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S1 E4 | Camino Portugués Packing List: What We Carried 150 Miles | Travel Joneses · Travel Joneses

• speaker-0: So the night before we left to fly to our Camino, was there something that you last minute put in or took out of your backpack? speaker-1: I decided to take it out and it was a difficult decision for me. Aren't you glad to be alive? speaker-0: Hey, where the Travel Jones is, I'm Janice. speaker-1: And I'm Donald. We're a husband and wife team, storytellers by trade, and travelers by home. speaker-0: Fancy trips, road trips, city walks, mountain hikes, and every great discovery along the way. speaker-1: We definitely do our research and we plan the deal. speaker-0: And then we leave room for surprises, because the best moments are rarely on the itinerary. speaker-1: When something better shows up, we are happy to pivot. speaker-0: So pull up a chair and come along. This is Travel Jones's Porto, Portugal to Santiago, Spain, on foot. 242 kilometers, two countries, and lots of surprises. This is our take on the Camino de Santiago, Portuguese route. Okay, so what was it that was a hard decision for you to take out of your pack and not take with us? speaker-1: A camera, a larger camera to take a little bit more higher quality photos, even some 4K footage. If I wanted to film some things, but that was the tough part. I being in the business we're in, everybody's like, you guys gotta film this, and you've got speaker-0: Everyone was asking, you guys are gonna film this, right? Are you gonna film this? speaker-1: And and I see why I totally agree. And that part of me was pulling and pulling. But the other part was why were we going to experience this Camino and letting go and just feeling free and not bound to needing to constantly think about shots or capturing something and and just really appreciation. the appreciation of for what it was with just our eyes, it was tough. And I thought, I'm just that's it. I'm not taking it. It's more weight. Then I've got to take batteries and cards and charging and speaker-0: I was impressed and surprised. It a little part of me wanted you to take it, but yet again, I was planning to maybe journal handwritten, which I ended up doing voicing into the phone. Yeah. I took some pictures with my phone, but I s completely stayed off of communications on the phone other than staying connected with my family. speaker-1: And that was really rough because we wanted to somehow bring all this together and document it ultimately for family and friends. And then all next thing you know, the podcast comes together. And we took hundreds and hundreds of photos on our phones and some video clips. So if you're tuning in on the podcast, I keep saying tuning in. Isn't that funny? That shows my age, does it? The young'uns say tuning in these days. speaker-0: What else do the What else do you do to a podcast? I don't know why. speaker-1: Well you you subscribe and click. Anyway, so you're here, you're on the podcast, and then if you're watching it on the YouTube podcast and our channel there, then we're trying to put in some of those photos and some of the video clips and of course on our Instagram page that you know we're sharing it there. So it it was it was rough. It was a tough decision, but I I'm glad I made the decision. It was the right one. I could relax. I didn't have to worry about it. And it certainly took weight out of my pack and and just the concern with where I was gonna place everything. So what about you? What did you take out or put in? You speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: you added something, that's right. speaker-0: Well, I was thinking about it all along and trying to talk myself out of it, and I did not end up talking myself out of bringing a book. I always bring a book on what when I'm traveling. I look forward to reading while I travel. Long airplane flights. I thought we would finish our day walking and settle in somewhere cozy for the night, and I'd want to get into my book. And I did not. I can remember people making fun of me at the idea of bringing a book. And I carried that book. I still wanted to read the book, so it came all the way home with me. Carried it the whole Camino and did not read it. Did not have time or inclination to do so. speaker-1: And the funny thing is then I matched you. Do you remember this? speaker-0: Yes, you had to carry a book home. speaker-1: In Porto, in our first two days visiting, we went to a museum, a library store speaker-0: A library. speaker-1: and you had to buy a ticket because it's so popular to go see it. But with that ticket, it gets you one of their versions of a free book. speaker-0: And we weren't gonna pass up a really cool book to take home. speaker-1: Right, we weren't, but we took one home, which means we speaker-0: And we carried it. speaker-1: carried it in DJ's pack for the fifteen days thereon. speaker-0: Anything bonus that came along during the trim trip did go in DJ's pack, I will tell you that. Which also meant multiple cans of sardines speaker-1: We'll we'll get to that in the next episode because we're gonna in episode five we'll start talking about each day stage, what we did, and sharing what was the experience like. So speaker-0: We're gonna open the pack. speaker-1: let's talk about the packs. And we mentioned it in previous episodes. We went to RAI and a gentleman named Greg, who is a just a the sweetest, awesome, most coolest guy, and a phenomenal mountaineer and track speaker-0: Yeah. So he had a lot of experience on the Camino for one. Yes. And he had his Camino backpack with him, which I think actually was this pack. speaker-1: No, he he had he had a different brand, but it was about the same size. And so he said, This is what I'm going to suggest. And so for those of you watching here on the YouTube channel, I'm showing this, but for those of you listening, we'll explain it. And then maybe you can pop over to the YouTube episode and speaker-0: If you're interested in seeing speaker-1: watch it there. So we ended up getting the Osprey twenty-four-liter pack, which I I guess the model is called the Stratos. And he suggested a twenty-four liter, one because it basically confined you to a certain amount of weight. speaker-0: So you can't go bigger because you don't want to carry more weight. speaker-1: Right. You don't want to overpack. And there is some guidelines of the percentage of body weight you should pack, but I think it comes down to what you can get away with at the most