How we took 6 months off to hike the PCT: Minimising the off-trail costs.

When budgeting for the PCT many of our friends have assumed that the cost is solely that of food, gear and flights. Whilst those things do add up (expecially if you plan on eating in towns and upgrading seasonal gear along the way) one cost that can creep up on you is the cost of running things at home, along with planning what you do when you get back. In this post we'll explore how we've minimised our costs at home, along with the unexpected costs we've paid so far.

What did you do with your apartment and all your stuff?

One of the perks of being priced out of the housing market in London has meant that for the past 3.5 years Jenny and I have been renting, which makes it a lot easier to move. Last month we gave notice on our flat meaning we have no bills/rent to pay. Had we not done this we would have had to go through the trouble of subletting our place. We give up our flat on the 18th and will be staying with a friend until the 22nd when we fly. This has meant we don't have any bills or council tax to pay whilst we're out of the country.

Jenny's family have also been brilliant, helping us store all our stuff at their home. Our bikes, clothes and electronics have been put in the loft. Doing the hike whilst we don't have a car, mortgage or any other major monthly commitments has made taking 6 months out much easier. It also means that whilst we're on the walk we can decide where we'd like to settle down without the ties to a specific place in London.

We've also tried to reduce/remove any monthly subscriptions we pay. We have a NowTV subscription and Spotify for music which we've cancelled and I've also moved my phone contract to a £3/month deal so I can keep my number. Jenny will keep her contract, at least for the first few months, as her phone contract with 3 means she is able to roam in the USA without any cost. We'll use this as a backup in the desert where there is allegedly a fairly good signal (bearing in mind you are in the middle of nowhere)!

What did you do about your jobs?

One of the things that stops a lot of people from hiking is that they'll need to take 6 months out of a job. Both Jenny and I work at big financial institutions in the UK. Both of these have a sabbatical policy and because we've both been at work for more than 3 years we've ended up using these. This reduces the financial stress about being jobless at the end of the trail. It also means we are both guaranteed to come back to a job at an equal grade to the one we're leaving. I got mine from 20 April till the 22nd of October whilst Jenny has extended hers to the 18th of November. One unforeseen perk of this as well is we both continue to keep our standard medical care whilst we're away. We're really lucky to both work for places that give us this benefit.

Flights, insurance and other costs

We've known we have wanted to do the hike for quite a while. As a result last year we started looking at what we could do to use air miles / points to help towards the trip. We found a credit card from American Express that gave us 50,000 airmails. that is 20,000 each plus a 10,000 referral perk. It has a £140 fee after the first year but we cancelled before this kicked in. Our flights ended up costing about 17,500 points each so we've been able to get our flights out to San Diego for free! We've also been able to use some of these extra points for Amazon vouchers to help us buy last minute gear for our trip. This is a saving of about £1,500 in cost that we'd have incurred before we had hit the trail.

Another big cost that we've paid recently is Travel Insurance. For this it is important to read the small print. Many insurers will not cover hikes above 2,500 or 3,500 meters. The PCT hits 4,009m and if you want to detour up Mt. Witney that will take you to 4,400m. We ended up using a company called Big Cat who are underwritten by AXA after being recommended this by another Brit on Reddit who did the hike last year. The cover goes up to 4500 meters and will cover us for 6 months, although it comes at a cost as America is one of the most expensive places to get medical insurance. All in all our insurance ended up costing us about £400 each. That said, our safety is our number one concern so we're happy to shell out for something that could save our life.

Finally the other cost we hadn't factored in was the cost of the visas/permits. We originally thought that we'd have to buy a yearly membership to the national parks in the US but when you apply through the PCTA this is free. We were really surprised at this as we walk through loads of parks including Yosemite and Etna where I've had to pay entry to get into before. What we did have to buy though was a visa into the USA. I've written more about this cost and the process of getting this here: https://joalhos.wixsite.com/jwalking/blog/how-to-apply-for-a-us-b2-tourist-visa-for-a-through-hike-united-kingdom.