If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be a nomad, just ask 28-year-old Trent Arant.
About four years ago, after a relationship breakup, the director moved out of his home in Atlanta, Georgia to hit the road with his dog, Millie. Since 2018, they have traveled to more than 20 cities and visited more than 20 US states, all the while living and working as a full-time independent contractor from their van.
“Living in a van has really opened my eyes to life,” Arant says in an interview with CNBC Make It. “The opportunity to travel around the country and meet all these unique people and unique places … I have to get out of my element and experience something that I usually don’t experience.”
According to him, the freedom that comes along the way is exciting and lonely in equal measure.
“Living in a van is not as glamorous as social media makes it seem,” says Arant. “It’s fun and adventurous and I feel like I’m living life right now, but sometimes I feel like I’m homeless. I don’t necessarily feel like I belong.”
It’s not exactly a free lifestyle with zero commitments. Arant only pays about $700 a month for his fancy 2020 RAM ProMaster Van, but he spent almost $10,000 on repairs to make this vacation vehicle a home.
Since moving into a van in 2018, Trent Aran and his dog Millie have visited 20 cities and 20 states in the US.
Trent Arant
Here’s how Arant transitioned to his life on the road and how he maintains his lifestyle while living in a cargo van:
Into the wild (in a van)
When his relationship ended in 2018, Arant was working as a visual effects artist for the Atlanta film industry and living alone in a previously shared house. Restless, that’s when he decided to experiment with life on the road with Millie, whom he rescued in 2017.
For two years, he traveled in a van he bought on Craigslist for $6,000. He invested $4,000 to repair his first van.
Arant and Milly pose in front of his original cargo van.
Trent Arant
Then, after months of “bargaining with dealers,” Arant purchased his first new car, a 2020 RAM ProMaster Van, from a Charlotte, North Carolina lot in November 2020. It had greater “breadth and was easier to build”. than other models, says Arant.
The original cost of the van was $47,000, but he negotiated a price reduction to $38,000. He took out a loan, which he currently repays $700 a month. He says he expects to pay back the van in full in 2026, eventually paying about $50,000 in total, including interest on the loan.
Around this time, he also began creating content on TikTok and YouTube, in part to document his new lifestyle.
Building a house on the road
The transition from the first van to the next was more difficult than expected. Arant spent five months in South Carolina renovating his new living space, officially completing the project and moving into his new van in April 2021.
“When I converted this van into living quarters, I had to basically build a house from scratch,” he says. “The shell of the house was in place, but I still had to add insulation, gas, and even electricity.” He also installed solar panels on the roof of his van to provide sustainable power to his appliances, including a full-sized gaming PC, a fully equipped kitchen, and an outdoor toilet and shower.
Much of his work as an independent visual effects artist is done remotely, so Arant works full-time from his computer. He pays about $280 a month for auto insurance and Wi-Fi combined.
Arant himself rebuilt his 2020 RAM ProMaster Van. Now it has a full bed, a kitchen, a toilet, a cold shower and a full-size gaming PC.
Trent Arant
A culinary enthusiast, Arant says the kitchen was especially important when “building” his van. It includes a relatively large refrigerator, a three-burner stovetop, an oven, and a working sink that draws water from a 40-gallon tank under Arant’s bed. The excess water is drained into a six-gallon tank, which he empties outside or in landfills.
The motor home includes showers and labors, but Arant still makes frequent stops at public restrooms. He pays $20 a month for a Planet Fitness membership, in part because he can shower in warm water.
The cargo van also has air conditioning, roof vents and a diesel heater to control the temperature. Perhaps the biggest advantage, according to Arant, is his full-size memory foam mattress: at 5’10, he can lie perfectly flat on the bed.
Milly, Arant’s four-legged companion, also has his own space. She sleeps in a 2.5 by 2.5 foot space equipped with a fan and light.
outdoor wallpaper
Of course, Arant moved to a van to be able to travel around the country. Technically, Atlanta is still at home, but only when he occasionally has to work in person. When he spoke to CNBC Make It in February 2022, he was living in the mountains in Asheville, North Carolina.
While he says it’s often difficult to meet people and maintain relationships on the road, some of his favorite van adventures have been solo trips to remote locations.
“I think one of my favorite places I’ve ever been was this place in the middle of the desert in Nevada,” says Arant. “I had this hot spring just for me and I was surrounded by snow-capped mountains. It was literally a dream and it was so therapeutic for me.”
Arant enjoys the Spencer Hot Springs near Austin, Nevada.
Trent Arant