The less you carry, the further you can go.

— unknown

Part of the fun of traveling is the preparation for the trip. For the Camino, bringing the right equipment is very critical. The Camino trip is not a traditional sense of vacation, it’s an adventure that involves intense walking and hiking. The pilgrims need to live their one-month life relying completely only on their backpacks. The backpack should weigh no more than 10% of the body weight.  
It’s very challenging that each item needs to be super light and yet functional. I believe the shoes, backpack, and sleeping bag are the three biggest and most important gears to consider carefully and will make a big difference for the experience of your trip.

Quick-dry is a characteristic to have for shirts and pants to wear since it’s certain there will be rainy days. The clothes I’m bringing also range from warm coats to summer shorts. I basically compact my four-season’s clothes in the small backpack due to the changeable weather on the Camino.

After numerous trips to the stores, I think I finally got the stuff I need. Below is my packing list. I hope it can be of help for people who read it and plan to do the trip in the future.

I’m surprised to see it’s actually doable to live off a backpack for a month like this. Boiling down to essentials, we can live a simple life if we want to.

My Camino Packing list

Passport

Bank card

Credit card

Health Insurance card

Cash

Emergency Info in Spanish

My notebook and pen

A rock for Cruz de Ferro

Backpack – Osprey Talon 33L, 1.87 lb or 0.85kg

Sleeping bag – REI HEILO Sack, 1.56 lb or 0.7kg

Hiking shoes – Merrel Waterproof Hiking Shoes

2 smart wool socks (light mid-crew)

Rain poncho

Water-proof coat

1 light fleece sweater shirt

1 long thin sleeve shirt

2 T-shirt – quick dry

1-2 T-shirt for sleeping/multipurpose

1 long black legging pants

2 gray Capri legging pants

1 long light rain resistant pants

1 pair of summer shorts

1 pair of shorts for casual/sleeping

1 pair of regular socks

For phone: waist bag, charger (long cord), ear phones, European plug converter

Selfie-stick (this is really optional)

For better sleep: eye shades, ear plugs, pillow case

For colder weather: Scarf, fingerless gloves, headband ear warmer

For hotter weather: Sunglasses, Sunhat, and Sunscreen

Toiletry:

Tooth brush, tooth paste, floss

Comb, shampoo and conditioner, soap

Nail clip, shaver, small scissors, swabs

Face cream

Small face wash towel

Shower towel (quick dry)

For safety and health:

Whistle and body alarm

Tracking pole

Daily vitamins and vitamin C

Medicine: Advil, cold and diarrheal medicine, band aids, and alcohol wipes

Tape for preventing blisters; needle and thread for treating blisters

Other: Plastic bags, zip lock bags

Super excited!  Burn Camino!

Afoot and light – hearted, I take to the open road,   
Healthy, free, the world before me,      
 The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.
 — Walt Whitman                                                                                                                                                  

Exactly nine days from now, I will be boarding the American Airline to Paris to start my walk on the Camino de Santiago, the French Way.

From Saint Jean Pied de Port, a small village town in France to Santiago de Compostela, the capital of northwest Spain’s Galicia region, this is a 500 miles or 800 kilometers stretch from east to west.

I plan to measure it step by step using my own feet during this one month time frame. That means I need to walk about 18 miles or 30 kilometers plus per day for 25+ days straight. This doesn’t including my time flying there and back home. When I finish measuring along the way, I will be granted that official honorable certificate to prove that I did it.

I have been preparing and anticipating this walk for the last couple of months when, at one point, I knew this was meant to happen. However, the moment time of my first desire to do the walk could actually track back much longer than two months – It was actually two years ago on the night when I was introduced to the movie “The Way.”  Since then, the idea that I want to do it someday has been rooted in my mind.

This epic Camino is well-known in Europe and the world. It’s considered the Walk of a Life Achievement!

Since the discovery of the burial site of the evangelical apostle St James who was one of the twelve followers of Jesus, in the 9^th century, this pilgrimage route to Santiago has become one of the three great Christian pilgrimage roads. The other two are the one to Jerusalem and the one to Rome. In ancient times, the Catholic Church would forgive the sins of people who completed the pilgrimage journey.

You don’t have to be religious to walk the way, but I believe a lot of the people who choose to walk the road are more spiritual. Many of them carry his or her own story and faithfully set out onto the road.  People hope to find their own deepest spiritual meaning, to discover who they are, what they are meant to be with their current lives.

As I consider myself more of a spiritual being than a physical being, this walk seems to me the perfect one to go back or to get as close as I can to my original form. I hope the walk will allow me to go as deep as I can to reach my heart and soul, to allow me to further explore the inner world of myself. Only when you know yourself well and when you free yourself from within, you gain true freedom in life.

I’m very excited and grateful that I have the opportunity to experience this tremendous life adventure soon.