Kerala Couple Quit Well-Paying Jobs To Travel Across India In Their Car For 130 Days!

The pandemic has meant different things for different people. While for some, the pandemic meant helping and serving fellow citizens, for others, it meant living their ultimate travel dream!

A couple from Kerala’s Thrissur, Harikrishnan J and Lakshmi Krishna, left their well-paying jobs to go on an adventure of a lifetime during the pandemic. They have been travelling around the country for more than 100 days and have been living in their car!

According to CN Traveller, the two got their hands on an SUV back in October 2020 and there has been no looking back for them since then.

“Travelling by car has been a dream for a while. We decided to travel by car, sleep in the car, cook on our own and explore places at our own pace, as it was safer. Only because our families are completely supportive, right from our decision to quit full-time jobs to travelling in a car during the pandemic, we are able to pursue our travel dreams,” said Harikrishnan.

On the road, they carry only basic essentials with them which include 10 pairs of clothing each, a 25 kg gas cylinder, a stove, minimum cooking essentials, a bucket and a mug and of course, a laptop to edit videos. They carry 3 water cans – one 10-litre can for washing and two cans for drinking water.

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To be able to sleep at night, they added additional headrests for the backseat. They fold the seats, spread a mattress, and convert the backseat into a bed.

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Their journey began on 28th October 2020, starting from Thrissur. They then travelled to Bangalore and from there to Udupi, Gokarna, Yelapur, Kolhapur, Mumbai, Aurangabad, Bhuj, Rann of Kutch, Udaipur, Pushkar, Jaipur, Jaisalmer and are now crossing Jammu and Kashmir. They have covered 10,000 km so far.

Harikrishnan and Lakshmi take turns to drive and cook. At night, they park their car at a petrol pump and sleep. In the mornings, they freshen up and shower in the petrol pump washrooms. If they find them to be dirty, they move on to the next petrol pump.

They mostly cook in the mornings along the road-side. Sometimes, they are invited to dine with the locals.

Initially, for this trip, they had a budget of about Rs 2.5 lakhs. But they have found their expenses to be much less than what they expected. At first, they had planned a 60-day trip, but now it’s been 130 days!

They plan on reaching Kerala by April.

Travel can take you to places, both physical and emotional, where you never thought you would be able to go. It tests you but in the end, it all seems worth it! Incredible, isn’t it?

Cover source: I, II.

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