India is facing its biggest challenge by dealing with the coronavirus pandemic which has been spreading uncontrollably and twice as fast in the second wave that the country is witnessing. The surging number of Covid patients has quickly become a major setback for the nation.
The virus has been changing its shape and form this time, adding more variants and mutants to its earlier version and in the process, has become more deadly, taking more lives. Not only is that a huge concern at the moment, but the new variants of the virus is also a threat to the very functioning of the healthcare system in India.
To stop this unrestrained spread, many states in India are implementing lockdowns, night curfews and curbs of many kinds. As the situation worsens by the day, India has put restrictions and curbs on tourists visiting the country, as have many other international countries on visitors from India.
As the going is getting immensely tough for India, the bus trip arranged from Delhi all the way up to London also looks uncertain. Gurgaon-based expedition company - Adventures Overland - which offers cross-country road trips had come up with the idea of the Delhi-London road trip when the country was in the middle of the first Covid crisis in August 2020. The company had promised to make this trip possible in May 2021, provided all safety measures were in place, roadways at the borders between countries and continents were opened again for tourism and vaccinations were made available to combat the virus. However, looking at the current situation, Adventures Overland has informed that they are temporarily pushing back plans and postponing the trip to April 2022.
They also said that the lives of the travellers, staff and partners were invaluable and that considering the state of affairs at the moment, they do not have any other choice but to postpone the trip.
Adventures Overland was inspired by the 1957 bus trip that happened between Kolkata and London. They modelled their idea based on this trip that had taken place six decades ago. The authorities had made their first announcement regarding the route of the bus trip; it was to start from Delhi, take the road via Imphal and get to Myanmar in its first phase. From there, the trip was to proceed to Thailand, Laos, China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, and then get into Kazakhstan in its second phase.
Getting to Europe via Russia, the bus would then pass through Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, The Czech Republic, Germany and Belgium, and further go on to cross the English Channel to finally reach the capital city of The United Kingdom, London. The Delhi-London road trip was poised to take place over a 70-day period.
And because of this reason, the company had also planned to arrange for passengers to join the expedition for a shorter period, getting on and off at other points. The company had planned short packages comprising 12 days going up to 22 days.
Adventures Overland had also assured that for a long expedition as this one, they had given utmost importance to comfort and convenience in the vehicle.
