Bangalore - Madurai - Rameshwaram - Kanyakumari - Bangalore

No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” – Lin Yutang

 Let's Go Somewhere!!!

The holiday season was coming up and my parents planned on visiting me in Bangalore. Like an ‘obedient’ and ‘dutiful’ son (Remember Shravan Kumar?, The mythological character of Ramayana), I planned a religious trip for them in a week’s time. My initial plan was to stay at Rameshwaram and Kanyakumari, but because of the Christmas week and yearly festival rush, reservations were not available at any hotel. I revised my plan and thought of doing night stay at Madurai and Tirunelvelli. With great difficulty (there was a medical conference being held for three days in Madurai), I found a place to stay at a service apartment in Madurai and booked Hotel in Tirunelvelli. You can only try to be Shravan Kumar, but be ready and Expect the Unexpected.

This blog is my day-by-day experience while traveling to these locations and I hope that you will find useful information from my blog that can help you in planning your trip on this route.

                                                              Day 1:

Bangalore to Madurai:

Distance: 460 KM

Started: 25-Dec-2014 @ 6:00 AM

Reached 25-Dec-2014 @ 3:40 PM

Number of Toll: 8

Toll Tax: 467 Rs

Road Condition: 4 Lane NH-7 Highway, Heavy Traffic at first three Tolls Gate from Elect. City Flyover Till Hosur, It takes good amount of time to cross these toll gates especially in holiday season, Diversions at Hosur where flyover work is under construction, takes time to cross, Small section (5 KM) of Ghats road work was also in progress, otherwise it’s pleasure drive till Madurai.

·        On the evening before I started my journey, I ensured that enough fuel was in the car to take me to Tamil Nadu, as I planned to fill the entire tank there because of the cheaper fuel cost and also checked the tire pressure.

·         We had planned to start early and woke up the next morning by 3:30 AM and were out of the house by 6:00 AM. My wife ensured we had enough food supplies to get us through the morning. On the way we had home-cooked Aloo-Poori along with tea, a typical North Indian food.

·         We took the outer ring road, which, to our delight had absolutely no traffic till we reached the Electronic City flyover( 10 KM long). There was a huge traffic jam extending till the foot of the flyover from Toll Gate and it took us about 40 minutes to get through and reach the toll gate.

·         By the time we crossed the next toll gate at Attibele, we had already spent 2 hours 20 minutes and traveled only about 56 kms. During the holiday season, you can expect a huge delay in crossing these two toll gates which are barely 15 kms apart.

NH-7

·         Attibele is the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border, there was a fleet of private taxi operators wanting to renew their permits and they blocked a lane on NH, which slowed down the traffic movement on the way to Krishnagiri toll.

·         As we planned in the beginning, upon reaching Tamil Nadu I refueled the car and made a halt to have our breakfast. At that point I was really felling behind the schedule because of the delays caused by traffic jams at toll gates.

·         Till Krishnagiri, there was heavy traffic because of common route for people traveling to Chennai, Pondicherry, and Madurai. After crossing the Krishnagiri toll, there are separate routes for reaching these places and the traffic gets divided and after that it was a smooth sailing and we crossed the Thoppur, Omalur, Rasamplayam, and Vellachettiyur tolls without any delays. You can drive comfortable at 120 kmph and achieve an average speed of 100 kmph on these routes.

NH-7

·         After another 12 kms, our next halt was for tea at Hotel Aarthi veg by around 2:00 pm. By this time I had also fallen back on my schedule and recovered a bit from the previous delays. We reached the Kodai toll by 2:50 PM, with a slight delay and We were only about 50 kms from Madurai, which was our first destination in the journey.

·         By 3:40 PM, we reached our service apartment Amoha, in Madurai. We had a pleasant stay at the apartment but it was lacking in some basic amenities, like hot water supply, TV, etc.

·         We rested for a while and then decided to visit the Meenakshi Amman temple, dedicated to the goddess Parvati also known as Meenakshi. For our commute, we hired an auto, which is advisable as the roads leading to the temple are very narrow and not suited for your own vehicle. The auto charge may be about Rs 80.