limited speaker-0: He did say ten percent of your body weight. Right. So anyway. If can stick to that, that's best. And speaker-1: We were trying to stay at around fifteen pounds. speaker-0: the other reason was because of fitting in the air in the airplane overhead bins. In the overhead bins. speaker-1: luggage carrier. So the twenty four liter, as you can see, it doesn't look this big, right? It it opens up its flat. speaker-0: Bigger than what I think it appears. speaker-1: But the twenty-four liter, those were the keys. You can't overpack and it goes in the overhead bin in the airplane, which is important because everything that we were taking on the Camino to survive was in this speaker-0: We did not carry two things on board. We carried one. That was it, because we weren't carrying two bags with us on the Camino. speaker-1: So if this goes in the luggage hold and you get to Portugal or Spain or France, depending on where you're starting, and it doesn't show up, well then you're in a pickle. So we liked the fact that this size could fit in the overhead bin, because I'm a little type A about where this stuff is and is it gonna get lost. So this speaker-0: Yeah, we didn't want it to be separate from the speaker-1: was perfect. It was great. I wanna speaker-0: point out this, air section right here. So you always have this breathable back, which was fantastic. I can't imagine having a pack without that for that long days and hours and hours of sweating. speaker-1: It's comfortable. It has, of course, the shoulder straps. Then it has a strap that goes across your chest that helps it. Then it has a waist belt, which helps the pack sit on your pelvis or your or your hips. So it takes the weight off of your shoulders and it disperses all of that. But the key there is all of the latches and tightening measures on the pack, which speaker-0: So that was one thing that they told us. Greg told us we actually took our packs back to REI and had them readjusted again at teaching us. And we had to practice with those. But that's a big tip is whatever backpack you get, backpacks come with all of these belts, right? And so you should use them all and you should get really familiar with them all. REI speaker-1: Shoulder stretch. speaker-0: has a video that you can look. and Osprey probably has a video. speaker-1: Oswe probably has the video, but certainly RAI has a video and they may have a different size pack, but it applies to almost all of the packs that have the waistbelt and the different tightening measures on the straps, how it sits on your shoulders, how it sits on your hips. speaker-0: In the order that you tighten those straps. So when you put it on, you're tightening one here and then one here and then one here. And you want to adjust them as and practice with it to see what's most comfortable. And considering that throughout your walk, you might, once you're really familiar with it, go, I want to loosen those straps for a little bit. And when you take it off, you're going backwards with what straps you're loosening, not just unbuckling and throwing the thing off, but actually loosen the straps and take those off. Loosen the belt and take those off, which feels like a real pain in the butt. But when you just got it all fitted perfectly and you're like and you walk and you're like, I have to go to the bathroom and now I have to take the whole pack off and I'm gonna undo all my straps. But you have to do it. speaker-1: It was almost muscle memory by the time we got going because of our training, right? speaker-0: Yeah. And if you didn't do that, you wouldn't have gotten that muscle memory. Right. speaker-1: All right, take back to the training days. That was important. We will just share that again. Once you find your pack and you get all of the things as close as you can that you know you're gonna take, put it all in the pack, weigh it, figure it out, start wearing it. speaker-0: So when we were training at the mall, as we told you we did on Saturdays, because it was so very, very actually dangerously hot outside where we were training, we would walk in the malls for a long, about a 12 mile walk on Saturdays. Saturday mornings. And we wore our fully packed pack. If we didn't have an item that we thought we would take with us or something, sometimes we packed three pound hand weights in there just to practice with weight. but we put as much as we could in our pack and we packed it. is similar to what we thought the weight would be, sometimes with a little higher weight, sometimes with a little lower weight, just to see how it felt. And that was for us a good experience knowing how to adjust that pack and how it felt on you. If you're not used to carrying heavier packs hiking or something like that. speaker-1: We've been just again mentioning so many times that we got a great experience at RAI with finding the right pack, finding the the folks that had all the great advice and showing us how to properly adjust it the first time. But again, we practiced looking at that video. we'll share the video link in our show notes if you're curious. And and you may be in a place where you don't have an RAI or you're in another country, but you're advanced or very well known outdoor stores that supplies these packs will definitely have advice on how you should fit it, how you should wear it, how you should tighten it. And and that is a a really, really good point to think about to make your walking successful because then it just becomes second nature and you don't even think about it. And I think we got to that point really well. speaker-0: I was gonna ask you first day when we started walking out and we did our first long day of walking, what'd you think of your pack? W on the first day of the Camino? I don't either. speaker-1: On training or on the first day. I didn't think about the pack. right. It was just part of our body in motion, which was really cool. Yep. And I think because of our training, and even once we had our two full bottles in of our fluids, which we'll show you that, it it it adds to the weight, but again, it just became part of your skeletal movement. And it felt fluid, and we were certainly grateful we went through all those measures to keep the training going with the packs. speaker-0: So we were shooting for fifteen pound packs. speaker-1: Fifteen pounds of all the content. speaker-0: Is pretty extreme. Right. that's a that's a pretty low weight if you can get everything you need. So that was our goal. And w I think we did with everything we packed in it, when