Almost PCT Time!

Hey, y’all. Long time-no updates.. but guess what? It’s almost go time for my Pacific Crest Trail thru-hike! As in, it’s currently 11:30 at night and my flight leaves for Reno at 6am tomorrow. Talk about procrastination, huh? Speaking of, I can’t figure out how to add the “subscribe here” option to my posts-but if you haven’t subscribed and want to, I know it’s on the bottom of the “Welcome” page found in the drop down menu at the top.. I did figure all that out 😉 haha

The Pacific Crest Trail is the 2655 mile trail that starts at the Mexico/California border and finishes at the Washington/Canada border. It only goes through 3 states (California, Oregon, and Washington), but it’s longer than the Appalachian Trail (2200 miles). It’s also higher in elevation, passing right by with a quick side trip up to the summit of Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the continental US! Crazy thing is-while it’s longer and higher in overall elevation, it’s actually less in elevation gain and loss per mile compared to the AT.. aka: they made switchbacks! This trail was graded for mules and pack horses, so while any thru hike is considered “difficult” and each long trail has its positives and negatives.. IM REAL EXCITED ABOUT THIS ONE! Lol I’m also really praying no one lied to me and I won’t have to heave my body up vertical walls.


My plans have changed 8 trillion times since deciding to hike the PCT this year. Mainly because this is the highest snow year on record for California. Cool cool. And extremely terrifying. Back in 2018, Andrea and I hiked the John Muir Trail, (and summited Mount Whitney 😉 ) which many (if not all) of its 200+ miles through the Sierra in California is shared with the PCT.. and, well, my ungraceful butt ate it quite a few times and had MANY treacherous water crossings. That was a low snow year. This one being a really really high snow year means a lot more snow melt, larger river crossings, and more potential for dangerous situations. Basically, I’m anxious as hell.


That being said, I’ve swapped my starting places several times and have decided to start with a 4 day section that’s currently snow free.. and Andrea is going to join me for it! We’ll start hiking on Saturday near Burney Falls, California, and hike back to her truck in Old Station. Andrea will then drive me up to where we started and I’ll go north into a section currently “covered” in snow. Maybe by then it’ll melt a bit more and won’t be as scary. It is a whole 6 days away. (Let us all pray for some hot days ahead lol).


Anyway, now that I’ve fear-mongered myself.. I also currently have an issue with packing my new backpack I got. I don’t know if y’all remember, but the pack I used on the Appalachian Trail was a size too big for my torso-making it too long on my frame, and causing a lot of heat rash business. I purchased a new pack that has glowing reviews and I saw it in action a lot on the AT by others (ULA circuit).. but I am really struggling with how to pack it correctly and get my crap in there! I got so frustrated tonight that I literally have only the super expensive things in the pack that I’ll take on the plane as my carry on, and then the rest is in a huge suitcase with my resupply stuff that I’ll need once I the first half of the trail completed. I’ll figure out how to pack my pack once I get out to Andrea’s I guess!


Speaking of, Andrea is so wonderful! She is letting me keep that suitcase at her house while I hike, she’s letting me hang out with her for a couple days before we start hiking and then she’s also shuttling us around, several hours from home (along with her boyfriend, Andres.. I know, Andrea and Andres, cute as hell, huh?) I am so grateful for her and her friendship!


As far as the hike itself goes, I’m doing it as a flip flop again.. so first I’ll be going from Old Station to the Canadian border, then I’ll be flying back to Reno, where she’ll be holding a new pair of shoes and some other random gear options I may want to swap out. Then I’ll hike from Old Station southbound to the Mexican border. I have a tight timeline to finish, because I’m going to Egypt in November. I’ve already decided that if I don’t complete the trail by November, (hopefully it’ll be all desert trail in Southern California) I’ll come back next spring and finish it up.. hopefully before May 27 so I can say I did it all within 12 months.


Now, as for what to expect for my blog during this adventure: there’s a whole lot less cell service in these mountains I’ll be hiking. So, my plan is to still write daily, but only compile and try to get a week or a section at a time up when I’m in town with power and good WiFi. Simply because the trail doesn’t go through as many towns as the AT does, so I’ll have longer food carries and more days in actual wilderness where I’ll need to keep my phone battery alive as long as absolute possible.. my poor battery bank can only charge so much! Plus I’ll have my garmin in reach satellite device to keep charged out there too.. and it’s much easier to use while connected to my phone through Bluetooth. If an emergency arises I’ll need my phone and Inreach charged, and my battery bank juiced enough to make sure they stay that way! See how I’m back to fear-mongering myself. Yikes!


