A 50th Birthday Journey from Jaipur to Jaisalmer

Beginning of this year, as soon as the school calendar was out, I eagerly awaited my birthday, the big 50th one, which happened to fall on a weekend. My initial instinct pointed me towards Goa, an evergreen destination to relax and unwind. However, Pamela, had a different idea – to finally tick off Andaman from our decade-long bucket list. I instantly loved the idea .

Booking Battles

Discovering that Club Mahindra have resorts in Andaman, which we could access through our membership, got us excited. But, the challenge was that bookings opened four months in advance. Unfortunately, I missed the auspicious day, and when we finally tried, everything seemed booked and waitlisted, dampening our spirits. Despite this, I made some bookings, hoping for a turnaround.

With Ladakh still on my mind, I found myself entangled in my own web. One day, Pamela and I sat down to finalize our plans. To our surprise, flight tickets to Andaman for the three of us were a whopping 1L. This unexpected hurdle forced us to reconsider Andaman once again.

In a surprising turn of events, Club Mahindra resorts in Jaipur and Jodhpur had availability on our desired dates. So, we went ahead and booked them, along with Jaisalmer. Initially, only one night in Jaisalmer was confirmed, but later, the second night got confirmed too.

Why Rajasthan again? Well, it’s one of India’s top tourist destinations, offering a blend of fascinating street food and rich history. Besides, our last trip to Udaipur two years ago was truly memorable.

After securing our stays, we looked into flying options. To minimize expenses, we booked a Bangalore-Delhi redeye flight, reaching Delhi around 2 in the morning. From there, we were set to take the Shatabdi Chair car from New Delhi Railway Station at 6:30.

With some foresight, I ensured our return flight from Jaipur instead of Delhi, a decision I’ll discuss later. Flying to Delhi on redeye – definitely a mistake that I admit.

Driving Decisions

Now, the plan was to rent a car and self-drive. The twist? My driving license was expiring on my birthday 😂. Applying for renewal on the Sarathi websitewas a straightforward process. However, getting a government doctor’s stamp and sign on the medical form required a visit to a local Government Primary Health Service station.

The waiting game began after applying, and with a week to go for vacation, there was no sign of the renewed license. An option for a taxi seemed inevitable, and we reached out to Uttam (MACT Udaipur), our savior from the last trip. A taxi for our Rajasthan trip was on the verge of being finalized when, out of the blue on October 13th, I received an SMS confirming the renewal of my DL. Opening DigiLocker on my phone revealed the renewed DL already linked to my profile. With this, I opted for self-drive, booking a small hatchback with MyChoize

Here’s the plan:

• Friday: Fly out of Bangalore around midnight to Delhi
• Saturday: Early morning catch Shatabdi from Delhi to Jaipur
• 3 nights, including Saturday, in Jaipur
• Tuesday: Head to Jodhpur, visiting Pushkar on the way
• 3 nights in Jodhpur
• Friday: Leave for Jaisalmer, visiting Pokhran on the way
• Leave Jaisalmer on Monday early morning, a long drive back to Jaipur (600+ KM)
• Tuesday: Back to Bangalore

In hindsight, it might have been better to fly to Jodhpur or Jaipur and return from there, saving the last day’s long drive. Self-driving car rentals in smaller Indian cities can be challenging, with high charges for outstation drops. But it is better to be selfdriving if you want to travel and explore in our own way and you are liitle different then the rest else the drivers always takes you to some shopping or do not take you to an odd location just for a sun-rise picture in the early morning.

In the end, it wasn’t just a journey through Rajasthan; it was a celebration of the golden years! 🌟