MAY 14, 2026
What would you do if you had a high-paying corporate job, financial stability and a successful career path ahead of you? Would you continue climbing the ladder, or would you walk away from it all to start over.
For most people, leaving a Rs 2.5 lakh monthly salary sounds unthinkable. But for Apeksha Jain, staying in a job that no longer made her happy felt even harder.
After spending 11 years in the tech industry and working with companies such as JPMorgan Chase & Co., Accenture and Wipro, the Bengaluru-based professional made a decision that many would call risky. In 2023, she quit her corporate job, left behind the comfort of a fixed salary and started travelling across India full time.
In an interview with Hindustan Times, she revealed, “I had 11 years of corporate experience, and my last drawn salary was about 2.5 lakhs a month.”
Today, instead of office meetings and deadlines, the 35-year-old spends her time living in mountain towns, working at hostels, selling art at flea markets and travelling slowly from one place to another. Her income may have dropped sharply, but according to Jain, her life finally feels meaningful.
She expressed, “I started feeling this disconnect from whatever I was doing. I wanted to work on things that made a more real impact. I was working for remote clients in the UK or US, and I really did not know who the end users of whatever product I was building were. It didn’t make much sense to me anymore.”
Originally from Nagpur, Jain worked in several cities during her corporate career, including Pune, Chennai, Mumbai, Noida and London. Like many professionals in the tech sector, she had the stable career, salary hikes and promotions that many dream about. But over time, she realized that professional success alone was not making her happy.
Around her eighth year in the industry, short weekend trips around Bengaluru slowly changed her perspective. Travelling gave her a sense of peace and excitement that she no longer felt at work.
Jain realized that travelling made her feel happier and more connected to herself. Over time, she decided she wanted to travel full time, not just visit tourist spots quickly, but stay longer in places and experience local culture and everyday life more closely.
Then came another major turning point in her life. During the second wave of Covid-19, Jain lost her mother. The personal loss deeply affected her and forced her to rethink what happiness and success really meant. After years of burnout and emotional stress, Jain finally decided to step away from corporate life. “I quit my job in 2023 and started traveling full-time,” she said.
Jain said the decision was not emotional or impulsive. Before leaving her job, she spent four years saving money and planning carefully. During that time, she was also helping her father repay a home loan and supporting her siblings’ education. According to Jain, because of these family responsibilities, she could only save around Rs 5 lakh before quitting her corporate job.
Before starting her journey, she also planned her expenses in detail. Jain said she calculated the cost of hostel stays, food, leisure, health emergencies and even kept a 20% buffer. Once she felt the savings would support at least eight to nine months of budget travel, she decided to go ahead with her plan.
After quitting, Jain began travelling through places such as Spiti, Manali and Nainital. She volunteered at hostels and cafes and later started working as a property manager and team manager at different travel stays.
In the beginning, she depended partly on her savings. Slowly, she started earning enough through temporary work to support her lifestyle. “In the initial part, I definitely had to dip into my savings. Very soon, I was able to supplement it. Even though I was earning much less, maybe 15,000 to 20,000 a month as a property manager, it added to my savings. Now, the extra work I do has become a primary source of income for me,” Jain said.
Today, Jain earns far less than what she once earned in Bengaluru, but she says she has no regrets about leaving corporate life. According to her, success and comfort mean different things at different stages of life. While promotions and a high salary once seemed important, she now finds greater fulfilment in her current lifestyle and describes leaving the corporate world as “liberating”.
“Corporate jobs enabled me to take this break, and I appreciate that, but they can feel soul-sucking after a point. This life is more fulfilling,” she said.
At a time when many people dream of leaving their jobs and travelling full time, Jain also shared a practical side of the lifestyle. She said travelling is often much harder than it appears on social media and comes with uncertainty and challenges. According to her, such life decisions should never be taken impulsively and must be planned carefully with a realistic approach.
Disclaimer: The article is based on reports from third-party media outlets and has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.
Courtesy/Source: Moneycontrol / PTI