Alright. So, I kinda feel like I’m rambling. Sorry about that. It’s my way of procrastinating. I still have quite a few things to tick off my to do list tonight. Mom will be at my house at 3:45am to drive me to the airport (my god she’s a saint).. so I don’t foresee me sleeping any tonight.. time to crack down on this list and make things happen!

Appalachian Trail Budget Breakdown

Hey y’all! Man have I been a busy girl since getting back from Europe. I had a few weeks off before starting work back at my favorite local hospital. A lot changed during that brief time.. but I think I’m finally starting to find my footing again.


Thankfully, Michelle reminded me that I never updated my budget for my Appalachian Trail trek last year, so I used that as a distraction from life to bring you this: my AT budget breakdown. Now, please realize that this isn’t exact and is most definitely probably missing things. Trying to go back to last year on credit and debit card records and remember what each line item was for was a bit tough.. either way, this is roughly it-and it’s definitely the total amount of money spent during that 6 months. I took the time to take out the meals, hotels, and car rentals for the times I was off trail with Andrea, my mom, and Lauren.. (I think I got them all out anyway lol)..


So. Here goes.


My grand total spent for the trail and my home bills for the 6 months (May-Nov 6, 2021) is $15,805. I actually thought it was going to be much more than that, because at some point I just quit caring and quit thinking about it. That may sound reckless, but you have to realize I had saved $20,000 for this trip, as a precaution for any unforeseen circumstances, and then I also had a little nest egg brewing for the European vacation I was in the beginning stages of planning for, so I wasn’t too concerned with my budget.


The way that I decided to break down the 15k is into 7 categories: Transportation, Accommodations, Town Food, Resupply Food, Gear, Miscellaneous charges, and then my Bills.


I’ll start with the bills I had while I was gone that still needed to be paid. This is the most difficult part for many people wanting to hike a long trail, because you not only need the money to buy the gear and to survive the trail, but you also have to save the money for things like your mortgage and car payments.. normal life stuff. I was lucky in that I was able to pay off my house and my car before the trail, so I didn’t have those two big payments that the majority of people have. What I did have though, and still do, is my property tax bill that comes in once a year in November, my home and car insurance due each January and July, and then my monthly things like keeping my water, power, and gas on, my cell phone bill, health insurance, and silly subscriptions like pandora and Netflix. I also had a $37/month Garmin bill for my Inreach device that I hiked with for safety (and for getting rides when I was bailing for the day lol). The total for all of my bills during that time was $6135.


Next up is transportation. Now, it came up to a total of $777.. but please know that I didn’t keep up with separating the hostel bills from the cost of the stay and the cost of my many slackpacking adventures on the second half of the trek. So, I’m sure that this number is technically more, but it’s been absorbed into the accommodations category. This $777 does include both of my flights to DC and the train and Ubers to Harper’s ferry. It also includes other Ubers from road crossings and venmo rides that I was able to confirm wasn’t for food. Lol


Accommodations include every hostel, hotel, or campground that I could find on my line items. This number includes some food, resupply and transportation from some of the hostels, as they would simply add up your stay, plus your shuttles, and they almost always fed me, too. The grand total for this category came to $2396.


This town food category should be embarrassing, but I’m actually pretty proud.. haha: $2130. I spent over two grand on food in 6 months, besides the food I packed to eat on trail-this is all from restaurants, DoorDash and breweries. Some of it was split with other hikers and they venmoed me back for their portions, but I didn’t take the time to sift through and subtract from the exact categories (after transportation, simply because it got way too tedious), I just subtracted the money coming into me from the total spent. I’ll also say, I enjoyed myself in town and I have no regrets! Hahaha


My resupply total came to $1404, but this is tricky because the resupplies easily got lumped in with the hostels at times and then also with the gear section too, because I’d almost always grab some dehydrated meals when at REI getting new shoes or a new air mattress when mine popped a leak and tried to kill my hips. So, while it seems lower than the other categories, it’s not 100% accurate. Everything in this category did include anything bought from a Walmart, gas station, grocery store, or dollar general.


