True, we don't know what they were planning. But you can tell a lot from the evolution of her Instagram. Initially I really believe she just wanted to post pictures of herself on Instagram, maybe do some modeling type of thing. (I did some reading about this last night and how the pressure of social media causes so much anxiety in young people, going after "likes" and approval on SM. It can be crushing).
Link to one article:
Social Media Narcissism in Young Adults
Maybe she wanted to be an Instagram model, she sure did some of that with certain outfits - you can see that on her Insta account - and then I believe that she and Brian talked about their future plans, and decided they had some goals that lined up (organic farming or other nontraditional ways of living out West) but she stated in public they wanted to just "travel full time" (her Youtube account) and maybe thought later that they could monetize it. But the issue of money was probably causing strife between them, how best to do it, so Gabby started to portray herself as more of an athletic outdoorsy person - a hiker, (she describes herself that way in some of her Instagram posts at Arches in 2021).
It was the info under her Youtube video in August where she posted that she wanted to travel full time. Well, you need money to do that. I just think that question of how to get money was a source of tension between them, and that they really didn't have a clear plan for business or making money when they started their trip.
They were not getting any monetization of their trip even at the point where it ended, with her being killed. From what we can find online, they had online shops. BL sold his "art" and Gabby sold clothes and accessories and things. That does not bring in enough money to fund traveling either. (You can still see the prices online in their shops). I think the parents were probably at the point where they wanted these two to cut loose from being so financial dependent on them. I know from experience how much friction money can cause in a relationship - a lot!
JMO but their lack of a good plan to make money might have had a lot to do with their escalating arguments.
MOO