we added the water bottles, two bottles of water on each side and then bananas and apples and such, then we were probably seventeen, eighteen, nineteen at times. speaker-1: This was another suggestion by Greg. The sardines. speaker-0: Rardines in the books. speaker-1: Yeah, the sardines. That was your problem. Okay. It speaker-0: Ha ha ha speaker-1: became my problem. It was your request to buy the sardines. Yes, of course. All right. This it sounds funny, but Greg suggested this. Don't try to take any particular water bottle that's a stainless water bottle or an algene water bottle that's bigger or heavier. Just go and buy these slim, taller water bottles. speaker-0: A hardy model. Remember speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: you can't carry water on the plane. Yeah. speaker-1: Smart Water, and I think there's another one called Life Water or something. They are these slimmer, taller bottles, and these hold a little over a quart. they're right at 39 ounces. So we had two each. We emptied them and then they fit perfectly. Look at this. I want to show you this. This is the side pocket on the Osprey. And then we would have one right here on the other side, exact same pocket. And one side was water. And the other bottle would be the water that we would mix with our packet of electrolytes. you can take anything you want, but take electrolytes. It's important. We went ahead and and and packed them in our pack and I mean speaker-0: Consider that we each had 15 packets of electrolytes. And speaker-1: Well a little extra than that. Yeah. speaker-0: that's part of the weight in your bag. Right. Because we didn't know if we'd get electrolytes that we wanted that worked for us because we used different kinds between us that we wanted over in Portugal. So and that we we knew it was super important to have them. So that was part of the weight that was in our back. speaker-1: So you can buy the single serving, you know, you find your brand that works well, that settles in your stomach. Okay. I'm I again I've been a longtime cyclist, so I always use something like a scratch brand. People have tried liquid IV, whatever you can find that works well for you, just to get that salt replacement in your body while you're also drinking water. You want to have the electrolytes. it was great and it it definitely helped us. So Greg came through again with a suggestion, simple suggestion. of slim water bottles on each side of your pack. Which was great. Perfect. speaker-0: Okay, so let's talk about the trekking poles, which was the first thing that we were thinking about buying because we were thinking about walking long distances and it seemed like trekking poles would be appropriate. They're a little bit controversial is maybe not the word, but some people think a lot of people think, I don't need them, don't want them. Maybe they're for people who need walking assistance. Right. I think we disagree. speaker-1: I definitely disagreed and I was super grateful we had them and could really feel a difference from day one of training with them. How about you? speaker-0: Day one of training, I think I told you I felt like the the stilt animals like the giraffe in the Lion King show at Animal Kingdom. You know, when you're with Yeah, speaker-1: You were a little a noob a newborn gazelle. speaker-0: when you're first learning to like coordinate your arms and your feet at the same time. If you've not used I've used trekking poles like for climbing in the mountain, but for like paced walking, I had not used them. And that was a little bit like figuring my out my pace. But once I got it, it was like I didn't want to walk without them. Right. On flat land even. Yeah. speaker-1: And Greg, we talked about it with Greg at REI. He's like, Yeah, some people will poo poo them, but here's the benefit. The benefit i is just what it does for your body. It speaker-0: It takes twenty-five to thirty percent of the weight off of of your body to to lean on the pole. speaker-1: Off of your joints, your knees and your hips. Think about that. Twenty-five to thirty percent of the impact. speaker-0: The force, yeah. speaker-1: Yeah, the force impact on your knees and your hips because you're altering your feet and your hands. Left foot, right placement with the pole. Right foot, left placement with the pole. And this sounds funny, but when you first start to try to walk with them, you're like, wait, okay, let me get my balance and my weight shifting. And we started looking it up and there's a great video. And you may laugh, but it makes sense. And the woman that explains it will will share that in the show notes as well. Besides the how to fit your backpack video, we're gonna share the how to use your trekking poles appropriately. speaker-0: Really video. Because you can you have to use them correctly. We saw a lot of people who bought them last minute and didn't appear to be using them correctly. You'll get a lot of help out of them if you use them correctly. And so it's worth watching the video. speaker-1: I gotta share this stat. Okay, so Jan mentioned the 25 to 30 percent reduction of force and impact on your knees and hips. That translates to a reduction of up to 17 pounds of load per step over a 12-mile Camino day, which is what we walked, which saves your joints, you know, thousands of pounds of cumulative stress over all of that mileage. speaker-0: So basically it's mitigating the backpack on you. speaker-1: It helps. It definitely helps. Also, what helps is when you're holding the pole, your arms are at a ninety degree bend here, right? And so otherwise, when you're walking, you're just swinging your arms, and all of the blood pulls into your forearms, your hands, and your fingers, and then sausage fingers. Then you experience a very well-known trekking or hiking Issue that people refer to as sausage fingers because the blood pools, the fluids there, your hands swell. this is a big relief, and I could certainly tell a difference from that. so we were super happy. These are just three-section aluminum trekking poles from REI. It was a good option for us. They break down into the one section. And then we packed them in a box, both my set and Jan's set. And we did check that because you can't take them on board because under the rubber tip here, which is they don't come with the tip on it, you have to add the rubber tip. speaker-0: Which you want to do, otherwise people will hear you click, click, click, click, click. speaker-1: Yes. You will be clickety clacketing on the cobblestones or the