My gear category is higher in my opinion than it needed to be-but, the way I saw it was that I had worked hard and saved money and if I could purchase something to make my time hiking even slightly more enjoyable, especially when it came to sleeping, I was going to do it. So, I ended up buying 2 new tents (Jesus, I know), both of which were pretty dang expensive (I did resell the first one I bought after I got home, but I didn’t subtract that money from this). Plus my multiple pair of shoes and my new air mattress, along with gas cans and the cold weather gear I got when I was getting closer to home. This category came to $2478.


The miscellaneous category includes shipping costs and things paid for that I couldn’t figure out what they were.. about $100 was in shipping, I still have no clue what some of the other stuff is, but I had to include it since it was money spent: $485 total.


So, with all of those added up, we get the grand total of $15,805 for the 6 months. As you can see, you can *easily* get away with doing this hike and not spending this much money. I tended to go overboard in town eating any and everything I wanted, and I liked to stay at nicer hotels at times, too. I regret not a single dollar spent, even with the gear- as it was all a learn as you go situation. I now know the tent I prefer, the sleeping pad I sleep best on, and the importance of staying warm at night..


I’m saving money now for the Pacific Crest Trail next year. I’m thinking I’ll be able to get away with spending considerably less money, as I shouldn’t have huge gear changes again while out there, and there are less towns along the way so I won’t have as many opportunities to eat my weight in Mexican food and margaritas. Don’t get me wrong, I will definitely still do that, but maybe not as often. I foresee my transportation expenses increase though, since trail towns are farther away and will probably cost more to get to places, but I don’t think there will be slackpacking opportunities either.. so maybe those two things will even out.


I’m hopefully going to be better at keeping track of my expenses while I’m out there, remembering this situation now, lol. We shall see. I’m hoping to do a flip flop again starting in late may or early June. Hopefully I’ll be able to do this trail a bit faster, 5 ish months is my goal, but I’ll still save for 6-7 months as a precaution.


And because I’m me and plan too much and overthink like crazy, I’m already considering where I want to go when I finish the trail as a celebration! I’m really leaning hard on Quito, Ecuador and then spending a week or so on the Galapagos Islands. Hmmm. Looks like someone needs to get to work! As it gets closer to start time I’ll give you more updates about the permit process for the PCT, my gear choices, and then my planning for after the trail 🙂


Thanks for following along.. I appreciate each of you so much! I swear I plan to also figure out a way to put my posts in easier to follow categories as well. Maybe I can manage that before too long 😉 *fingers crossed*

EuroTrip Itinerary & Budget Breakdown

Ok! So, here comes the overview and the breakdown for our trip, including transportation, lodging, and planned excursions. I won’t include money spent on meals, shopping, and random day to day stuff, since we frequently used cash and it would be too difficult to go back and look up. I will say, if you’re planning on international travel, I highly recommend the capital one venture card and the capital one 360 checking account. Capital One doesn’t charge international transaction fees or ATM fees. So, when we used our cards, it was the price shown, always. We got cash from ATMs with the capital one debit card, and had zero fees (except what the actual ATM charges, which I believe gets reimbursed at the end of each billing cycle).


Another pointer, when overseas, NEVER pay in US dollars with your card, ie-letting the machine convert it for you-when you enter your card it will say “pay in USD” or “Pay in local currency” ALWAYS pay in local currency, or you WILL be charged the conversion rate, plus a percentage charge, too. It adds up! Don’t make this mistake!

Ok, on to the good stuff.. We spent 44 days and technically spent time in 8 countries. Our itinerary is below:


London, England-2 nights

Paris, France- 3 nights

Lyon, France- 2 nights

Milan, Italy- 3 nights

Florence, Italy- 5 nights

Venice, Italy- 2 nights

Cruise to Greece and Turkey-10 nights

Rome, Italy-5 nights

Sorrento, Italy-5 nights

St. Julian’s, Malta-4 nights

Paris, France-1 night + Newark, New Jersey, USA-1 night


London, England (Total: $1384; Transportation: $1126; Lodging: $258)


We took a direct flight through Delta to London. It was $563 per person, with flight insurance included. Meals were provided on the flight.
We stayed at Lancaster Gate Hotel for a total of $258 for the 2 nights. It was literally right next to Hyde Park, in a beautiful and safe area.. and an easy metro ride from the airport, followed by a short walk. We didn’t do any planned excursions, since we weren’t sure how we would do with jet lag.


