36-year-old lives and travels in her truck full-time, spends $1,305/month: 'I'm comfortable in very small spaces'

In 2019, Ashley Kaye took a scuba diving trip to Honduras that changed the course of her life.

On that trip, Kaye met someone who travels full-time, and the conversation they had helped her realize she wanted to leave her career and life in Wisconsin behind and continue traveling.

"He told me he wished he had done it sooner because it's so much easier and cheaper than you think. That changed everything for me," Kaye tells CNBC Make It. "I went home and worked more and more until I quit the next year."

When Kaye quit her job in 2020, she says she had about $37,000 in savings, but what she struggled with the most was not having a job to fill her time.

"I didn't know how to just do nothing. The first few months were really hard and I wasn't sure if I was making the right decision," she says.

"Once I got into my rhythm of traveling and growing my confidence through that experience, I've never looked back and don't have a single regret about leaving."

Kaye spent the next three years traveling the world, including to South Africa. In 2022, a couple reached out to Kaye on Instagram to ask about her time there and shared their own experience overlanding in a Toyota truck with a camper.

Overlanding is a form of self-reliant travel that involves adventuring to remote destinations, typically in a vehicle of some type.

After doing a bit of her own research, Kaye was all-in and purchased a Toyota Tacoma truck for $42,934, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

Kaye picked up the truck in South Dakota and drove it back to Wisconsin, where she had just sold her childhood home for $320,000.

In March 2023, Kaye drove to Baja California, Mexico, where she spent time arranging the necessary renovations to make the truck more livable.

"My life is kind of like 'the plan is there is no plan.' Most people plan this type of adventure for years. I didn't even have a truck when I accepted the offer on my house," she says.

"It was very spur of the moment, so I needed to take a pause and figure things out."

She estimates she spent over $50,000 on the renovations. The costs included purchasing a camper, adding solar power, replacing the truck bed, upgrading the suspension, new tires, customizing a bumper, and installing an electric cooler.

When the truck was ready, Kaye decided to journey the Pan-American highway, starting in Denver. The highway stretches from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina.

"It's really an incredible way to travel because you get to set your own pace and if you find somewhere that's beautiful and peaceful you can stay as long as you want," Kaye says.

"But there's pros and cons to every mode of travel and a lot of red tape and logistics crossing borders. It can be exhausting, especially when you're alone. You have to find a balance that works for you, but overall, it's definitely one of the coolest adventures of my lifetime."

Kaye's time on the road is split between travel days and leisure days. On a travel day, she gets up early to break everything down and secure it all in the camper before embarking on a five- to seven-hour drive. On average, Kaye estimates that she spends $556 a month on gas and $453 a month on food.

"The easiest part for me is being comfortable in very small spaces and I'm totally content. I can spend all day inside the camper and not feel suffocated or claustrophobic," Kaye says. "I'm constantly seeing so many vast spaces within nature that I'm really content."

Once she reaches her destination, Kaye likes to stay for two to three nights before moving on to the next one. Since Kaye's truck doesn't have a bathroom, she uses a box toilet and a portable shower bag.

"I try to organize everything in the truck and camper so that it's just the way that it's supposed to be. Powering down is the kind of goal on the second day," Kaye says.

Kaye's other expenses include $96 a month for her cellphone bill and $200 a month for her Starlink internet. She's also spent upwards of $6,000 for unique experiences like a week-long scuba diving trip in the Galápagos Islands.

Kaye has been living in the truck for years now, but says the most challenging part is still setting up and breaking down the camper.

"Even though it is very simple, it's one of those things you have to do every time," she says. "If you are somebody who makes your bed every time, it's no problem, but if you're somebody who doesn't, it feels like a burden."

While Kaye still hasn't finished journeying the Pan-American Highway, she is considering selling the truck at the beginning of next year.

"Part of me wants to just get rid of it and move on and enter the next chapter of my life but then the larger part of me is like 'no, maybe just wait because I want to see some other places and just chill,'" she says. "I just want to finish my adventure. I'm not tired of living in the camper and I'm not tired of that lifestyle, but I am tired of driving."

Kaye doesn't know where she'll settle if she ever sells the truck, but returning to the U.S. full-time is unlikely. If she ever does buy another house in the States, Kaye says it will be an investment and a source of income if she decides to rent it out.

She's currently considering a life in the South of France, Spain or Italy.

"Each one of them has their challenges. For me, it's about finding somewhere that I want to be and then I can deal with whatever the challenges and hoops are that come with that," she says.

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