This is an awesome example of how travelling and age can never be at loggerheads! Rashmi Koppar, Dr. Soumya Goyal, and team driver Nidhi Tiwari started the “Woman Beyond Boundaries” initiative in the hopes of empowering fellow country-women, and all women in general, to take to the road while trying to change gender norms.
With one driver (Nidhi herself), a jeep by Mahindra First Choice (no back up vehicle) and determined spirit, these mid-30 year old mothers pushed through 600 kms everyday and completed the journey of a lifetime.
The three super moms spent 97 days covering over 23,800 km, spanning 17 countries, often taking unmarked dirt paths and alternate routes to spice up the adventure.
The trio began their journey in June 2015 and went all the way from India, Myanmar, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbe kistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Finland, Czech Republic, Germany and the United Kingdom, reported Times of India.
For Nidhi Tiwari, driving has always been a passion and had built her own vehicle 10 years ago. Nidhi took to the wheels as already specializes in outdoor education, off-the-road jeeping, long-distance and high-altitude driving. She proposed the idea to her friends and they jumped at the opportunity.
Putting their resourcefulness to use, Women Without Boundaries approached a few big guns to sponsor their trip. With around 30 lacs in budget, their travel was happily sponsored by big guns such as The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Ministry of External Affairs, India, Mahindra First Choice Wheels, Lenovo India and Via.com
“We wanted to tell the women of the world that such expeditions are possible and that there was nothing to be scared of,” Dr. Goyal told India Times, “In fact, we didn’t find a single woman driving on the highway till we reached Europe.”
Rashmi Koppar, who works with MS Ramaiah Hospital, re called the remarkable voyage.
“The first thing we did while en tering every country was to buy a local SIM card. However, we couldn’t book accommodations in advance as our sched ule kept changing.” They trio drove close to 600km a day . “It was only in India and England that we spoke in English. In the other countries, we used sign language and Google translator,” added Dr Soumya Goyal, therapist at MS Ramaiah Hospital.
Here are the details of their travel:
Day 1 to 7: Delhi – Kanpur – Siliguri – Guwahati – Imphal – Moreh/ Tamu border point (Myanmar) – Monywa (Distance: 2,403 km)
Day 8 to 14: Monywa – Mandalay – Lhasa – Muse – Ruili – Dali – Xichang – Chengdu (Distance: 1903 kms)
Day 15 to 21: Chengdu – Ruoergai – Xining – Jiayuguan – Hami – Turpan – Kuerle (Distance: 3,520 km)
Day 22 to 28: Kuerle – Akesu – Kashgar – Sary Tash (Kyrgyzstan) – Osh – Tashkent – Samarkhand – Bukhara (Distance: 1,964 km)
Day 29 to 35: Bukhara – Khiva – Nukus (Khazakistan) – Beyneu – Atyrau – Astrakhan (Russia) – Volvograd (Distance: 2,352 km)
Day 36 to 42: Volvograd – Kamensk – Kharkiv – Kiev (Ukraine) – Lviv – Karkow (Poland) – Prague (Czech Republic) (Distance: 2,589 km)
Day 43 to 54: Prague – Frankfurt (Germany) – Brussels (Belgium) – London (UK) (Distance: 1,269 km)