Meenakshi Temple

·         The temple is square and spread over 45 acres and has an entrance from all four sides. We entered the temple at 5:30 PM from the West entrance and joined the queue for security check (only phones allowed). After the security check, we saw that there was a huge queue for the general darshan; were already running out of time and the temple closing time was 8:30 PM, so bought the special darshan ticket worth Rs. 100 per person. If you have sufficient time, you can join the free darshan queue. After the darshan, we had dinner at a nearby restaurant, which served good quality vegetarian food at a reasonable cost (Rs. 600 for four people). We then took an auto and came back to our apartment to retire for the night.

Day 1 Summary:

S.N	Place	Distance Travelled	Travel Time	Toll Tax  ( Rs)	Arr. Time	Dep. Time	Wait Time( Mins)
1.	Journey Starts	0	0	0	5:50 AM	6:00 AM	0
2.	First Toll ( Electronic city)	41 KM	1 Hour 10 Min	45 Rs	7:10 AM	7:50 AM	40 Mins
3.	Second Toll	15 KM	10 Mins	25 Rs	8:00 AM	8:20 AM	20 Mins
4.	Third Toll	55 KM	1 Hour 5 Min	60 Rs	9:25 AM	9:35 AM	10 Mins
5.	Stop 1( Fuel + Breakfast)	58 KM	40 Mins		10:15 AM	10:50 AM	35 Mins
6.	Fourth Toll	9 KM	10 Mins	88 Rs	11:00 AM	11:05 AM	5 Mins
7.	Fifth Toll	38 KM	45 Mins	71 Rs	11:50 AM	11:55 AM	5 Mins
8.	Sixth Toll	68 KM	1 Hour 5 Mins	43 Rs	1:00 PM	1:05 PM	5 Mins
9.	Seventh Toll	73 KM	40 Mins	80 Rs	1:45 PM	1:50 PM	5 Mins
10.	Stop 2 ( Tea )	12 KM	10 Mins		2:00 PM	2:20 PM	20 Mins
11.	Eighth Toll	49 KM	30 Mins	55 Rs	2:50 PM	2:55 PM	5 Mins
12.	Reached Madurai	38 KM	20 Mins		3:15 PM
13.	Reached Hotel	10 KM	25 Mins		3:40 PM
	Bangalore to Madurai	466 KM	7 Hours 10 Mins	467 Rs			2 Hour 30 Mins

Day 2:

Madurai to Rameshwaram:

Distance: 175 KM

Started:  26-Dec-2014 @ 5:15 AM from Madurai

Reached: 26-Dec-2014@ 9:15 AM at Rameshwaram

Number of Toll: 1

Toll Tax: 30 Rs

Road Condition: Double Road (2 Lane), Traffic is normal, Villages alongside road, Comfortable drive speed 60-70KMPH

·         We had to start early from Madurai (5 AM) so that we could reach comfortably at Tirunelveli by evening after visiting Rameshwaram. So, we woke up at 4:00 AM and everybody got ready on time and came down to apartment’s parking area only to find that my car was blocked and there was no space to take the car out. It took 30 mins to and we started at 5:15 AM towards Rameshwaram.

·         It was pitch dark but we didn’t get any difficulty to come out of city (Thanks to Nokia - Here Drive+) and we reached first toll gate after driving 12 KM.

·         We stopped for Breakfast after driving 112 KM from Madurai at Kumaran’s Bhavan Restaurent , The food was of good quality. It is hygienic place to have breakfast. I refueled the car from adjacent Petrol Bunk, and we were ready in 50 mins to resume our journey to Rameshwaram that was still 60 KM from there.

Roadside Dhaba

·       We reached Indira Gandhi Road Bridge (Considered to be India’s first road bridge over sea, constructed in 1988) at 9:15 AM. We stopped there for 15 mins.