pavement or the sidewalks. And it is annoying. And also those titanium tips will start to wear down, but it's much better with with the little rubber stoppers on there. speaker-0: As for flying with them, as you were saying, yeah, you're you can try. We did see people flying with them attached to their backpack and they made it through security, but it was suggested to us that that was risky because they security could stop you for that sharp pointed. speaker-1: Right. They're gonna go into it. I can't even get this off because it went a hundred and fifty. But that's that's a sharp tip and security, it's their choice. TSA can say, sorry, we're gonna take those away from you and then you have to go and find another pair in speaker-0: Or not have any polls. speaker-1: Spain and Portugal. speaker-0: Now, I mentioned that s we saw people buy them last minute during their walk. we walked with a gentleman who said, Yeah, how do you like those poles? And we were like, We love them. And he said, Yeah, my brother in law said, No, no poles. You don't need poles. speaker-1: You don't need those. speaker-0: I don't poles, you don't. We got to some steeper days and he found a place to get some poles and he got them and I think he was very happy he speaker-1: And he had mentioned that he was having some issue with some achiness in an ankle. Yeah. And after he got the trekking poles, it alleviated. speaker-0: He was doing after that, after the ankle issues, he got the trekking poles and he did some long days, like close to thirty mile days. speaker-1: 30, 30, even a little over 30 miles, I believe, one day. And we were amazed. So it certainly helps. You will feel a difference. Here's a one other point. I c when we came home from doing the Camino, we continue our walking. And I actually it was just last Saturday. Sorry. Just last Saturday, I went out on a walk. I did seven and a half miles in the neighborhood without trekking poles. I came back home. And I noticed I had sausage fingers and I had two rings on and I could not get the rings off because my hands were so swollen. So aim into the trekking poles. I will tout those all day long. speaker-0: Not just for folks who need walking assistu. speaker-1: Yes. Most definitely. Okay, what is the next most important s piece of gear? The shoes. Yes. This would speaker-0: The shoes. I love the color of my shoes. speaker-1: and that's fun. That's the second pair and the second color. speaker-0: That's the second pair of the same shoe but a different color. Yep. Right. And speaker-1: Turn this way so everyone can see it. Tell us about your shoes, Jan. speaker-0: I got a shoe with a wider toe box, so your toes have a lot of room to breathe and move around. they were comfortable. speaker-1: I think one of the most important things about the shoes that you shared is is the wider toe box, which you know, they were sharing with us at REI when we were trying on shoes. It gives room for your feet and your toes to move after you walk miles and miles. Guess what happened with your feet? You wanna guess, hon? they swell. speaker-0: I didn't know there was a quiz. speaker-1: What? Come on. After miles and miles in your shoe, what can happen to your feet walking? speaker-0: I suppose they swell. speaker-1: That's right. And so the wider toe box, I think, helps make room for that. No, I don't just think, but that's what they tell you. Yeah. Anyway, that's Jan's shoe. she got the topos. I I got another brand called Ultra A-L-T-R-A. It is their version of a trail running shoe. Same with Janice's. That's the most important point is the shoes we chose to walk our Camino are trail running shoes. So they're knobby on the bottom. They have really good support and cushion. They're breathable because they're a light mesh and they dry quickly because of that. speaker-0: So we assumed that having a waterproof shoe would be a good idea in case of rain or puddles or mud or whatever. But it was pointed out to us that it was much more important for your feet to breathe when they're long hours in the shoe, that if they got wet, they can dry out. But if you have waterproof and they get wet, they still stay speaker-1: They stay wet inside. speaker-0: wet. Yeah. And those shoes are often heavier, you know. There you're not getting the airflow that you need when it's not wet. So we went with these and not like a traditional hiking boot. speaker-1: Great. And they and they were great. we were fortunate as we were knocking on wood when we went. I I cannot believe it, but we never walked in one day of rain of all the time we were there. speaker-0: And we had rain gear. Nicely speaker-1: We were ready with the speaker-0: packed in our backpack. Great rain gear from Altus that fit over our backpack. speaker-1: These are ponchos. You could choose between a jacket, which means you have to take off your backpack, put on your rain jacket, put your backpack on, and then pull out the waterproof rain cover, which your backpack comes with, but we didn't want to mess with that. The other option, which a lot of people suggested, is the poncho style. speaker-0: We wore it one day while we were touring around without our backpacks in Porto before we left on our Camino. That was the one day of rain. And we were super fortunate, maybe because we had these, to not have rain any of our other walking days. Yeah. And so we didn't have to use them over our backpacks. But in the future we probably will and we're glad to have them. And it's very lightweight. Very speaker-1: Very lightweight and just really awesome because it's it's got a lot of room in the back that when you throw it over your head, it has room to cover a big backpack and it also drops just below your knees. So if we were in pouring rain, you're really gonna stay pretty dry, except for your shins and your and your feet. but real quick, mentioning feet, I want to say on the shoes this one I'm speaker-0: We also did inserts. speaker-1: pulling out of my shoe and The insert, which there's a little lint. Sorry about that, guys. the inserts that come in the shoe, unfortunately, they're not good. They they may be good for like a couple of weeks of walking, but they're so thin, then they compress and there's not as much support. So your outdoor store is going to have different inserts that you can look at. And this one's by Superfeet, and it comes with. As you can see on the heel, a more cushion pressure point there and along the ball of your feet. Right there, it definitely makes a difference because when we first started walking