Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using them, we will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support! Jump straight to the packing list or download here: PDF | Excel I had always wanted to do some sort of backpacking trip, a la Reese Witherspoon in the movie Wild, but the idea of having to carry water purification tablets, pitch a tent, and sleep alone in the wilderness had always deterred me. So when I found out about the Camino de Santiago which has food and shelter available every few kilometers, and requires ZERO tent building, I added this to my list of goals for the year and started making plans to complete a portion of the Camino Frances (which is one of several paths of the Camino de Santiago). Of course, my first question was "How on earth do I pack for this?" Based on my research and what actually worked for me, I have compiled my complete Camino de Santiago female packing list into the following post, also available for download so you can easily edit and print to prepare for your Camino! Disclaimer: I didn’t do the entire Camino due to time constraints, but the last 1/3, from Astorga to Santiago. However, as laundry is readily available, I would have packed the same amount even if I had done the entire thing. First things first... what is the Camino de Santiago? What is the Camino de Santiago? The Camino de Santiago (the way of St. James), is a network of routes in Europe that Continue Reading
My experience with IVHQ Spain
As part of my sabbatical year, I decided I didn’t want to just sit around and eat bocadillos and drink great 2€ bottles of wine (one of the best things about Spain - not sure how I’ll ever pay for wine in the US again), but actually do something useful, like volunteering. So for 2 weeks this past August, I did just that, with a company called International Volunteer HQ (IVHQ). Earlier this summer, I began to do some research and came across IVHQ. The organization is based in New Zealand but partners with local non-profit volunteer organizations around the world to help coordinate and provide volunteer placement. I wanted to stay in Spain for my first volunteering experience, so I was happy to see that they had opportunities through a local non-profit called Serve The City, in Madrid. IVHQ is a great organization for global volunteering opportunities. They are very responsive to e-mails, and provide the support and peace of mind that you need when you are about to get on a plane and travel halfway around the world. There are dozens of different types of projects that local NGOs (non-governmental organizations) need help with. The projects range from teaching English to children or adults, working on an environmental or agriculture conservation project, working with special needs individuals, helping with renovation or construction, and more. I had quickly realized while doing research that I would probably be the oldest one in the program, but I signed up Continue Reading
Misc Thoughts on Zürich
The first weekend of May, I met my travel partner in crime Sarah in Zürich, Switzerland for a 3 day weekend. Zürich is the largest city in Switzerland. Zürich is primarily German-speaking. Zürich has two dots over the U and as you will see I tried really hard to make sure I used it every time I typed "Zürich" in this post. Switzerland has four official languages (and none of them are "Swiss"). The languages are German, French, Italian and Romansh. In Zürich and other parts of Switzerland, they actually speak a dialect of German called Swiss German but write in Standard German (High German). Since all I know is "Guten Tag", thankfully English is widely spoken as well. They use the Swiss Franc (CHF) and not the Euro, which I managed to avoid until my last few hours in Zürich when I rented a bike and needed to put down a 20CHF cash deposit. And the smallest denomination the ATM would give me was 50CHF. I tried to spend the cash with what little time I had left but still went home with some of it. Our first day in Zürich was a clear, mild day. We arrived early Friday morning and signed up for a city tour with the front desk of our hotel when we checked in. Normally I like to take the hop on hop off buses in new cities, but this is one of the few cities I've been to that doesn't have this type of bus. But this 4 hour city tour and guide via Best of Switzerland is well worth the money. The tour takes you through the Old Town, and then down through the affluent Gold Continue Reading
4 Days in Malta
For the past 6 weeks, a lot of my time in Barcelona has been spent studying Spanish and simultaneously neglecting this blog. I attend class 5 days a week, 4 hours a day and have been supplementing with Duolingo, podcasts, reading basic Spanish books on my Kindle, watching TV in Spanish and attending language exchanges I find on Meetup. After 6 weeks, my vocabulary has improved and I can read and write a little better and say basic sentences but once someone talks to me too fast I'm lost. It's been fun though and I'm really enjoying it. For my first break (for Easter weekend we had Friday and Monday off) I went to Malta. My friend Sarah from the US, who currently lives in Amsterdam, and I had planned a long weekend trip to Malta a couple of months before I had left the US. To be honest, like many other North Americans, I hadn't heard of Malta before. Malta is a fascinating island. It is actually a group of islands, the primary one being Malta itself. They speak two official languages, Maltese and English. Many signs are in English. And in case you were wondering, yes this is where the Maltese dog is believed to have originated from. Other Malta Facts It is about 200 miles south of Sicily They use the Euro They are an independent country, having gained independence from Britain in 1964. They drive on the left and you can still find red phone booths around the island They have some of the oldest buildings in the world There is a direct flight to Malta Continue Reading