BENGALURU: The best part of travelling is that every time you hit the road, you create a new memory and experience, believes Vaibhav Dewan, one of the leaders of the Bengaluru chapter of Roadtrippers Club. The club brings together road trippers, new and experienced, who pool for a car and divide expenses to do short and long road trips in India. This travel community could also help everyone to check the places on their bucket list.
Vaibhav says the unique aspect of the community is its convoy travels. “We make sure no one is left behind. We coordinate in such a way that everyone in their cars or bikes travel together,” he says. Recently, the chapter from Bengaluru visited Kodaikanal to view Neelakurinji flower that blooms once in 12 years. “There were people joining in from Mumbai and Hyderabad. We met at a point and travelled together in a fleet of cars that sped up the road in a line. The radio system helps us co-ordinate with each other.
Talking about the experiences and the learnings that are collected via these trips, Vaibhav says, “On one of our road trips, I learned from a road tripper about Gandikota which is known as Grand Canyon of India. I didn’t know about this place and now, we are planning our next trip there.” A trip to Sakleshpur in September is also on the pipelines.
Vineet Rajan, a core member of the Roadtrippers club team, says, “The philosophy of the club is to help the locals travel more often and learn while they travel. Each chapter has its champions who help coordinate the activities on the field. For Bengaluru, Vaibhav Dewan, Utsav Sriram and Dheerajj Shenoy have been instrumental in ensuring that everything, both off and on the road, is planned to the T.”
Vineet says that the community has grown since they started in June 2018 in Mumbai and now, they currently have 2,000 members across India. “The community has grown through word of mouth mainly, when people share and upload pictures on social media,” he says. Vaibhav adds that Bengalureans have more sense of adventure and are more keen on experiences. “We started the chapter here after Mumbai in July, and we have close to 400 members already on our platform,” he claims.
He further goes on to say, there is no age limit to be part of this community. On their first drive to Nandi Hills, about 15 people travelled in their cars and bikes. And one of the woman riders was accompanied by her elderly father.
For further details on the community or to join the Camaraderie on Wheels, visit Roadtrippersclub.com.