“My parents were petrified the whole time I was there. Everyone was so apprehensive about it. But I knew I would be okay. And when I got home I said, ‘I’m totally capable of doing anything.’ That was my first trip alone, and it really changed my life.”

She then set out on the road with her then-boyfriend of just over a year after buying a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van for $18,000 dollars, and renovating it for another $10,000 dollars. That was back in September 2017. However, she soon dumped him because they weren’t compatible and had different dreams.

Sydney then worked three jobs for two months, saved up enough money for a new van, launched her website about her lifestyle, and was ready to hit the road in September 2018. But she got a friend for the journey ahead—a golden retriever doggo, Ella. Since then, the woman and her dog have been to more than 20 states.

“I always just say it’s a three-to-five-year plan. It’s been one year, maybe two years from now I’ll re-evaluate and make sure I’m still happy and this is something I still want to do,” Sydney said to Insider.

“I’ve never woken up once in the last year and not felt like this isn’t exactly what I should be doing. I don’t foresee anywhere in the near future where I want to stop, but I also don’t want to hold myself to this idea that I have to be on the road.”