without these, I I the balls of my feet felt bruised. Right. So speaker-0: Yeah, really sore. So I'm really glad we we got those. It was a little bit of money to upgrade onto an a shoe that you're already putting money into. But if you're gonna put money into anything when you're walking the Camino, it's your feet. speaker-1: It's your feet because you sit there and go, My goodness, what did I have to pay for these shoes? And now I've got to go buy an insert and it's going to be this much more. But it's priceless. speaker-0: With that said, what else goes on your feet? speaker-1: Sucks. This was a different this was different for us because everyone had opinions on that and what they like and that's perfect. It's going to come down to everyone's preference. And it was a little weird to put them on at first. What do you think? speaker-0: I think it was a little weird and I didn't want to wear them. speaker-1: You're you're trying to pick the toes out. speaker-0: And we did get them toe socks. speaker-1: These are toe socks. So in other words, gloves for your feet. Yes. speaker-0: It was suggested. It sounded like a smart suggestion. Did not sound like a fun thing to do or wear. Look at that. However, we started training with them and realized when you put them on your feet, you don't I did not really notice the the toes in separate sections. So if it looks and sounds like it's gonna feel awkward, but they feel quite comfortable when they're on and you forget about them when they're walking. And the idea here is that you're keeping all of your toes separate from any moisture, rubbing toes against toes, and eliminate the chance. Reduce the chance for blisters. speaker-1: Right, 'cause the friction isn't there. And if your if your feet start to get sweaty and your toes are rubbing together, that that's an issue that people experience is blisters around their toes. They helped immensely. I I was I was probably got used to it ten minutes into walking the very first time I put on. speaker-0: I brought a different pair in case I decided that they were annoying me or something and I never wore them because these are the right ones. And wool, a wool blend. speaker-1: Our favorite option in gingis. That is what we chose, and we will put that in the show notes. It's I N J I N J I in Ginji. Jan said wool blend. I I they have different versions. They have a cool max, which is some synthetic, and then they also have the wool version, which we took both. the wool it it helps keep your feet cool during the heat and your feet warm when it's cold. It also moisture wicks. And apparently it's supposed to help with odor because it's antimicrobial. Is that right? Yeah. so you could, if by chance you were in a pickle and you couldn't wash these wool ones one night, you wear them a second day. And I know I have worn them multiple days in a row, and it sounds a little gross, but you go and you pick them up and you always take a big sniff, you do not smell anything. The wool is magical. speaker-0: Not kidding. Yeah. It's true. It is magical. So you can wear them a couple of days if you need to. And the same with the your wool undergarments, which are good too. But this this begs the question, did we completely protect ourselves ourselves from blisters? speaker-1: believe it or not, I never had one blister, not the teeniest bit of a hot spot. I was so grateful for that. However, Janie speaker-0: I got blisters. Yeah. In all the training we did, never got a blister. And so I I got a blister probably in the first third of the trip. speaker-1: I thought it was later when we started on incline because your f your feet were moving little more. speaker-0: The cobbles. Yeah. But it it was in the first third of the trip because I had them most of the time because of all of the different ground. So that's the one thing we couldn't, we didn't train for walking on cobbles and and not just a one cobble, but dozens of t different types of things that you might call cobble. And so, you know, uneven ground constantly for miles. And I do have a thin foot and again a narrow foot. A narrow foot, a narrow foot. And so no matter how good the shoes fit and the having the space for your toes is important, my narrow foot still on an uneven ground slid around a little bit in the shoe. I think that's what ultimately we weren't training with things like that. So my foot wasn't sliding around in my shoe. But on the trail, it did slide around in the shoe, couldn't help it. And I got blisters. Do you have my solution with you? Here's speaker-1: Jan, let's speaker-0: the thing got a blister. Got probably four blisters and speaker-1: Dig into this pattern. speaker-0: walked with them for a dozen days with no problem at all. I did what I was supposed to do. As soon as I felt a little hot spot, a little warmth in a in the area. I speaker-1: I'm holding it upside down. speaker-0: stopped, took off my shoe, took off my sock, aired my feet out, and saw a little red spot. I slapped one of these Compede band-aids. It's like a industrial strength band-aid with cushioning right on top of that spot and eventually I had two or three of them on my f on my feet in the spots that were problem and it enabled me to just keep going and the blisters don't pop. You don't want them to pop. they are just cushioned and they eventually heal and don't get worse. speaker-1: It is Compede long-lasting protection and it's it's almost like this padded bandage. And they come in like these variety packs. I'm holding it up there to the camera so you can see it, but we'll we'll share the link on here. But I if you watch anything or listen to anything regarding the Camino, you will have heard Compede for blisters. speaker-0: Carrying it with you. Yeah. Because it worked for me. The other thing I took and I used was and this is a little piece left over, so it's not as fluffy, but this is lamb's wool. I had a package of lamb's wool, which I forgot to bring to us today, but and in the areas of my shoe where I was getting the blisters, which was on the on my big toes, I on the outside of my socks I put this lamb's wool which soaks up moisture. So that was also to help keep things dry. speaker-1: also it's weird you you pull it apart and you kinda wrap it around your speaker-0: But it was a lot fluffier. This came from inside my soul. speaker-1: that's gross. Why wouldn't you tell me why wouldn't you tell me that? Okay. speaker-0: They were washed. speaker-1: I'm they were washed. Okay. Thank you, dear. That was awesome. speaker-0: It just stayed in the toe. Do you