Summary

This was the advice I had collected prior to hiking the Camino with my personal commentary as to whether it worked for us or not

-keep the pack as light as possible- YES. My pack weighed about 10-12 pounds and after the first day of hiking I regularly fogot I was wearing it. Deciding to buy an extremely small & lightweight pack was the best choice I ever made. I <3 my Gregory. Also, I only brought 2 sets of clothes and washed them nightly. If I could do it again I would have brought less supplies because anything you need you can find at a town along the trail.

-mail anything unnecessary addressed to yourself to Santiago de la Compostela to pick up once you arrive- I didn't bring anything unnecessary, or if I did I didn't realize it until lthe end of the trail (like extra hygiene items or Moleskin because I didn't blister). Dan said that he wouldn't have brought the video camera although we did use it... not enough to warrant the extra weight.

-take your socks and shoes off and rinse your feet off wherever possible- I took my socks and shoes off whenever we had a break longer than 10 minutes so they could dry out. I didn't start rinsing them off until I could feel my socks rubbing which didn't happen until several weeks in. The washing really did help though.

-wake up as early as possible to begin walking- Yes, and no. I really enjoyed hiking in the morning before the full heat of the day descended... but not so early that the sun wasn't up. That was when things got dangerous. If I could do it again I would take longer breaks and hike later in the day. Do it at a more leisurely pace.

-form a collective and cook as a group-YES! Make friends!

-don't wear cotton socks-Smartwool all the day. They were AMAZING.

-wear a big hat- I love my big ugly hat. It was cool and warm and shady. Everything I needed.

-don't bring big hiking boots-Yes. I had Merrell's that were like super tough tennis shoes and they were great. Only one blister. Dan started out with his boots and they destroyed his feet. Once he switched to hiking with Chacos and socks he was much happier... except he had to carry the boots.

-break in your shoes first-Duh. Yes.

-if there is a service that will carry your pack up the hill for you, it's a good use of money-We never did this and we always felt really proud to have done everythign on our own without any help. I'm sure if we could do it again we would've started in St. Jean w/o packs just to ease the burden of that awful first day.