Driving b/w Karachi n Islamabad

Society Travel & Tourism
1

salams

How long do you guys reckon it takes to drive from Karachi to Islamabad and petrol ka kitna kharcha aata hae bari gari pe? aur choti gari pe? Which road[s] does one take?

Is the traffic on the way safe and suitable or are the truck drivers and bus drivers going wild and crazy as usual on the roads and its impossible for a person who isn’t a confident pro to drive?

We always take the plane so I’m not sure but isn’t driving a possibility from Khi to Isb, coz driving from Isb to other cities within Punjab is so common…

mehrbani

2

Its a long drive. I havent had a chance to drive that far but I have a feeling it wont be recommended. Take the plane :p

3

5Abi bhai, plain ticket koi sasta tay nai na :D inna mehnga honda ae... :D its like 7000 rupees for a round trip now i think...PIA di tikkit tay hor vi mehngi ae...:D banda roz roz te nai afford kar sakda na... :D

so if driving is a possibility then why not, i'll even have a car to my disposal in Pindi apnay saray chunnay munnay cousinz kee sayrein kara doon gi init :D they're gonna be mighty happy :D

waisay its just a plan for now, i might not even get permission..par planning kerne mein kya jata hae :D

4

First of you'll have to spend the night some where so driving between KHI and ISB isnt a good idea, expacially for an inexperienced driver.

Trains are a much better alternative, the service is much better than what it used to be few years ago. You take the karakarum to lahore then daewoo/or another train to ISB.

5

who—me are you sure it’ll take overnight? Hmmm… :bummer: Maybe I’ll plan something with my brother over a weekend or something :smiley:

A girl travelling alone on the train in Pakistan? You’re kidding right :smiley: That’s just not done, its totally unsafe and my parents will never agree to it :smiley: Plus I’m gonna be hecka scared :smiley: I’ve heard girls travel alone on Daewoo, so that’s ok, but the train from khi to pindi is like a no no :smiley:

abhee tak its all khayali pulao, I have a feeling i ain’t gonna get permission to execute this grand plan that i am making :smiley:

6

Allah khyeer karay :D

7

:hehe: :smiley: Don’t worry wasim ji even if this grand plan does materialize :smiley: I reckon I’ll be too darpok to drive :smiley: my brother will be the one driving :smiley: and he is mashallah an excellent driver :smiley:

8

hmm well i reckon its like a day from karachi to multan , upto lahore n then 5 hours to islamabad. So errr thats a pretty long drive .

9

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by T2: *
hmm well i reckon its like a day from karachi to multan , upto lahore n then 5 hours to islamabad. So errr thats a pretty long drive .
[/QUOTE]

day kee matbal t2?? like 12 ya 24 hours? :D if we start at fajar will we be there by maghrib??? khi to lhr that is..

btw thanks for the info :D:p

10

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by irem: *

A girl travelling alone on the train in Pakistan? You're kidding right :D That's just not done, its totally unsafe and my parents will never agree to it

[/QUOTE]

Its just not done? Its done a fair bit if you ask me and not unsafe at all. Your parents might think otherwise though. Most trains used have women only cars (I dunno if they do now or not), if that makes one feel comfortable. It should be alright, as long as there is someone to drop you and pick you up from the station. Far better option than driving.

Edit:
I was in Pakistan a month ago and traveled on trains a lot. Most major trains have a police guard in each carriage.

11

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by who---me: *

Its just not done? Its done a fair bit if you ask me and not unsafe at all. Your parents might think otherwise though. Most trains used have women only cars (I dunno if they do now or not), if that makes one feel comfortable. It should be alright, as long as there is someone to drop you and pick you up from the station. Far better option than driving.

Edit:
I was in Pakistan a month ago and traveled on trains a lot. Most major trains have a police guard in each carriage.
[/QUOTE]

who---me i've heard of girls travelling alone on Daewoo...

but are you talking abt GIRLS [not ladies] travelling ALONE on trains like Shalimar Express, Rawalpindi Express and so on....??? I never heard of that or saw that...

but maybe it does happen??? hmmm

did you actually see girls travelling alone on the trains???

From my impression that was a big NO NO...

and from my understanding, its highly improbable..

I personally am OK with it n will do it if i had permission tho I'd feel a bit unsafe n scared thru the whole journey...i mean u don't even know what sort of people r around n so on...and how strictly is the 'ladies compartment' rule enforced? u must know already how 'strictly' the ladies section rule is enforced in wagons n mini buses...there r more guys in the ladies compartment than ladies!!! khi to pindi is a 24-36 hour plus journey n most ppl sleep during it...u reckon if a girl is alone she is gonna feel comfortable sleeping n stuff? i highly doubt it...i wont atleast!!!

My brothers have also travelled on trains a lot and they were completely against the idea of me or any of my cousins travelling alone on a train, or even as a group, and so was my dad and other relatives...it was just a given that if a girl or a group of girls have to travel alone, it has to be on a plane...i dont think any girls go by themselves...none of my friends do, even in groups...