wanna smell the speaker-1: I really don't want I would smell them, but I I don't think I need to do that right now. But I appreciate you sharing. Okay. Moving on to the next thing. Janice asked about the comp and it came out of our pack. Do I talk about that pack first? Why don't we why don't we skip to that? So speaker-0: Yes. So we each had one of these packs. This was to be for our personal toiletry items. speaker-1: Right. This is called this is by a a travel gear company called Matador and these were at REI as well, but you can find at other outdoor stores. This is speaker-0: Amazon. Look this stuff up on Amazon. speaker-1: I looked on this one and it was actually more expensive and they didn't have the the exact pack. Anyway, you can look. Give it a go. it's a Matador flat pack, F-L-A-T-P-A-K, flat pack toiletry case. The one, the ones we bought, it's a dry bag, right? So if something leaks within your toiletry bag, it's not coming out. speaker-0: That's not gonna ruin your socks and the things in the back or if it rains and it in your pack gets wet, your stuff. speaker-1: the dry bag that's works just like a dry bag. You roll the top and then you you pinch it with the clasp and that's what we were limited to. I have more stuff. speaker-0: Everything that you wanted in the way of lotion, face stuff, shampoo, soap, all that all has to fit in here. Which sounds like a good space, but I couldn't get mine to close. So like maybe a little item or two would get taken out and put in his bag. speaker-1: Guess what I saw? So I could close mine. Guess what I saw when I was looking this up? We got these on clearance at RAI, I think because they were version one. And version two on the Matador flat pack now comes with a waterproof zipper. So instead of having to fold it over like other traditional dry bags and clasping it, you can just zip it. It gave you a little bit more room. But the nice thing is, is it also limited you to You couldn't take any more than you wanted to because that was the size of our toiletry bag. So that that was good. It it worked. speaker-0: Some of the places we stayed, I think we addressed this, said they had toiletries, but what they had if they had it was that combo three speaker-1: Two and one. speaker-0: and one. Wash your body and your hair and condition it in the one thing. Yeah. And I liked to have some some things in addition to that. speaker-1: Just to pamper yourself a teeny bit. speaker-0: Well and sunscreen and you I wanted to wash my face nicely and put my proper lotion with sunscreen on and that kind of thing. So speaker-1: All right, what else was in our pack? Our clothes. And what we decided to do, these aren't waterproof, but see these little speaker-0: Cubes from IKEA. speaker-1: Little packing cubes from IKEA that are super light and easy to put into the the backpack. But what this did was help kind of keep things in order in your pack so it didn't get all disarrayed and if you had to stop and pull something out of your pack, you knew where it was and you weren't pulling everything out like it was a yard sale right there on the commute. speaker-0: So we had three of these cubes. There's my two other cubes are that that look like Donald. speaker-1: Three. speaker-0: How did you think I did? speaker-1: Three. speaker-0: And maybe I only use two. speaker-1: I think you did. I think you had the two these sizes. Right. These two sizes. speaker-0: So you would pull it out of your pack and get what you needed from your pack and then, you know, put them back in. You're not pulling out twenty items, you're pulling out two items. Right. And you're ten like show how many things you have speaker-1: All right, so here's here's this pack right here. And within one pack, it was nice too, because as you may have heard in episode three, that we talked about only two sets of hiking clothes. That's two pairs of shorts, two shirts, and and then we had three pairs of socks and three pairs of underwear. But I could kind of separate when we washed it each night, and once it dried in the morning, you folded it up and you put it in one cube and you know what's going on. But I had the socks in there. Let's the particular shorts I chose, which we trained in. I had two pairs of these shorts which have pockets. They are comfortable, they dried fast, and I just was happy with them. So I don't know if you care to know because everybody tries their own thing, but these are Pranas. I can share a link on those as well as Let's Talk Undies. speaker-0: Let's talk undies. speaker-1: Because we we mentioned the importance of like the wool socks. Same goes for the undies. Because if you get merino wool underwear, you think, ooh, wool underwear. That's a little scratchy. not speaker-0: Not at all. Very soft. speaker-1: at all. speaker-0: Wicks away the moisture. Dries. And if you can't speaker-1: And by ch speaker-0: wash it, speaker-1: You're good to go for two days in a row. and I tried a bunch of different ones. So I went the Amazon route and I got these woolies. So I these are just merino wool boxers, right? Woolies. And they're comfortable. They did pretty well. but they stretched out a lot. and so that way it was like, you know, if it's stretching out, am I doing funny moves? Am I like? No, I'm just watching it. Right, then there's extra material in your shorts as it stretches, it's just not keeping its form factor, which is important along the trail for support. speaker-0: I did not bring my undies. I didn't know we were showing undies. but I did really, really like mine and Yes. speaker-1: And you found Marina Wool. speaker-0: And if you wanna know the name, then you message us on Instagram, DM us and I'll tell you speaker-1: can still put it in show notes as far as women underwear of what you chose, merino wool, what was comfortable speaker-0: They were a huge win. again, training in your clothes. So this is a good point. When I f when we first started training, I was wearing whatever underwear I had at home and shorts that I would normally wear to work out or to walk in or something like that. And they were just whatever material workout shorts and underwear. And when you get really sweaty and you have to go to the bathroom. I had this conversation with my girlfriend. This is important. I know this is not just me because she agreed with me. Right. When you have to go to the bathroom and you've got sweaty pants on, to get those pants down and then they roll. And they're speaker-1: And then they get stuck on the speaker-0: stuck and when you're trying to