Preparations

Since I don't have any experience with long-distance hiking, I didn't have much of the gear that's considered essential — nor the other things that are just "nice to have." Like I mentioned before, I watched tons of hiking-related videos, and gear seems to be the part people cover best.

Because my plan is to carry everything I need myself, the weight of what I bring becomes super important. I quickly realized you can manage with way fewer items than you'd first expect. I've seen people walking around with anything from just under 3 kg to well over 20 kg.

I'm not planning to head off into the wilderness or sleep outside. Most days I expect to be near shops or places to eat, where I can pick up food and other things I might need. I also plan to  sleep indoors in some accommodation every night. A sleeping bag is good to have—but I'll skip the tent, bivy, and sleeping pad.

I've found tons of packing lists online for all kinds of trips and spent quite a bit of time comparing them. I've watched videos where people talk about what they missed while hiking, what they brought but didn't use, and lots of great advice and tips.

I quickly saw that gear comes in all sorts of price ranges and quality levels. Lightweight stuff is usually way more expensive than heavier gear. Weight sort of becomes an obsession for many hikers—and I'm no exception. An empty backpack alone can weigh anywhere from about 0.5 kg to over 4 kg. When you're planning to carry it for weeks at a time, things like that really matter.

One of the first things I bought was a digital scale — because now everything had to be weighed:
One t-shirt was nearly 200 grams heavier than another, one pair of shorts was 310 grams heavier than a different pair, and the blue beach sandals in the photo are 272 grams lighter than the ones I had before.

I ended up buying quite a few new items and became super aware of their weight. After doing a rough estimate, I found that my lightweight choices saved me about 2 kg in total. And the backpack itself is also one of the lighter models.