШБ
- Be ready for challenges ЁЯШВ
- Thankful to god that we are safe❤️
"I WILL SHARE TOURIST SPOTS AND OTHER FOOD DETAILS IN MY NEXT PONDY BLOG
WHERE ALL THE GOODNESS OF PONDY WILL BE SHARED "
Very good post. You have penned down your bad travel experience in Pondicherry. Nicely written and keep up the good work.
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