Indira Gandhi Road Bridge

 The view of Pamban bridge (Pamban railway bridge is operational since 1914) was awesome. This 2 KM double road bridge connects Rameshwaram to mainland; people generally stop their vehicle on bridge to take pictures.
Pamban Bridge

 There is no parking area and you have to stop on the road, the wind velocity is quite high and it’s worth stopping vehicle there to experience the amazing view. If you are lucky, you can get chance to view train going over Pamban Bridge at snail’s pace on this 100 year old cantilever bridge.
Pamban Bridge

·         This bridge was damaged by cyclone in 1964 and was restored by famous Engineer E. Sreedharan ( He is the same Delhi Metro Man) in just 46 days. The bridge lists in top ten dangerous rail bridges in the world. The Indian railway is trying to get this bridge in the world heritage list of UNESCO.

Pamban Bridge

 ·         The Temple is 20 KM from Pamban bridge, There are 12 Jyothirilinga temples in India and Rameshwaram is one among them where shiva is worshipped in form of jyothirilinagam. This temple is at place where Lord Rama is believed to have prayed to Shiva after Killing Ravan who was Bramhin.

·         We reached car parking area at 10:00 AM,  Temple is around 500 meter from the parking area. We kept our cellphone, Cameras inside car( Car Parking charges – 40 Rs),However, lockers are available to store any mobile or camera in 20 Rs per locker near temple.

Rameshwaram Entry Gate

·          After walking little, we reached near temple and a Guide approached us and offered to help. The temple looked over crowded; and we agreed on one amount and entered in temple premises with him. He purchased entry tickets for us, offered to assist during Kund Snan and assured for special Darshan.

·         The Entry ticket is 15 Rs per person ( you have to wear ticket band until it’s collected at one place inside temple) and 10 Rs per person for Kund Snan but if you have booked guide then you have to negotiate hard to come to final price.

·         There are 22 Kundas, where water is fetched by the temple person and you have to take bath. Each well is dedicated to separate religious pilgrimage. If you are accompanied by temple guide, they will fetch water from well and pour bucket of water on your head else you have to wait for others to join. Water is poured on you in this fashion twenty two times at each kundas. It’s truly memorable experience.

·         All Kundas seemed like having different taste and temperature of water, you won’t feel cold even if it’s winter season.  There are designated areas for changing cloths and after that you can enter the temple.

·         After finishing holy bath, The Guide arranged Special Darshan and made us to stand in a line where only 10 people were standing in front of us and it took 15 mins to complete Darshan of Lord Shiva

·         After coming out, we bought Prasad from nearby counter (500 Rs for four packets) and guide took us to nearby temple. We came out in 1.5 hour from temple and after collecting wallets from locker room, headed for parking area.

·         We started for Dhanushkodi at 1:00 PM and it’s around 22 KM from the temple out of which you can go up to 14 KM by your own vehicle on tar road till the check post. In this road trip, you will find Indian Ocean and Bay of Bangal will come along on either side of road. When tar road ends, there are 4*4 mini buses/ Jeeps available that take you at Dhanushkodi village which is another 8 KM from that place. After reaching the Dhanushkodi village, you have to travel another 2-3 km to reach to place which is confluence area of Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean. Dhanushkodi is in shape of Bow and Arrow and tip of the arrow is the confluence area.

·         The village was having Railway connectivity till Dhanushkodi but it was washed away in 1964 Cyclone. Following this disaster, Govt of Madras declared Dhanushkodi as Ghost Town and unfit for living and today also only a few people live here.

Dhanushkodi Beach

·         This is also a place where Lord Ram constructed Rama Setu to SriLanka ( 31 Km from the Erosion Point)

·         The bus ride experience can be horrible as driving on sand road was highly unstable and overcrowded buses make the situation worse. They charge 180 Per Person for round trip in 2-3 hours including stay there. The complete trip to Dhanushkodi in 4*4 mini-bus takes 2 -3 hours which is not sufficient to touch to confluence point.
Dhanushkodi Check Post

·         We returned back to city and went to Rama Teertham, Seeta Teeratham, Laxman Teertham and Panchamuga Hanuman Temple, this is having many floating stones, used in building Rama Setu, it’s heavy stone around 10-15 KG in weight but floats in water.

·         Now, it was time for lunch, so we got into restaurant at 2:30 PM for Lunch ( Ramdev Bhojanalya), good quality food, around 500 Rs for four person. We were ready for our onward journey at 3:30 PM to Tirunelveli for night stay.

Day 2 Summary ( Part-1):

S.N	Place	Distance Travelled	Travel Time	Toll Tax  Rs	Arr. Time	Dep. Time	Wait Time( Mins)
1.	Journey Starts	0	0	0	4:50 AM	5:15 AM	25 Mins
2.	First Toll	15 KM	15 Min	30 Rs	5:30 AM	5:35 AM	05 Mins
3.	Stop for Breakfast & Fuel	82 KM	1 Hour 45 Min		7:20 AM	8:15 AM	55 Mins
4.	Stop at Pamban	58 KM	1 Hour		9:15 AM	9:30 AM	15 Mins
5.	Reached Rameshwaram	20 KM	30 Mins		9:30 AM	10:00 AM

Rameshwaram to Tirunelveli:

Distance: 236 KM

Started :  26-Dec-2014 @ 3:30 PMfrom Rameshwaram

Reached: 26-Dec-2014@ 8:30 PM at Tirunelveli

Number of Toll: 1

Toll Tax: 50 Rs @ NH-7A at Tuticoren to Tirunelveli

Road Condition: Double Road ( 2 Lane), Traffic is normal, Average speed 50-70KMPH till Tuticoren, some patches are very bad upto Tuticoren and once you reach at NH-7A, it’s pleasure to drive till Tirunelveli.

·         After finishing lunch at Rameshwaram, we started at 3:30 PM, We had to drive back up to Ramanathpuram and crossed Pamban again, The Road and Railway Bridge are adjacent and I saw train going and decided to stop car, this time at middle of bridge to have perfect view.

There were vehicles getting lined up on the both side of this poor bridge road and Police had to struggle a lot to keep traffic moving. At Ramanathapuram, We moved towards Tirunelveli. It was double road condition was ok (not so good) and you can drive up to 70-80 kmph.

·         We stopped for fuel refill and Tea after driving 110 KM from Rameshwaram and had half an hour break, it was getting dark and I had covered only 110 KM in 2 and half hours. The road was not good to drive fast and I had to be patient until I reach Toll gate at Tuticoren that was still 50 KM far. Once you cross this toll, The NH-7A starts and it takes you till Tirunelvelli and there you can test power of your car engine.

 ·          Hotel was around 75 KM from Toll gate and it took 45 Mins to cover last 70 KM and reached Tirunelveli at 7:50 PM. We had some difficulty in reaching hotel; it took another 25 mins to reach Hotel covering 10 KM and finally we were at Hotel at 8:30 PM.

·         Hotel was in the heart of city. Main Bus Station was some 100 meter away and Railway station was also in 500 Meter away from Hotel. Hotel Bharani was at location in the middle of main market and it’s quite noisy place. Otherwise, rooms were clean and having good amenities and there was almost no traffic noise in rooms. We checked into Hotel, took rest a while, after having bath, we had dinner in hotel (food was good, expense was 700 Rs for four people) and went to sleep by 11:30 PM

Day 2 Summary ( Part-2):

S.N	Place	Distance Travelled	Travel Time	Toll Tax  Rs	Arr. Time	Dep. Time	Wait Time( Mins)
1.	Journey Starts	0	0	0		3:30 PM
2.	Stop for Breakfast & Fuel	110 KM	2 Hours		5:30 PM	6:00 PM	30 Mins
3.	Toll Gate at Tuticoren	50 KM	1 Hour	50 Rs	7:00 PM	7:05 PM	05 Mins
4.	Reached Tirunelveli	66 KM	45 Mins		7:50 PM
5.	Reached Hotel	10 KM	25 Mins		8:20 PM

·         The second day ( 26-Dec)drive was 175+236 = 411 KM in 4 + 5 = 9 Hours Approx.

Day 3:

Tirunelveli to Kanyakumari and return

Distance: 85 KM

Started: 27-Dec-2014 @ 9:20 AM

Reached: 27-Dec-2014 @ 10:35 AM

Toll: One

Toll Tax: 90 Rs (Both Way)

Road Condition: Excellent highway NH-7, four lane roads, perfectly marked and fenced in some areas, traffic is normal, Comfortable Drive: 120 KMPH

Kanyakumari Entry Fee: 50 Rs

Vatta-Kotai beach Road Entry fee: 20 Rs

Distance Travelled: 170 KM

·         Kanyakumari is 84 KM from Tirunelveli and per plan; entire day was reserved for Kanyakumari visit. On last night, I asked hotel staff to take my car out of parking and keep it ready in front of Hotel by 6:00 AM. The plan was later changed and it was decided that we would start journey comfortably by 9:00 AM instead of 6:00. We got up at 7:30 AM and were done with breakfast by 9:00 AM. By the time we came down, you won’t believe, the car was having thick layer of dust all over it’s body. Four people from hotel staff started cleaning it and we were good to go in next 15 mins.

·         We started for Kanyakumari at 9:20 AM and with the help of Nokia Navigation, we reached NH7 in no time and reached toll gate after 27 KM. The road is absolutely fantastic to drive, there was not much traffic and you can drive comfortably at 120 kmph. As we were approaching to Kanyakumari, there were large number of Windmill on both side of road.
WindMills Farm

These windmills are considered as one of largest wind farms in the country and  produces 4200 MW electricity.

WindMills @NH-7

·         We had to take left turn towards city at dead end of NH-7 and reached Kanyakumari Entry point of city. After paying 50 Rs as Entry fee, we moved towards Vivekanand Rocks ferry terminal point.

Kanyakumari Entry Point

·         The city was very crowded in the last week of December and I had to struggle to find parking place for car. Moreover, it had to be parked at side of the road. Parents got down at point near ferry terminal and I somehow found place for parking nearly 500 meters away from that place where my parents got down, opposite direction of ferry terminal.

·         The monument at Vivekananda Rock Memorial that is popular tourist attraction in Kanyakumari. It’s built on a rock that is located some 500 meter away from mainland. It’s built in 1970 and dedicated to Swami Vivekananda. The local belief is that Vivekananda swam to this rock and did meditation during his visit in 1892. Adjacent to Rock Memorial, there is Thiruvalluvar Statue who was greatest Tamil Poet and philosopher. The status is at the confluence of Indian and Arab Ocean.

Government is planning to construct a bridge between Rock Memorial & Thiruvalluvar Status as it’s on two different rocks surrounded by ocean.

Vivekananda Rock Memorial and Thiruvalluvar Statue

·         We went to ferry terminal and found that there were two queue – Normal  ( 35 Rs) and VIP ( 170 Rs) queue. I could not find the starting point of normal queue as it should be somewhere 2 KM long, VIP line was close to 300 meters long. This meant that we had to wait for at least for 2-3 hours to get tickets for Rock Memorial. Considering this, we dropped the plan to visit Vivekananda Rock Memorial and decided to visit the adjacent Kumari Amman Temple. We were in the Temple queue at 11:00 AM, Entry fee was 40 Rs per person and it took around 1 hour to come out.

·         The Kumari Amman temple is goddess Kanya Kumari or Lakshmi on which city is named as KanyaKumari . It opens at 4:30 AM till 12:30 PM and again from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM. This is one of rare temple in India where Goddess is worshipped as a child. The glittering diamond nose ring of goddess made is worth watching.

·         After coming out of temple, we went to beach area that was behind the temple, its rocky beach and only some portion (around 200 meters long) is to be considered as sand beach. The beach was having rock line in the ocean that was restricting any big waves reaching to seashore but it looks very dangerous to go inside sea. You will find variety of shells are on sale at the beach. The place is famous for Sunrise and Sunset but on the day, it was overcast conditions and no chance of having sunset experience.

