This couple’s road trip across 19 countries proves that age is just a number.

63-year-old Dr Rajesh Kadakia and his 60-year-old wife Dr Darshana Kadakia are poised to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for being the first couple to travel across the world in a modified Toyota SUV.

After having travelled 3,400 km, through 19 countries, in 62 days, they have finally arrived in Hyderabad on June 13 in their Land Cruiser.

“This has been an epic journey. People have travelled from Bangalore to London, and from London to Mumbai. But there is no record of anyone having travelled from California to India,” Dr Rajesh says.

The physician from California who has roots in Secunderabad calls his journey a “home run”. “For me to leave my home in the US and come to my mother’s home in Secunderabad is like hitting a home run,” he says.

An avid traveller from a young age, Dr Rajesh was deeply influenced by his uncle Kiran Modi, a regular participant in the Himalayan car rally. “Initially, I was his navigator until I managed to get involved with the Himalayan car rally myself,” he says. The couple left the comfort of their home in California to take on this “epic” adventure two months ago. Their unconventional travels took them to Russia, China, and Tibet, before bringing them to India. “We had to get visas, permits, and a host of other documentation, as well as prepare the vehicle to handle the journey,” they say.

Yet, the regulatory requirements of the countries that they passed through imposed a significant burden on them. “Crossing every border checkpoint was a challenge. In Russia, every single item in our car was taken out and thrown on the road. We underwent the same grilling at the entry and exit points of Mongolia,” Dr Rajesh says.

They chose not to publicise their trip due to security reasons. “Because of the geopolitical areas that we were passing through as American citizens, we avoided publicity,” he adds.

One of the biggest challenges they faced was travelling through high-altitude areas. “We had significant difficulty crossing high-altitude regions. We crossed the Mt Everest base camp, Kailash, Mansarovar, and Tung La Pass in Tibet. We had to travel through difficult conditions created by snow, mud, and dirt. The risk of engine failure and freezing to death were very real,” he says.

Being vegetarians didn’t make matters easier for them. But they still managed, somehow. “We had a tough time getting vegetarian food in Mongolia and China. Our pressure cooker and electric heater weren’t working in the high altitude — food just wasn’t getting cooked, so we had to survive on raw foods alone.”

Thankfully, being doctors, they were able to understand and treat their own altitude sickness. They remained in touch with their son throughout. “I have a government GPS system and cameras. We were communicating with our son in the US. He always had an idea of where we were, based on government satellites, which worked well even when we were without an internet connection,” he says.

Be it despite or because of the hardships that they had to face, the road trip seems to have made a lasting impact on the couple. “As far as we know, this is the first car to have left California and arrived in India with the flags of both countries on its bonnet,” Dr Rajesh says.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Lifestyle> Viral and Trending / by Swati Sharma / June 14th, 2018