On the road
Taxi unions, border rules and protected areas decide which car may run each road, so a long journey uses more than one. Every handover is planned for a hotel door or a border gate, never a roadside, and named in your quote.
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West Bengal
From Bagdogra through Darjeeling, Kalimpong and the Dooars you ride in a Toyota Innova Crysta or similar, with fuel, tolls and parking paid. For Tiger Hill, your driver collects the district's vehicle token the afternoon before.
Photo: Prasanta Kr Dutta / Unsplash
Sikkim
West Bengal cars may drop you in Gangtok or Pelling and collect you later, but Sikkim's taxi rules keep local touring for Sikkim-registered vehicles. Tsomgo, Nathu La and Zuluk need a permit SUV from a registered operator.
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North Sikkim
Every vehicle on the Lachung and Lachen road, going up and coming down, must pass the Tung checkpost by 16:00. Those days are planned backward from that hour rather than forward from breakfast.
Photo: North Bengal Tourism / Unsplash
Bhutan and Nepal
Indian cars pay Nu 4,500 per vehicle per night beyond the Rinchending checkpost, so a Land Cruiser Prado class SUV, or a Hiace for five or six, takes over with a Bhutanese driver. In Nepal, cars change at the Mechi bridge.
Photo: Rama Krushna Behera / Unsplash
Driving hours
No day is planned with more than six hours at the wheel, except a transfer or border day the plan names as one. Typical road days take three to five hours with stops, and the car pulls over about every two hours whether or not anyone asks.
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The high days
On the Tsomgo, North Sikkim and Zuluk days the car carries an oxygen canister, blankets and water. Your driver checks the route with the police and other drivers the evening before and again at dawn, and every day has a written plan B.
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In daylight
Hill highways carry trucks, army convoys, schoolchildren and cows, and have no lighting, so long drives are timed to finish in daylight. Tell the team how far you like to drive in a day, and the pace is set around it.
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