Paris, France (Total: $784; Transportation: $152; Lodging: $502; Excursions: $130)


We took the “Chunnel” train to Paris from London, it was $76 per person.
Our hotel in Paris was Hotel Le Relais des Halles, which was an easy metro ride from the train station we came in on from London. The total cost for 3 nights was $502. It was in a perfect location and easy to get to all of the main attractions of Paris either by walking or using the metro. The 3 day passes for the metro were less than $15 per person.
We only paid for one tour while in Paris, and that was the skip the line-plus guided tour of the Louvre museum. It was $130 total for us both, and while a little steep, we got in before the vast amount of the crowds waiting outside in line. So that alone was worth it to me.


Lyon, France (Total: $178, Transportation: $178)
We took a train from Paris to Lyon, France.. but we missed the first one and had to pay again, so it actually was more than it should have been.. haha.. the first train was $68 total for us both, the day of train was $110.. yikes!
But, since we got to stay with my friend Morgana and her husband, Alex, we didn’t have lodging fees AND they were our tour guides, so we didn’t have any excursions to pay for either. We’re still BEYOND thankful for their kindness and generosity, and will always cherish the fun we had with them 🙂


Milan, France (Total: $1440; Transportation $127; Lodging: $720; Excursions: $593)


Alright. Things were a bit expensive in Milan. Also, because I was making sure mom and I had separate beds, I had to choose hotels/accommodations that charge a bit more.. so please know there are DEFINITELY cheaper options, and way more expensive ones, too.
The train from Lyon to Milan was $127 total for us both. It took 5 hours total, and the train brought us to an easy metro ride away from our hotel. I had originally booked us a flight to Milan, but in March it was canceled. I think this ended up being for the best anyway.
Our hotel was The Square Milano Duomo, and it cost us a whopping $720 for 3 nights, but I think we both really enjoyed it there. It was beautifully decorated and easy to navigate from. Plus the rooftop restaurant was very nice, too.
I booked us two different tours/excursions while in Milan. The first was to see the Last Supper painting, which was originally part of a 6 hour tour, costing us $234 total, but then I ended up receiving a refund of $116 because the Duomo was canceled. So, it was $118. Looking back, that’s pretty expensive for what we got.. had I known the rest of the tour was going to be canceled, I would have just gotten us tickets to walk through on our own. Since it was at last minute though, it would have been sold out without our guide. Oh well. The other excursion was the Bernina Express Scenic train ride through the Swiss alps, plus Lake Como.. it was a pricy affair, but one of our favorite days, so I think it was definitely worth it: $475 total.


Florence, Italy (Total:$1396; Transportation: $140; Lodging: $848; Excursions: $408)


We took a train from Milan to Florence for $110 total. We did take taxis to and from the apartment, simply because there wasn’t a metro in Florence.. it would have been a relatively short walk, but with roller bags over cobblestone roads is a complete pain in the tush. Both taxis were less than $15, but since I can’t remember we’ll call it $30 total.
We stayed in a wonderful Airbnb for the 5 nights in Florence. The total for that was $848.. and typing that out now feels like a steal. I swear the air in that place works better than mine! (As I’m sitting on my couch listening to the air run).
I planned 3 tours/excursions while in Florence. The first was seeing the statue of David in one of the museums in Florence. It was a skip the line tour, which was useful, but it was so crowded inside and the guide kept getting bombarded by another guy in our group, so this was literally my least favorite ever, and the only tour I’ve gone on that I’ve turned the radio box and left early. It was $44 each. The next tour was the day trip to Cinque Terre, which was $95 each. The last was the winery tour in Tuscany along with visiting the cities of Sienna, San Gimignano, and Pisa-another favorite! It was $65 each and totally worth it!


Venice, Italy (Total: $1140; Transportation: $214; Lodging: $540; excursions: $386)
We took a train from Florence to Venice for $120 total. From the train station we had to take a vaporado, or water bus, to get to our hotel, which was $20 total. I’m going to add the train to Ravenna in this section, too, because we thought our cruise left out of Venice, but instead it left 3-5 hours south, out of Ravenna. That train ticket cost $74 total.
We stayed at Hotel Giorgione, which was beautiful. For the 2 nights it was $540, which it was very difficult to find a nice hotel with 2 beds for anything cheaper than that, and still be in a good area, close to everything. I think it was worth it, and the pool was spectacular on those humid days.
The only excursion was a private tour to Murano and Burano, two islands in the same lagoon with Venice, known for lacework and handmade blown glass. That tour was $193 each, which now realizing it was pretty expensive.. but we had a private tour guide giving us so much information, more than we would have learned on our own, and we did get a private glassblowing experience, too.


