Euro Car Rally

 The Euro Car Rally

    We at Indigo Pilots Group got an email inviting interested people for a Euro Car Rally adventure and I immediately expressed my willingness. “The Endurance Club” led by couple of our Captains were instrumental in coming up with the concept and arranged a third party team - “Adventures Overland” for logistics. The trip was planned in 2 legs - from Paris to Munich(leg1) and Munich to Paris(leg2) and I opted for leg2. It was for 10 days drive across Europe starting from 22nd Sept 2024. For me personally the attraction was visiting some countries I could not visit while I lived in UK before and covering the French Riviera Drive. Also Left Hand Drive was never attempted by me before and this provided a good opportunity in controlled environment to try it out.

    As we were all reaching Munich from different cities of India, we were advised to reach early to sync with the first leg members and get familiar with the time zone. I reached on 21st Sept and spent the evening in Munich Reim Square which was just outside our hotel. Next day morning, went out in Munich for a city tour with whoever reached early. The official tour was to start later in the evening. The official start for our leg2 was the visit to the famous Oktoberfest in Munich which was also the first day of the festival. Special tent was booked for all of us and we started off the tour with a bang! What an ambience the fest was! Besides Beer, it had everything for everyone to enjoy - the vibe of the place was fantastic - loved it to the core!

    Day2 - September 23,2024 was the first day we started driving. We were 40 participants and were assigned our vehicles and given initial instructions. All our vehicles were BMW X1 top models. We were all to drive in a convoy between a lead and sweep vehicle. We comparatively had a short distance to cover from Munich to Zurich in Switzerland which was 370Kms. The drive had an initial stretch on Autobahn which had no speed limits and was an exciting drive. However we were delayed heavily due to the fact that we were still getting used to driving in a convoy. We had lunch midway by the highway. We then drove to Rhine waterfalls which was the largest waterfall in Europe. We later learned that it was our planned lunch pit stop which we could not make it as we were delayed. This fuelled us for the rest of the journey to stick to the timelines for the rest of our tour. Later in the evening we reached Zurich hotel and went out for a city trip but returned back as it was raining and the high street in Zurich was barricaded for a bike rally the next day.

Us with our Vehicles - Drone Click

    Day3 - September 24th,2024, We started early from Zurich in the morning for Innsbruck(320Kms). The drive involved passing by picturesque Swiss towns and passing another country Liechtenstein and then we reached Arlberg Pass, Austria which was at an elevation of 6000 ft above Mean sea level and a damn beautiful spot. This place was our lunch pit stop which was enjoyable for everyone. We just couldn’t get enough of clicks and we moved on to our destination of Innsbruck. Our hotel was situated in a wonderful spot giving us a good view of the mountains. In the city, we explored the town centre, saw the golden roof, had dinner and returned to our hotel.

@Arlberg Pass

    Day4 - September 25th,2024, From Innsbruck, we started towards Zagreb, Croatia which was 530Kms. The drive involved passing through Germany Autobahn again and hence was exciting to drive. We passed through Slovenia and stopped close to Ljubljana for a lunch pit stop. We then continued to Zurich and immediately left for the town centre to visit places and ventured out partying before returning back to the hotel. The unique aspect of this day was that we had breakfast in Austria, Lunch in Slovenia and dinner in Croatia.

    Day5 - September 26th, 2024, We started from Zagreb and headed to Florence, Italy which was a good 630kms. Enroute we stopped at Predjama Castle in Slovenia which was a fantastic spot. This castle is the largest castle within a cave! This castle was made famous in Game of Thrones series, Armour of God movie and Counter Strike game. We then moved towards Florence. In Florence we had a three course meal in our hotel itself and then few ventured out to the city in night. This day too, we had breakfast in Croatia, Lunch in Slovenia and dinner in Italy.

One of the Highway Pitstop Location

    Day6 - September 27th, 2024, We complained that being close to Pisa, we did not cover it and hence we got it included in our route. From Florence, we first went to Pisa which gave us some wonderful clicks, had Lunch there and then moved to Nice, France which was 450Km drive. The route was part the famous Riviera drive. Once in Nice we checked in our hotel which was at a beautiful location by the beach and had dinner at one of the beach shacks.

    Day7 - September 28th, 2024 was our rest day from driving. As a group, we decided to go to Monaco which was close by. It was a wonderful place as we got to see the Palace, Monaco F1 circuit, the Casino, all sports/super cars and also the day had a special Yatch festival going on and hence was buzzing. We later returned to Nice, visited the old town centre, beach had dinner and headed back to our hotel.

SuperCars at MonteCarlo, Monaco

    Day8 - September 29th, 2024, we drove from Nice to Toulouse which was 560Kms drive. Enroute, we stopped by a beautiful seaside town named Le Grande Motte. We had lunch strolled by the beach and headed for Toulouse. In Toulouse we went to a classic style pub where we rendezvoused with our leadership team members and had fun partying!

    Day9 - September 30th, 2024, In Toulouse we had an Airbus factory visit planned. We went to the Airbus A350 factory line, learnt about the assembly,had a brief conversation with Airbus Test Pilots, visited the Flight Safety Centre and finally the Aeroscopia Museum where we could see different planes and purchase merchandise. Later in the evening, Airbus hosted us for an informal dinner where we had a wonderful conversation, got some goodies, clicked photographs and returned back to the hotel.