get them back up, it's like a wet bathing suit when you roll it and it's all rolled up and then you have to unroll it and try to get it all back up. When speaker-1: This is not fun, folks. Yeah. speaker-0: you're on the trail and you're going somewhere that you have to get in there quickly or you have a big bat, you know, a big backpack or whatever. I ended up with shorts that had a zipper. speaker-1: Right. speaker-0: And so I could zip my pants, my shorts down. And the wool underwear, not a problem with being too sweaty and rolling up and down and not being able to. But if you've had, you know, like yoga pants on or something before and you're sweaty and you roll them down and they crunch right up. speaker-1: Not good. speaker-0: So definitely practicing. That's what I learned when I was practicing walking. And I tried these other shorts that I got from REI. And love them. They didn't cause any issues. They were quick in and out to go to the bathroom. Those were really important things for me on the trip. speaker-1: And no rolling up undies. I decided for the men's, I decided to go for the smart wool, which is a very well-known, long-standing brand for merino wool. and it was worth it to spend the money, take two pairs of these, and I was super happy because they worked wonderfully. We also did lighter shirts. I tried a couple of merino wool shirts and and then we did lightweight shirts because of the heat. One and we love them and we'll share that. We both had Patagonia cool cappelline, like their cool trail shirt. and it also has like SPF in it. speaker-0: yeah, and when you're talking about those brands like Patagonia and stuff, search for them because if you get off season sales or a color that has been is being discontinued, you can get great prices on that kind of stuff or search the outlets and everything. So if you've got enough time ahead of your trip, you can think that through. But those were definite helps for us, the clothing and practicing in the clothing and then being really comfortable and not even having to think one moment about your clothing. When we interview some folks we walked with, I do want to remember to ask them what how comfortable they were with their clothes. I saw some people with clothes, I thought, Are they comfortable in that all day long? And I also saw some brands of shorts, for example, women's shorts, that must have been fantastic because I saw a lot of people wearing them. speaker-1: May have been a European brand because we saw the Italians and maybe some Germans. we should have act. speaker-0: Yeah. So maybe we'll ask when we speaker-1: Right. Maybe Giovanna had had those. Yeah. I will say we mentioned for cooler evenings when we were done on the trail and out on the town for dinner, or if it was cold in the in the early morning, we took a pair of pants and a long sleeve, lighter warm garment, we can say, that we would wear on the plane over, because it always gets cold on the plane on the plane home. In the evenings. And in the evenings. But I took a a sun hoodie as well. I'm gonna show that. This is a super light sun hoodie from Patagonia that I've used when I'm fly fishing. One because it keeps the sun off my arms and you can wear it when it's warm and you you still feel like cool, keeps the sun off, but it also helps insulate you if it is a little brisk in the early morning. So that was certainly an advantage for us to have. And what about the sun? speaker-0: Speaking of the sun, our hats. And we, as opposed to wearing a ball cap or I like to wear a tennis visor, I wanted a little more coverage. We're out, again, hours in the sun a day, potentially. And so I chose a hat with a brim so that I could cover up as much of my face as possible. And this, while this is a you know, crushable hat, it's not necessarily like the stuff that we're squishing into that backpack. I ended up clipping it on my backpack. With this Yeah, there's speaker-1: Handy Dandy Amazon purchase. speaker-0: a an alligate alligator clip, what do you call it? speaker-1: Yeah, an alligator clamp there and then speaker-0: And we hung these on the back of our backpacks for if we were leaving in the morning and we had some socks we'd washed and they weren't quite dry, you just hang from your backpack. There's speaker-1: There's loop here with a little clasp on it almost acting like a carabiner and it was so easy to put on your pack and then hang the hat down. But as you just mentioned, one morning my socks weren't dry, and we just hung our socks on the back. speaker-0: Or if you wanted to have your long sleeve available, you could just hang it off your pack with something like that. And that worked great for me. speaker-1: I needed a little bit more f brim coverage there, so I got an REI hat that was full coverage. I always go, Do I look goofy in this or not? I don't care because it kept me cool and it kept the sun off my face. speaker-0: Yeah, there was no really thinking you looked cute in your outfit. Well speaker-1: I thought you looked cute. speaker-0: that's nice. speaker-1: How did you think I looked? speaker-0: You are speaker-1: thank you, Han. All right. Stop the cheese. Sunscreen. speaker-0: Okay. that was a good one. speaker-1: Don't take it from the US. Don't worry about dragging it over there. It's gonna be all over the place. And besides, the European sunscreen has less junk in it. I I you can look that up yourself, but it just I I think it's well known that it's better sunscreen. On top of that. It was light, it was waterproof. I didn't wish we had I know. I wish I had bought a couple of packs extra because it it wasn't oily or greasy and it worked just great. And we lathered this on our arms and hands even and our faces and necks. It it was perfect. So sunscreen when you arrive in in your area for the Camino, just get it there. speaker-0: And of course we had in our packs our chargers, extra battery packs, converters. speaker-1: Converters. Converters. Here's a converter we got. Just Amazon. You know what? And after I got this, the plug sticks straight out. there's another one on Amazon. Another option on Amazon is it just folds in like it pivots, which would pack a little easier. but this one's great because it has the different plugs, but as well as USB and USB C if you need it, depending on what you're charging. besides plugging in maybe a a watch or your phone. So that was great. what else did we have? speaker-0: Easy peasy, right? speaker-1: We had our day pack or what do we call this? What else did we have? Our waste packs. speaker-0: Yeah. I think I always call them still fanny packs, which is nineteen eighties but speaker-1: This is small. As you can see, it was a perfect size to hold our passport, which we always kept on us around our waist. And if we were away from our backpacks or out on the town in the evening and your pack stayed in your room, this stayed on the front of us around our waist. speaker-0: where our money was, our ID was, our passport was, my chapstick was. speaker-1: Yes. Jan had one, I had one, it worked well. We ended up keeping our speaker-0: Glasses. speaker-1: glasses in there, our Camino passports, because you're taking that alphan. speaker-0: The Camino passport that that we get stamped, which you will see in upcoming episodes. speaker-1: You're taking that out often to get it stamped. So this was a great addition. I I I think it was suggested. it was a no-brainer. Get a small waste pack for all of your important items. speaker-0: You wanna have right there up front and easily accessible. And that you could carry with you when you did have a place that your pack was secure like a private room. speaker-1: Yeah. did we forget anything with all our gear? That was a lot of gear, it seems like. speaker-0: And did are you saying did we forget anything at home? Or did we forget to tell folks about anything? Both. I think we've shared everything and I don't think we forgot anything at home. Was there something that you wished you had on the trip? speaker-1: I don't I don't think so. I don't think so. In fact there was there was one thing I took and didn't need that speaker-0: Twice. speaker-1: was where's my pack? That was a glide stick. speaker-0: I didn't use mine either. speaker-1: Body glide. And for those who are long distance athletes, maybe or a triathleter runner, speaker-0: Cyclist. speaker-1: a cyclist, I mean, kind of it depends on body glide is something that basically is an an anti-shafing balm. So you know, if if something with a shirt's bothering you, you rub this on your skin or maybe on on your leg, if the the the seam of your shorts scraping against your leg and it's annoying you, you can rub this on the skin and it keeps it from chafing. But I speaker-0: That's a concern like blisters, something that repetitive movement is gonna cause a problem. But I think what happened was we handled that in us practicing in our actual clothes. Yeah. So we knew like I ended up changing my shorts that I originally thought I was gonna use because they were not the best ones. So we figured that out. So therefore we got there and we didn't have chafing problems. But that could be an speaker-1: We it was fortunate that we went through everything when we trained to make sure it would be good to go. we even went and bought collapsible toothbrushes to make it easier to pack, like at Walmart or Target, and they just fold up. speaker-0: Yeah, as lightweight for everything as possible. I didn't bring my pillow. speaker-1: What? I will put it up. I will put it up on the video here, but we'll also put it in the show notes that we had shared mine. look how small that is. It's so speaker-0: A Nemo. speaker-1: Anemo is a great brand. it's a great backcracking. Actually, that is bigger than the one I took. mine when it blows up I'm I'm kind of gesturing here on camera for those watching on YouTube. Maybe it's about ten. inches across eight to ten. Maybe nine. Maybe speaker-0: Be my speaker-1: that's twelve, fifteen. And Jan speaker-0: This is a blow-up pillow. It has a soft side and then it folds into itself. And it's just an emp a pillow is important to me. I usually sleep with three or four pillows. So going to one pillow in a room that you've booked and you don't know if that's speaker-1: Extra speaker-0: if there's you know any extras. I and the travel on the plane. It was something I hemmed and hawed about like, do I really need to put an extra pillow in there? And I used it and I was very happy to have it. I either made my p this pillow thicker or I used it between my knees to be more comfortable. I was really glad to have my little pillow. speaker-1: Super light backpacking pillow. I will share the links in the notes for both Jan's and mine, which are just same brand, just two different sizes. but speaker-0: You probably didn't need yours. speaker-1: I took it and I'm not sure I used it once. speaker-0: So it's a treat for somebody who feels they need it. I w I'm glad I had mine. speaker-1: Could loaned it to you. speaker-0: You could have carried mine. Why didn't we do that? speaker-1: Here, smell this wool. speaker-0: So we're zipping up the backpacks and the conversation about our equipment. If you have questions about any of this equipment, feel free to reach out to us. You can DM us on Instagram at Travel Joneses. speaker-1: Yes, send us your questions in the comments here on the episode so we can get back to you on that. If you have any questions on the particular gear or any other subject, we'd love to hear from you. speaker-0: So it's getting real exciting from here on out because now we're gonna start telling you about our experience on the stages of walking the Camino Portuguese. speaker-1: Right, episode five. We start in Porto and we will talk about day one and day two. That would be from Gaia to Matosinos to Villa de Conde. speaker-0: And that's along the coast, the Atlantic coast of Portugal, the first portion of our water. speaker-1: Can't wait to share that with you. And again, we're so grateful you tuned in to I dare I said it again. We're so grateful you tuned in to watch or listen here on Travel Joneses. speaker-0: Thank you to so many of you who have reached out to us and told us how much you're enjoying it, how you've been inspired, how you've gotten goosebumps about hearing about our story, how you've laughed with us. And so it makes us excited to know that you're along for this journey and we look forward to sharing more with you. speaker-1: Great opportunity for us to relive it because we want to keep doing it because it was that special for us. Again, thanks so much for listening, everybody. That's our story. speaker-0: Now go find yours. When speaker-1: Camino. The Travel Joneses is produced, hosted, edited, and occasionally argued over by Donald and Janice Jones. Emotional support and Velcro snuggles provided by our golden retriever, Friday Jones. Quality control, keyboard napping, and general supervision by Juni Bug Jones, who has reviewed this episode and remains unimpressed. No interns were harmed in the making of this podcast because we don't have any.