Greek and Turkish Cruise (Total: $4531; Lodging: $3304; excursions: $1227)
The cruise was through Celebrity Cruises, and I got a Black Friday special-so the $3304 felt like a deal, since it also included WiFi and an unlimited drink package.. plus all the free food on board too. The excursions were for 8 of the 10 days-well-7 of the 10 days. Our stop in Santorini was canceled due to weather and the ship not being able to dock. I was refunded the money spent for the canceled trip, reflected in the $1227.


Rome, Italy (Total: $1520; Transportation: $166; Lodging: $895; excursions/tours: $459)
We took the train from Ravenna to Rome after the cruise, for a total of $166. The metro in Rome was cheap and easy to use, I don’t remember what we spent for our multi-day ticket, but it couldn’t have been much.
We stayed in a fantastic Airbnb for our 5 nights in Rome, the total cost being $895. It was exactly what we needed for our week in the city.
We only booked 3 tours in Rome: the Coliseum, the Vatican museum with St Peter’s basilica, and then a Prati food tour, their costs were $118, $113, and $228 respectively.


Sorrento, Italy (Total:$1815; Transportation: $94; Lodging: $819; excursions: $902)
Our train from Rome to Naples was $86 total, and the regional train from Naples to Sorrento was $8 total. Trains are definitely the way to get around in Italy!
For our 5 nights in Sorrento, we stayed in an apartment complex, called Coltur Suites, owned by a local hotel.. so it felt almost like a hotel in the set up, really. It was beautiful, we had a private terrace overlooking the marina. It was $819 and so so worth it. They also gave us access to the sister hotel amenities.
I planned 3 tours out of Sorrento. We took a day trip to the Amalfi Coast by boat, a trip to Pompeii with a winery and horseback riding tour, and then a boat tour to the island of Capri. Those costs for both of us were $256, $303, $343 respectively. Our favorite of the 3 was the cheapest one, too. Funny how that works.


St. Julian’s, Malta (Total: $1183; Transportation: $193; Lodging: $990)
We flew to Malta with EasyJet for $138 total.. impressive! And then our hotel arranged our private transfer to and from the airport for $55 total.
Our hotel, which was very resort like overall, Corinthia Hotel St Georgie’s Bay, was $990 for the 4 nights we stayed. We didn’t book any excursions while in Malta, we just relaxed to unwind from our busy “go, go, go” trip. It was the best way for us to enjoy the end of our vacation.


Paris, France (Total: $326)
We flew from Malta to Paris on Air Malta for $98 each and our overnight hotel was $130.


Newark, New Jersey (Total: $1068)
We flew from Paris to New Jersey on French Bee which is like the spirt airlines of France, apparently.. but it was wonderful! Spacious, movies, dinner. It sure I see the comparison, in anything except price. It was $338 each, with checked luggage. Our overnight hotel was $116.
The next day we flew home, a flight costing $138 each.


Ok, so I think that’s about it. That comes to a grand total of $16,457 for both of us for the entire 6 week trip, with the totals for Transportation being $3,230-mind you, that’s two transatlantic flights plus moving around between a total of 8 countries over the 6 weeks.. Lodging + cruise $9122, which could definitely have been done cheaper, but I wanted to make sure Mom and I were comfortable. I mean, I slept on the ground for 6 months in 2021, so I wasn’t about to be miserable trying to sleep when we had such an action packed trip. And finally, excursions $4105.. which 100% could have been cheaper OR done without a tour or guide in some places.. but I wanted mom and I to be able to see it all and to take the stress out of figuring out the details-so no regrets there either.


I think that about wraps it up! Now that I’m home, I’ve almost washed all my dirty clothes, and I’ve sent out my resume.. the job search has begun-and my savings account keeps reminding me that the sooner a paycheck rolls in-the better lol I hope you’ve enjoyed following along 🙂 I know I enjoyed every moment spent on this trip, and I’m a bit sad that it’s over. I don’t think I’ll have any new posts until sometime next year, as I plan and prepare for the Pacific Crest Trail that I pray I’m able to thru hike 😉 So, until then, friends!