Kayakumari Beach

·         Sea was fairly rough and it was amazing to watch the waves hitting against rocks with full force. We spent some time sitting on these rocks and spending time there makes you forget all inconvenience that you face on this crowded beach. We were there around two and half an hours and returned to have lunch.

Southern Tip and Triveni Sangam

·         There were several restaurants near ferry terminal. After having lunch (600 Rs for four people) we started for our return journey at 3:00 PM. There was Vatta-Kottai beach and a fort so we decided to visit that place. It was around 10 KM far and on the way back to NH-7 highway, We had made a detour to VattaKottai. There was an entry fee for Vatta-Kottai road was 20 Rs (Both side).
VattaKottai Fort & Beach

·         VattaiKottai meaning is circular and fort is in circular shape standing at seaside. Beaches are clean and you get quite scenic view from there. The area inside the fort was having green grass all around and after climbing you can have amazing view of sea. We spent around half an hour and started at 3:40 PM back to Tirunelveli.

NH-7

 ·         We reached the hotel in 1 hour after covering 78 KM distance. Time was 5:00 PM but we had to take rest in order to prepare ourselves for the long drive back to Bangalore the next day. We finished our dinner by 9:00 PM ( 650 Rs for four person) and Finished dinner at 9:00 PM ( 550 Rs for four person) . At 10:00 PM, it was time to hit the sack as we had to start early for our return journey.

Day 3 Summary :

S.N	Place	Distance Travelled	Travel Time	Toll Tax  Rs	Arr. Time	Dep. Time	Wait Time( Mins)
1.	Journey Starts	0	0	0		9:20 AM
2.	First Toll	27 KM	30 Mins	90 Rs	9:50 AM	9:55 AM	05 Mins
3.	Reached Kanyakumari	56 KM	40 Mins		10:30 AM
4.	Return Journey Starts	0				3:00 PM
5.	Reached VattaiKottai	10 KM	10 Mins		3:10 PM	3:40 PM	30 Mins
6.	Reached Hotel in Tirunelveli	78 KM	1 Hour		4:40 PM

Day 4:

Tirunelveli to Bangalore

Distance: 605 KM

Started: 28-Dec-2014 @ 6:00 AM

Reached: 28-Dec-2014 @ 3:50 PM

Toll: 11

Toll Tax: 75+65+60+55+80+43+71+88+60+25+45 = 667 Rs

Road Condition: Excellent highway NH-7, four lane roads, perfectly marked and fenced in some areas, traffic is normal, Comfortable Drive: 120 KMPH

·         It was going to be longest day drive ( 600 KM) so we had to start early so we can reach Bangalore before evening. We woke up at 4:30 AM, got ready by 5:30 AM, and started journey exactly per plan at 6:00 AM

·         I used navigator app always to enter and to leave any city, Nokia Navigation app worked perfectly to take us to NH-7. Driving in this morning time on Golden Quadrilateral highway was blissful; the spectacular view of hills in landscape was simply awesome!

NH-7

·         After crossing the first two toll gates, we stopped for breakfast and refueled car with full tank. There was not much traffic on road unlike oncoming journey so we were travelling per schedule. We had another break after crossing another three toll gates for tea break at 9:30 AM. By that time, I had covered 248 KM in three and half hours with 35 minutes of stop duration.

                                                                 

·         I completed another 257 KM in three hours and fifteen minutes and we stopped this time for Lunch. I took this opportunity to refuel car with full tank as well and started again for Bangalore that was only 100 KM.

NH-7

·         We were at Electronic City toll gate at 3:00 PM and reached home at 3:50 PM after 30 KM. The last 100 KM took 1 hour 50 mins to complete.  The trip came to an end by reaching home, I started feeling tired and it was time to call it a Day. Everybody looks relaxed and sense of satisfaction of completing the pilgrimage tour with ease, without any difficulty and vehicle breakdown. Big thanks to my black beast – Ritzey!!

