By Jessica
Group 1

The Camino was something I was very excited for so I started packing well in advance. My family shared my excitement and were very helpful in my process. I first bought my hiking boots while visiting my brother in Colorado in May. My dad had been wanting me to invest in some nice hiking boots so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get them. I went to a Columbia Outlet store in Denver where I got my boots for way cheaper than anticipated which helped me budget for everything else. Next, I was set on buying a Patagonia backpack for this trip because I am hard headed and had been wanting one for a while. They are a great sustainable brand that I don’t mind shipping off my money to. It took weeks of convincing for my dad to be on board with getting it. My backpack ended up arriving five days before we left and she was a beauty.

I set out to start packing and I was very overwhelmed to fit three weeks of clothings/belongings into one backpack. So naturally, I started packing as soon as I got my backpack to make the task less frightening. I had been home in Miami for the summer and we are actually moving so not only was I packing for a trip; I was packing my whole room too. It wasn’t too difficult since I had just packed my whole room when moving back home for the summer. I rationed my clothing since I was only limited to a backpack. This is where my grandma set out on making a first aid kit. I felt she was more excited than me at times because it was all she could talk about in the week leading up to this trip. Once I started laying out everything, I felt confident in my packing abilities. I even had enough space to pack journals and two books.