And police guard? what difference does that make in Pakistan...we all know what the police is upto...police to har vardaat mein aagay aagay hoti hae aur mili hui hoti hae...

i've grown up in Pakistan and I know what things r like...my own brother is in the Punjab police...but still i would never trust a random police man...

abt the driving, i'm not planning to drive by myself...tho i could i guess if i get permission and its all dring daylight and i have a cell phone...but my brother was gona come with me if it did happen...

anyways, kisi ke saath bura hona hota to ho jata hae, kismat kee bat hoti hae, i reckon being alone and all that stuff doesn't really matter, kismat kee baat hoti hae...but its wise to take precautions init...

12

I am not advising you to travel alone, its just better than driving alone to ISB. I remember the ladies only rule used to be pretty strict, offcourse you'd get an odd early teenager travelling with mommy or khala (aka who---me in early 90s :o ). We have relatives in khi and their daughters used to travel to lahore every summer, by train!. They usually had a whole 1st class sleeper to themselves though. Quite a few in my family (including my sisters and cuzs) have traveled alone or in twos, although not as long a journey as khi to lahore. Multan to lahore is less than 6 hours so you can just catch a day train.

IMHO most people arent dodgy and a train carriage is usually full of fairly reasonable people, you just need to be a little careful. It also depends how confident you are, my sisters used to go to Girl Guide camps as far as Gilgit etc no one ever stopped them.

Again I am not advising you to travel alone, better safe than sorry.

13

LOL who---me its not me, i have to convince my dad n bros to let me travel alone :D

They r OK with sending me to Amreeka but dont let me travel alone in Pakistan :) You know how it is in Pak...

And I never said k no I have to and all that but this time I think I'm gonna try to convince em to let me :D

or maybe if I get a real good job [inshallah] I'll just be able to pay for the plain ticket n not worry abt the long n tiring train journey :D

KHI-Pindi is longer than Multan-Lahore so that could be a prob, but your post was really encouraging :D I'd just never heard of it happenning before, but since you gave examples, it seems like its not such a ridiculous idea...

thanks for ur replies :)

14

irem,

I didn't bother reading other people's posts ... but in my opinion .. not dont drive from Karachi to islamabad. That is not feasible. My cousins did it once ... when he imported his car & drove from karachi to lahore. It was nearly two days trip & costed him alot of money in petrol & on top of it he got scared because he narrowly escaped a motorway robbery near sukkar.

Going from Lahore to Islambad by car is no problem becuase its comparatively short & much safer journey.

I would recommend taking a night coach (flight) from karachi to Islamabad. Or take some cheaper airline .. i remember raji .. it used to be cheap ... dont know if still exists?

15

Najim bhai, thanks :)

I don't think we're going to drive anymore, after hearing what everyone said :-) I was just toying with the idea...

Don't remember hearing abt Raji...but the cheapest these days is Shaheen Air, and its about Rs 7000 I think, if I remember correctly...

16

:smack: see what I told ya. all replies discouraged you to drive from KHI-RWP. chunnay-munnay cuzzins ki sairain tabb hongi na jabb gaari chalnay kay qabil hogi. eh na hove na keh pindi pujjday pujjday guddi di phook likkar jave. Then repairing that car may cost u more than the plane ticket. Like totally innit? :stuck_out_tongue:

17

Irem, Raji Airline used to Exist in early 90s ... I never travelled by Raji, but I have travelled by Aero Asia & Bhoja.

I 've never travelled by Shaheen Air.

18

Looooong long ago, I travelled from Karachi to Islamabad by train. Took me around 24 hours as far as I remember.

It was a very memorable trip, but I don't think I want to do that again. It was just too tiring.

And I suppose driving on that route would be even more tiring.

19

Umer bhai, thanks for the reply :slight_smile: I’ve also travelled by train to Rwp from Khi once and mat poochein how terrible it was :smack: Us ke baad toba kar lee thee ham saab ne…
Yup I think I’ve given up the khwaabi driving idea :smiley:

Najim bhai, jee it sounds vaguely familiar…Raji…
AeroAsia abhee tak chal rahi hae…
Shaheen aaj kal bohot popular hae…
Bhoja I’m not sure if it is still operating, they had a problem with a tyre once in their planes, tyre gir gya tha or something, their general rep was not too good too, I heard they were closing but don’t know if they did…
We usually take Shaheen or PIA…

5Abi bhai haanji you are right :smiley: I’ve given up the idea completely now :smiley: Like totally :smiley:

20

Aap yahan say chanda jama karr ke wahan plane ticket lay lo. Best solution. :k:

Several years ago, I had a relative come from Karachi to Lahore on his car. It took him 18 hours, aur gaari ka anjarr panjarr alag ho giya thaa. Waisay woh ghoomtay ghumaatay ayay thay rastay mein, thats why it took him 2 days. I assume the traffic is horrible, and the bigger danger is when you are going thru interior Sindh. Unless you are paid for this (truck driver) it doesn’t make much sense. :slight_smile:

The other solution is to get a job in PIA. Travel all over for phree. Jabb ji bharr jayay tau resign karr ke Amreeka waapis aa jao. :smooth: