Solo Female Van Life: From Divorce to Full-Time on the Road

Beth was running a women's shelter and living in a 4,000 square foot house when a divorce and a trauma therapist's advice to get outside sent her life in a completely different direction. Six and a half years later, she is one of the more recognizable voices in solo female van life, living full-time in a custom Dodge ProMaster with her cat, Apollo, and running her business, Beth's Midlife Adventure, entirely from the road. Here is a look inside the van that made it possible.

From a Trauma Therapist's Advice to a Van of Her Own

What pushed Beth into van life wasn't a love of travel. It was a divorce and a therapist's advice to spend more time outside. "About six and a half years ago, I went through a pretty devastating divorce," Beth says. Her trauma therapist recommended she spend more time outdoors, so she started hiking, then working up to 10 and 13 mile trips to alpine lakes. She wanted a way to camp overnight that felt like more than a tent, so she started researching vans.

The timing lined up with another shift. Her youngest child had just finished college and was moving out. "I have this amazing travel van, and why not just do something crazy and have a little midlife crisis," she says. She calls it Beth's Midlife Adventure instead, because for her it marked a new season, not a breakdown.

She bought the van four and a half years ago intending it for weekend trips. Going full-time came later, once she had built enough income from social media to walk away from her job, her benefits, and her house without touching savings, a process that took about two and a half years. "The first three months, I would say, were the hardest," she says, after leaving her community, friends, and family behind. She said yes to more groups and meetups, and now has friends scattered across the country.

A Van Life Kitchen Built for Real Cooking

A van kitchen can handle real cooking, not just reheating. Beth wanted her van to feel open and airy, with a kitchen good enough for daily use. She cooks almost everything on an induction stovetop and toaster oven rather than a microwave. A pop-up counter expands her prep space, and a wide sink holds dishes as well as loose items like her coffee carafe while she is driving. She picked a custom backsplash and blue cabinetry, colors she has used in every home she has owned. Gray water collects in a 7-gallon tank under the sink, smaller than many newer builds, so she empties it often.

A Dinette That Doubles as Her Office

Working remotely from a van is possible with one flexible surface. Beth works full-time remotely, and the dinette across from the kitchen is her desk by day. "This is also the space that I use to work," she says. When she is done for the afternoon, usually around lunchtime, she folds the table down and heads out to hike or paddleboard.

A Bedroom She'd Redesign, Just a Little

A van bedroom can work well for a solo, full-time traveler, though layout and safety take real planning. Her bed runs east to west, with rounded storage cabinets built into the curved walls holding everything she owns. A window at the foot of the bed stays open at night behind a Maxxair fan for airflow and a lake view. Looking back, she would change one thing: a second window sits behind her head, and she never uses it. "Since I travel by myself, I don't want to have access to anything that I can't see," she says. She would replace it with a pop-out and more bed length instead, and she suggests a north-to-south bed for anyone taller than her 5'6".

For hot weather and traveling with a cat, she added a 12-volt AC system a year ago that runs off her battery bank and recharges quickly on solar.

The Bathroom Lives in the Garage

Full-time van life doesn't require an indoor bathroom. There is no built-in bathroom up front. Beth's dry flush toilet and outdoor shower are both stored in her garage space, along with her paddleboard, hiking gear, water filtration system, water heater, and Victron power system with its battery bank. Starlink mounts to the roof. A 40-gallon fresh water tank and 400 watts of solar keep her off-grid for about two weeks at a stretch, and she says she plugs in maybe once every few months. Apollo's litter box stays in the front passenger footwell, easy to reach since she travels alone.

Exploring the Backcountry with onX Offroad

Finding the right backcountry route matters as much as finding a place to camp. Beth relies on the onX Offroad app for backcountry navigation. On a recent shoot at White Pocket in Arizona, a standard map routed her to a locked gate on private land. onX showed the correct route from the start, avoiding private roads and surfacing trail and weather conditions along the way. Heading into a summer of travel through the Pacific Northwest, she plans to use onX's cell coverage and wildfire layers to steer around fire bans and smoke.

Disclosure: onXmaps sponsored Beth's original video tour. The experience and opinions are her own.

onX offers a 7-day free trial, and Beth's code TINY20 takes 20% off an Elite or Premium membership. 👉 https://www.onxmaps.com/offroad/app 

What It All Cost

Living in a van cut Beth's monthly costs by more than half compared to owning a house and working a 9-to-5 job. Her build ran about $115,000 all in: $55,000 for the van itself and $60,000 for the conversion, out the door with taxes. Beth is quick to caveat that number every time it comes up. Those prices reflect the COVID and post-COVID van market, and conversion costs have shifted a good amount since then.

Her ongoing bills are lighter than the build price might suggest. Her only utility costs are her cell phone and Starlink for Wi-Fi. Solar keeps her power free, she fills up with potable water instead of paying for it, and everything in the van runs electric, so there is no propane bill. Gas and food are her two biggest monthly expenses, and both shift with how much she is driving. All in, she estimates her monthly costs run around $3,000, covering insurance, subscriptions, gas, and food, down from $5,000 to $6,000 a month when she owned a house in California and worked a 9-to-5.

Lessons From Life on the Road

1. Storage comes first. Beth's rule now: if something new comes in, something else goes out, and everything she owns fits in the van.

2. Skip windows you can't see out of near your bed if you travel alone. A safety-first layout beats a slightly larger window.

3. Build the income before you make the leap. Beth spent about two and a half years growing her audience before she gave up her job, her benefits, and her house.

4. Don't wait for someone to go with you. Her advice to other women: go anyway, and you will find people to share the road with along the way.

   
   

Built by Noovo (Be My Van)

Beth's van was custom built by Noovo, also known as Be My Van, a European-style conversion company known for rounded cabinetry rather than a typical RV look. Her build started as a 2021 Dodge ProMaster, and she was able to pick her own cabinet colors and backsplash at the time.

Explore the Van Builder: https://bit.ly/noovovans

FAQ

What is it like to live in a van full time? For Beth, it means running her business remotely from a dinette table by day and hiking or paddleboarding most afternoons, cooking real meals on an induction stovetop, and moving camp roughly on her own schedule with her cat, Apollo. She has been doing it full-time for over four years after leaving a house, a 9-to-5 job, and her benefits behind.

How much does it cost to live in a van full time? Beth's ongoing utility bills are limited to her cell phone and Starlink, since solar covers her power and everything in the van runs electric. Gas and food are her biggest variable costs. She says the switch cut her monthly expenses by more than half compared to owning a house and working a 9-to-5 job.

Is it safe for a woman to live alone in a van? Beth chose a van over a trailer specifically so she could get in the driver's seat and leave without hookup logistics. Her current build does have a window behind her head, but she never opens or uses it, and says if she built again she would skip it entirely and add a pop-out instead, so she isn't sleeping near something she can't see out of.

Do you need a bathroom or shower inside a camper van? Not necessarily. Beth's build skips both. She uses a dry flush toilet and an outdoor shower stored in her garage space, a tradeoff she made to keep her shorter wheelbase van feeling open inside.

How do you get water and power living off-grid in a van? Beth carries a 40-gallon fresh water tank that lasts about two weeks and runs 400 watts of solar with a Victron power system, so she says she plugs into shore power only once every few months.

Watch the full tour on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xitlOwP7zUA

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More Tiny Home Tours to Explore Thinking about retiring in a tiny home? Check out Can You Retire Comfortably in a Tiny Home on a Fixed Income for tips on downsizing, budgeting, and planning your next chapter.

Want to see retirement downsizing in action? Read Debt-Free Tiny Home: Wanda's Custom Build in South Carolina to see how one homeowner used her equity to build a mortgage-free home near family.