Airbus A350 Model

    Day10 - October 1st, 2024. The planned drive was from Toulouse to Paris (700Kms). However, I along with another Captain whom I got well acquainted left early in the morning by flight from Toulouse to Paris and reached by 12 noon. In Paris, we started from Notre Dame Cathedral, went to Arc De Triomphe, had Lunch at one of the brasserie on Champsélysées, then went to Eiffel Tower, did some shopping and then went on the River Seine cruise. Later returned back to the hotel where we had our farewell dinner as many had early morning flights back home including myself.

    In a nutshell, we could get a glimpse of typical European Countryside while driving and get a peek into the towns and villages lifestyle, which otherwise could not have been feasible for us pilots who would normally fly into cities and return - fantastic effort by the organizing team for such a curated route! A big thank you to Airbus Team for giving us the opportunity to visit their Offices and also get an opportunity to get an understanding on our aviation field and enrich ourselves! Overall, a fabulous adventure activity with fellow colleagues and family members which to describe in one word for me was “Picturesque” both in terms of the beautiful surroundings but also the moments we spent together!!! 

P.S: Below are some links for further reading.

1. Adventures Overland - our Tour Operator - https://www.adventuresoverland.com

2. Munich Oktoberfest - https://www.oktoberfest.de/en or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oktoberfest

3. Rhine Waterfalls - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhine_Falls

4. Arlberg - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlberg

5. Golden Roof, Innsbruck - https://www.innsbruck.info/en/sightseeing/sightseeing/historical-buildings/detail/infrastruktur/golden-roof-innsbruck.html

6. Predjama Castle - https://www.postojnska-jama.eu/en/predjama-castle/

7. Leaning Tower of Pisa - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaning_Tower_of_Pisa

8. Monaco - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monaco

9. Le Grande Motte - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Grande-Motte

10. Toulouse - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toulouse

11. Notre Dame Cathedral - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre-Dame_de_Paris

12. Arc De Triomphe - https://www.paris-arc-de-triomphe.fr/en

13. Champs Elysees - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champs-Élysées

14. Eiffel Tower - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower

15. River Seine - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seine

16. My Instagram Handle for more images - https://www.instagram.com/karangeddam/

17. Drone Clicks were by my colleague - https://www.instagram.com/_krishnaraju/

Pacific Thrill

I wanted to share my recent vacation trip to Australia. I went to visit my Sisters family in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Mostly when we take the name “Queensland”, it rings a familiar bell - Great Barrier Reef! Yes, the most conserved and largest natural coral reef system in the world. It’s one of the “Seven Natural Wonders of the World” made by living organisms! Coral Reefs - Support marine life and are a good indication of our water bodies overall health. 

To visit Great Barrier Reef, we choose “Lady Elliot Island” a small Island which is the southern most part of the Reef which starts from Close to Papua New Guinea. It’s located 85KM into the Sea North East of closest Queensland city of “Bundaberg”. We  choose a day return tour from Gold Coast to the Island.

We Started of early in the morning from Gold Coast Airport at 0645 Hrs on a Cessna Caravan(C208) to the Island which is a 1.5 hour scenic flight. The flight itself was wonderful given the fact that it would fly low over the ocean to see enroute scenic attractions like Gold Coast city beautiful beaches, Brisbane skyline, Moreton Bay Island, Tangalooma wrecks, marine life movements from the sky and then onto the scenic island!

Once on the Island, our tour guide gave an introduction to the Island and prepared us for the day. We changed to swim wear with snorkelling equipment and other safety gear provided by the Tour operator. We first went on a glass boat to the coral reef viewing every thing in the clear waters. Later the boat docked and we made the plunge into water. For me it was my first time in the ocean - I was anxious as well considering I never swam in the seas or rivers - only a Pool swimmer. Once in water, I initially gingerly held onto the safety rope and started looking in the water. The magnificent view of the coral reef along with the beautiful fishes quickly eased my anxiousness that I left the safety rope and started swimming besides the fishes. To my delight, We stumbled upon an “Green Sea Turtle” which swam right next to us and reached the surface to get some fresh air and again ducked underwater and swam away. That moment was epic for me and my excitement knew no bounds. It was simply a wonderful experience to watch the animal we know since our childhood stories live its natural beautiful life unknown to us till that instance. Once back on the Island, we tried to snorkel back on the other side of the island which was shallow trying to take advantage of the high tide to spot more sea life in action. However, the high tide was not that high and the sea current was too strong that we returned back to the island. Back on Island, we changed and ate our Lunch offered by the Island tour operator and chilled by the beach. Afternoon by 1430hrs we were back on the Cessna Caravan to return to Gold Coast.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience for all of us. Greatly appreciate the tour management firm and the Island operators for running a very balanced tourist attraction whilst paying utmost care to safeguard the marine and avian ecosystem. Even plastic water bottles are prohibited on the island in efforts to safeguard the reef. Simply Amazing!

P.S:

This is a personal opinion and none was influenced or paid for by any tour/island operator.

For detailed read, Please read the following links:

Great Barrier Reef - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Barrier_Reef

Lady Elliot Island - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Elliot_Island

Tour Operator - https://ladyelliot.com.au/day-tour-ex-gold-coast