CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Van life is becoming all the rage– especially among millennials.

Every day, someone swaps their ordinary life for the road. The hashtag, #vanlife, has been used nearly nine million times on Instagram. Swiping through the app, you see picture after picture of people sitting in their beautifully remodeled home on wheels, gazing at spectacular views. But is it all that it’s cracked up to be?

“A lot of what you see on Instagram, they kind of just take the best moments and show you that. Van life isn’t just beautiful views and mountains and happiness, sometimes it’s an hour trying to find a place to park the van for the night and you end up sleeping in a Walmart parking lot,” says van lifer Stephi Lee.

Van life has also posed some challenges during the pandemic. While some van lifers are lucky to have a shower and toilet inside their van, many do not. A lot of people opt for a gym membership to have access to locker room showers. However, in many states, gyms were closed for upwards of six months, leaving van lifers to find another way to keep clean.

Luckily, Lee didn’t have to experience that aspect of van living. Not only does she have a built-in shower in her van, but she also just began her van life journey in October, after things began slowly opening back up.

During quarantine, she spent three months and around $6,000 converting an empty van into her dream home, with the help of her father. After it was all finished, she said goodbye to her friends and family in Massachusetts and hit the open road.

“I never thought this was something that I’d be able to do, and I just can’t believe this is mine,” says Lee. “I was born with a disease called cystic fibrosis, which makes my life expectancy really short, so I’ve always wanted to experience as much as I could in the short time that I have. So, that’s where travel became an interest to me. I wanted to travel and see the world as much as I could and I figured building a van would be great way to do that.”

Even though van life can have its challenges, Lee says she wouldn’t trade it for the world.

“There’s so much to see, even within your own country. This is the best lifestyle in my opinion, and if it’s something you’ve considered doing, you definitely should,” says Lee.

To follow Stephi Lee’s journey around the country, visit her Youtube channel.