36-year-old travels the world in a Toyota Tacoma: Her No. 1 takeaway

In 2015, Ashley Kaye’s father died and she or he inherited her childhood residence in Waterford, Wisconsin. On the time, she was 27 years previous, working in company healthcare and transitioning to a consulting job, the place she labored 80 to 100 hours every week.

“I labored from residence, so I simply walked from my bed room to my workplace to the kitchen and repeat,” Kaye, now 36, tells CNBC Make It. “I used to be a zombie in these instances,”

Whereas touring, Kaye met somebody on a scuba diving journey in Honduras who helped her notice what she needed was to go away her profession behind and journey full-time.

“We simply hit it off and chatted the entire time I used to be there. We spoke concerning the worst of the worst, the most effective of the most effective, and financials, too,” Kaye says.

“He instructed me he wished he had carried out it sooner as a result of it is a lot simpler and cheaper than you assume. That modified all the pieces for me. I went residence and labored increasingly till I give up the subsequent 12 months.”

Kaye spent the subsequent three years touring throughout the covid-19 pandemic. Whereas on a visit to South Africa, she acquired surprising information that her aunt was ailing and she or he’d have to fly again residence to Wisconsin.

“That flight was most likely the second the place not a single ounce of my being was like ‘Yay, I am going residence.’ It was like, ‘I do not wish to be right here. This is not it for me.’,” she says. “I like being on the islands. I like having the ocean close to me. That took away the hesitation I had in earlier years about promoting the home.”

Whereas Kaye was again residence caring for her aunt, she ready her childhood residence on the market and regarded her subsequent transfer. She thought loads about attempting van life and residing and touring along with her canine.

“Touring by airplane with a canine simply seemed like a horrible concept,” she says. “I do a number of pictures, so I knew I needed one thing the place I might attain more durable locations.”

Whereas ready for the sale of her residence to shut, a pair reached out to Kaye on Instagram to ask about her time in South Africa. They shared their expertise overlanding in a Toyota truck with a camper within the truck mattress.

Overlanding is a type of self-reliant journey that includes adventuring to distant locations, usually in a car of some sort.

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 to complete packing up her residence when it formally bought in March 2023.

Now that her new residence was the truck, Kaye set off on her first journey: A drive all the way down to Baja California, Mexico. She stayed there for 3 months and deliberate out the renovations she would want to make the truck extra livable.

“My life is sort of like ‘the plan is there isn’t a plan.’ Most individuals plan one of these 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.”

Whereas residing in Mexico, Kaye discovered an American firm that made the truck mattress replacements that would supply exterior storage and make it simpler for her to reside and journey within the Toyota Tacoma. However, the set up could not occur till September.

Within the meantime, Kaye discovered as a lot as she might concerning the truck and the sort of camper she would want. She estimates that she has spent over $50,000 on the renovations.

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.

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 unbelievable solution to journey since you get to set your individual tempo and should 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 number of purple tape and logistics crossing borders. It may be exhausting, particularly while you’re alone. It’s a must to discover a stability that works for you, however total, it is positively one of many coolest adventures of my lifetime.”

Since residing and touring within the truck full-time, Kaye has visited Mexico, each nation in Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and elements of Argentina. In whole, she’s been to over 20 international locations thus far.

“I do not wish to be a cliché and say it is a dream life as a result of it is a number of work and there are a number of issues that you might want to maintain and keep,” she says.

“Nevertheless it’s actually unbelievable to have the ability to get up and simply have a look at the map and say, ‘Ought to I am going sleep inside this volcano or go to the jungle or go to the seashore?’ You might have a number of actually stunning choices, so I am unable to actually complain.”

In any case this time on the street, Kaye says the most important lesson she’s discovered is that life is just too brief.

“Ever since I began touring, [I learned] life is simply too brief. You do not have to go and give up your profession to journey the world however no matter your desires and objectives are in life simply begin now and all the pieces else is simply determining a objective,” she says.

Kaye says when she was youthful, it was her dad who taught her that she was able to something.

“I grew up with my dad elevating me and telling me on daily basis ‘You may be something you need while you develop up and you are able to do something,'” she says. “He was 57 when he handed away, so he by no means even received to retire. His passing taught me tips on how to reside life since you by no means understand how a lot time you may have in life.”