·        Total Drive of 605 KM in 8 Hours Running Time and 1 hour 50 mins break time

Return Trip Snapshot:

Distance Traveled	84 KM	45 KM	119 KM	257 KM	100 KM	605KM
Time Taken	1 Hour	35 Mins	1 Hour 15 Mins	3 Hours 15 Mins	1 Hour 50 Mins	7 Hour 55 Mins
Rest Time	10 Mins	25 Mins	20 Mins	1 Hour	Destination	1 Hour 55 Mins
Reason	Fuel Break	Tea Break	Tea Break	Lunch + Fuel	Destination

Day 4 Summary:

S.N	Place	Distance Travelled	Travel Time	Toll Tax  ( Rs)	Arr. Time	Dep. Time	Wait Time( Mins)
1.	Journey Starts	0	0	0		6:00 AM	0
2.	First Toll	32 KM	30 Min	75 Rs	6:30 AM	6:35 AM	5 Mins
3.	Second Toll + Fuel Refill	51 KM	25 Mins	65 Rs	7:00 AM	7:10 AM	10 Mins
	Stop for Breakfast	45 KM	30 Mins		7:40 AM	8:05 AM	25 Mins
4.	Third Toll	10 KM	10 Mins	60 Rs	8:15 AM	8:20 AM	5 Mins
6.	Fourth Toll	48 KM	30 Mins	55 Rs	8:40 AM	8:45 AM	5 Mins
7.	Fifth Toll + Tea Break	61 KM	35 Mins	80 Rs	9:20 AM	9:45 AM	25 Mins
8.	Sixth Toll	83 KM	40 Mins	43 Rs	10:25 AM	10:30 AM	5 Mins
9.	Seventh Toll	59 KM	1 Hour	71 Rs	11:30 AM	11:35 PM	5 Mins
10.	Eighth Toll	37 KM	25 Mins	88 Rs	12:00 PM	12:05 PM	5 Mins
11.	Ninth Toll	67 KM	45 Mins	60 Rs	12:50 PM	12:55 PM	5 Mins
	Fuel Refill + Lunch Break	11 KM	5 Mins		1:00 PM	2:00 PM	1 Hour
	Tenth Toll	45 KM	35 Mins	25 Rs	2:35 PM	2:40 PM	5 Mins
	Eleventh Toll	14 KM	10 Mins	45 Rs	2:50 PM	3:00 PM	10 Mins
12.	Silk Board Flyover	10 KM	10 Mins		3:10 PM
13.	Reached Home	30 KM	40 Mins		3:50 PM
	Tirunelvelli to Bangalore	603 KM	7 Hours 10 Mins	667 Rs			2 Hour 40 Mins

 Total Expenses Snapshot:

S.N.	Expense Head	Value
1.	Toll Charges	1304 Rs
2.	Fuel ( Petrol)	8030 Rs
3.	Hotel Expenses	7500 Rs
4.	Food	3000 Rs (Approx.)
5.	Total Distance Traveled	1684 KM
6.	Total Fuel consumed ( Petrol)*	125 Liter (Approx)
7.	Fuel Mileage ( with AC in complete trip) - Ritz - ZXI	13.5 KM/Liter*

* Fuel mileage is approximate and at conservative figure

Total Trip Snapshot:

S.N	Day	Distance Traveled	Time Taken	Toll Paid
1.	Day 1( BLR –MAD)	460 KM	9 Hours 40 Mins	8 Toll = 467 Rs
2.	Day 2 ( MAD –RAM-TVN)	176 + 37 +236 = 449 KM	4 Hours + 1 Hour + 5 Hours = 10 Hours	2 Toll = 80 Rs
3.	Day 3 ( TVN – KAN – TVN)	170 KM	2 Hours 20 Mins	1 Toll = 90 Rs both way
4.	Day 4 ( TVN – BLR )	605 KM	9 Hours 50 Mins	11 Toll = 667 Rs

BLR: Bangalore, MAD: Madurai, RAM: Rameshwaram, TVN: Tirunelveli, KAN: Kanyakumari

Remember Happiness is a Way of Travel Not a Destination, So Keep Exploring New Places and Have a Safe Journey