In 2019, Ashley Kaye took a scuba diving journey to Honduras that modified the course of her life.
On that journey, Kaye met somebody who travels full-time, and the dialog that they had helped her notice she needed to depart her profession and life in Wisconsin behind and proceed touring.
“He instructed me he wished he had completed it sooner as a result of it is a lot simpler and cheaper than you suppose. That modified every part for me,” Kaye tells CNBC Make It. “I went house and labored increasingly till I stop the subsequent 12 months.”
Kaye spent three years touring the world earlier than she began overlanding.
Ashley Kaye
When Kaye stop her job in 2020, she says she had about $37,000 in financial savings, however what she struggled with essentially the most was not having a job to fill her time.
“I did not know the right way to simply do nothing. The primary few months had been actually laborious and I wasn’t certain if I used to be making the fitting resolution,” she says.
“As soon as I acquired into my rhythm of touring and rising my confidence by means of that have, I’ve by no means seemed again and do not have a single remorse about leaving.”
Kaye spent the subsequent three years touring the world, together with to South Africa. In 2022, a pair reached out to Kaye on Instagram to ask about her time there and shared their very own expertise overlanding in a Toyota truck with a camper.
Overlanding is a type of self-reliant journey that includes adventuring to distant locations, usually in a automobile of some kind.
Kaye estimates she’s spent over $50,000 on renovations.
Ashley Kaye
After doing a little bit of her personal analysis, Kaye was all-in and bought a Toyota Tacoma truck for $42,934, in line with paperwork reviewed by CNBC Make It.
Kaye picked up the truck in South Dakota and drove it again to Wisconsin, the place she had simply bought her childhood house for $320,000.
In March 2023, Kaye drove to Baja California, Mexico, the place she hung out arranging the mandatory renovations to make the truck extra livable.
“My life is form of like ‘the plan is there is no such thing as a plan.’ Most individuals plan any such journey for years. I did not actually have a truck after I accepted the provide on my home,” she says.
“It was very spur of the second, so I wanted to take a pause and determine issues out.”
She estimates she spent over $50,000 on the renovations. The prices included buying a camper, including solar energy, changing the truck mattress, upgrading the suspension, new tires, customizing a bumper, and putting in an electrical cooler.
Kaye bought the Toyota Tacoma for $42,934.
Ashley Kaye
When the truck was prepared, Kaye determined to journey the Pan-American freeway, beginning in Denver. The freeway stretches from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina.
“It is actually an unimaginable option to journey since you get to set your personal tempo and in the event you discover someplace that is stunning and peaceable you may keep so long as you need,” Kaye says.
“However there’s professionals and cons to each mode of journey and a variety of pink tape and logistics crossing borders. It may be exhausting, particularly once you’re alone. It’s important to discover a stability that works for you, however total, it is positively one of many coolest adventures of my lifetime.”
Kaye had the truck mattress changed in September 2023.
Ashley Kaye
What life appears to be like like on the street
Kaye’s time on the street is cut up between journey days and leisure days. On a journey day, she will get up early to interrupt every part down and safe all of it within the camper earlier than embarking on a five- to seven-hour drive. On common, Kaye estimates that she spends $556 a month on fuel and $453 a month on meals.
“The best half for me is being comfy in very small areas and I am completely content material. I can spend all day contained in the camper and never really feel suffocated or claustrophobic,” Kaye says. “I am continually seeing so many huge areas inside nature that I am actually content material.”
As soon as she reaches her vacation spot, Kaye likes to remain for 2 to a few nights earlier than transferring on to the subsequent one. Since Kaye’s truck would not have a rest room, she makes use of a field rest room and a conveyable bathe bag.
“I attempt to set up every part within the truck and camper in order that it is simply the way in which that it is speculated to be. Powering down is the form of purpose on the second day,” Kaye says.
Kaye’s different bills embody $96 a month for her cellphone invoice and $200 a month for her Starlink web. She’s additionally spent upwards of $6,000 for distinctive experiences like a week-long scuba diving journey within the Galápagos Islands.
Kaye has no regrets about promoting the home she grew up in to journey the world.
Ashley Kaye
Kaye has been residing within the truck for years now, however says essentially the most difficult half continues to be establishing and breaking down the camper.
“Regardless that it is extremely easy, it is a kind of issues you must do each time,” she says. “In case you are someone who makes your mattress each time, it is no downside, however in the event you’re someone who would not, it seems like a burden.”
Whereas Kaye nonetheless hasn’t completed journeying the Pan-American Freeway, she is contemplating promoting the truck firstly of subsequent 12 months.
“A part of me needs to only eliminate it and transfer on and enter the subsequent chapter of my life however then the bigger a part of me is like ‘no, perhaps simply wait as a result of I wish to see another locations and simply chill,'” she says. “I simply wish to end my journey. I am not bored with residing within the camper and I am not bored with that way of life, however I’m bored with driving.”
Kaye has traveled to over 20 nations within the Toyota Tacoma.
Ashley Kaye
Kaye would not know the place she’ll settle if she ever sells the truck, however returning to the U.S. full-time is unlikely. If she ever does purchase one other home within the States, Kaye says it will likely be an funding and a supply of revenue if she decides to hire it out.
She’s at present contemplating a life within the South of France, Spain or Italy.
“Every one in every of them has their challenges. For me, it is about discovering someplace that I wish to be after which I can cope with regardless of the challenges and hoops are that include that,” she says.
Are you prepared to purchase a home? Take Smarter by CNBC Make It is new on-line course How one can Purchase Your First Residence. Professional instructors will allow you to weigh the price of renting vs. shopping for, financially put together, and confidently navigate each step of the method—from mortgage fundamentals to closing the deal. Join as we speak and use coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory low cost of 30% off $97 (+taxes and costs) by means of July 15, 2025.
Plus, join CNBC Make It is publication to get suggestions and tips for fulfillment at work, with cash and in life, and request to hitch our unique neighborhood on LinkedIn to attach with specialists and friends.
