When the whole world was confined to the four walls of their house due to the coronavirus pandemic, a couple from Kerala was living their dream life of adventure, fun and travel. Thrissur-based couple Harikrishnan J, and Lakshmi Krishna, decided to turn the pandemic into a blessing by fulfilling their dream to travel. Though the couple had started planning for their dream trip before the pandemic, but the lockdowns could not stop them from executing their plans.
“Our love for travel resulted in a backpacking honeymoon trip to Thailand in May 2019. We enjoyed the trip so much and started TinPin Stories, our YouTube Channel, as an excuse to travel,” Harikrishnan told CN Traveller.
The couple quit their jobs in Bengaluru and embarked on small trips to places like Rishikesh, Himachal, Hampi and Chikmagalur. In October 2020, the couple hopped into their Hyundai Creta and travelled and lived in it for the rest of the year.
Harikrishnan revealed that “travelling by car has been a dream for a while” and they had been planning an international road trip. But as international borders closed by October, they “had to ditch our plan to go on a bike tour to Thailand.”
“The next idea was to travel across India by public transport. Eventually, 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,” said Harikrishnan, confessing that it was not an easy decision.
“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.
How did they pack?
One of the questions that pops up in mind is packing! How much did they pack? Well, not much! Harikrishnan and Lakshmi packed 10 pairs of clothes each along with cooking essentials, a bucket and a mug and a laptop. Since they had to sleep in the car, they added additional headrests for the backseats, folded the seats and spread a mattress.
With a budget of roughly Rs 2.5 lakhs, the couple started from Thrissur on October 28 and Bengaluru was their first stopover. From Bengaluru, they travelled towards Udupi and then headed to Gokarna. Further, they travelled to Yelapur in Karnataka, Kolhapur, Mumbai, Aurangabad, Bhuj, Rann of Kutch, Udaipur, Pushkar, Jaipur, Jaisalmer and are now crossing Jammu and Kashmir. The couple, who has covered 10,000km so far, have been travelling 130 days and hope to reach Kerala by early April.
They cook their own meals
What's even more exciting is the fact that they prefer to cook their own food taking turns to cook and drive. The couple carries a 5kg gas cylinder and a one-burner stove with minimum cooking essentials. Mostly, they cook their own food while sometimes accepting invitaton from villagers. "We usually cook in the morning and for lunch, we often make rice which we might have for dinner too,” said Harikrishnan.
While they sleep in their car, they use petrol pump washrooms to freshen up and take a shower. “The first couple of days, I found it difficult to carry the bucket and mug to the washroom and bathe there!," Laksmi said.
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