California hiker and adventurer Patty, a Pygmy Elephant veteran of the Costa Brava, W-Trek, and Tour du Mont Blanc, recently shared her trekking experiences and offered advice to prospective hikers. Read her interview below for a glimpse into the hiking and adventure that awaits you on a Pygmy Elephant trekking trip.
PE: Tell us a little bit about yourself and what drew you to overseas adventure travel.
Patty: “I've worked in California for 40 years. And I've always liked traveling. My first adventure traveling was a bicycle trip that I did with some friends. That was in Europe and it was not guided. We had maps, we didn't even have an app and they did transport our luggage from hotel to hotel. Which was, for me, extremely freeing, because then we could stop. You never have to worry about ‘oh, where should I lock my stuff? How much weight can I carry?’ So for me, it was very freeing…What I enjoy about traveling this way, adventure traveling by bicycle or hiking, is you have an opportunity of hanging out with local individuals and other people who have the same kind of passion.
And you meet people so wonderfully. I remember [on] my bicycle trip, stopping in to get pizza in some place in Germany [in] a little town I don't even know [the name]. The shop owners did not speak English. I did not speak the language [German]...I don't know what happened but we ended up hanging out and chatting for three hours. I don't recall how we communicated but we were having such a good time until I realized I still had two hours to ride my bicycle to my end point and I needed to hustle. So…we just ran out of there. And, you know, it's things like that. You have a chance to talk with people through, you know, translations on your phone, gestures. You seem to meet people and you can communicate and chat.”
PE: How did you first hear about PYGMY ELEPHANT and what made you decide to book your first trip with us?
Patty: “[My friend Dan} …he wanted to [hike] Mont Blanc. So Dan took on the research. And we like to research small companies. We think you get much better personal service because people are typically committed to a small company and we typically like to work with a company that has some kind of vested interest in the community where they're bringing people. So that's how we came upon Pygmy and we were able to customize it [our trip] a little bit and that was really good…[The] personal communication [with Pygmy Elephant was really good]… So that's why we chose that we would do our next trip [with you], which was to Patagonia. And Lauren [one of Pygmy Elephant’s Key Travel Builders] did such a good job with that [the Patagonia trip].
Two of the people [in our group] did the W-Trek already and they were willing to come back with us because…[they] really wanted to hike with one of our other guys. We worked with Lauren and she was able to get the two more rugged individuals to do the O-Trek and then the rest of us met at the same point so we could all do the W-Trek together. That's so cool. So that's what we really enjoy is, you know, it's not like [other tour companies that say], ‘So this trip is leading on September 1st’, no [if, ands, or] buts…you guys have the flexibility.”
PE: Is there a particularly memorable experience from one of your overseas adventure travel trips that you want to share?
Patty: “Your vendors are wonderful…When we went to Patagonia, Lauren [a Pygmy Elephant Key Travel Builder] set up the vendor for us to be picked up in Puerto Natales to Hotel Gray… And a gentleman picked us up…from the hotel, [and] brought us to the hotel in Puerto Natales. Then he picked us up to bring us to that beginning point [of the hike]. Well, about a half a mile from the beginning point [the vehicle]...started having problems. He didn't even say anything. He just says, ‘I need to do something’. He gets out. He flagged down some guy, negotiated with this other guy who's bringing people out, loaded all of us into this other guy's van and our gear, explained to the guy what…[was] needed and this other guy took us to the [right] place and hand walked us to the start [of the trek]. They [Pygmy Elephant vendors] have the connections…you know, they're going to make sure we're not going to be interrupted…[our driver said] ‘I enjoy working with people like you because you're not tourists, you're travelers’. I said, ‘what do you mean?’ He goes, ‘you're not just here to look and say you're here. You're here because you want to see it. You want to learn it. You want to understand it.’ And I never thought about it that way. But he's right. When I travel, and that's why I like the adventure traveling, I don't have to go and say, oh, I've been there. You can go there, and you can get the feel for the community and the people.”
PE: What advice would you give someone considering their first adventure Travel trekking trip?
Patty: “Definitely know your skill level…I think that if a person doesn't really train, they're gonna feel it. So yeah, definitely train for it. Make sure you drink a lot of water. Drink water the night before and drink water before you leave…I like to pre-hydrate. So don't just run out there and have your water [with you], pre-hydrate [before you start hiking]. Drink water when you're finished, water in the morning before you leave…and have an open mind. You meet so many fun people.”
PE: What are any other destinations or trekking trips you're dreaming of tackling next?
Patty: “We have [the] Dolomites…the Alta Via 1 scheduled for August [with Pygmy Elephant]...We're looking at West Highlands [the West Highland Way] and Coast to Coast [trek in the United Kingdom]. I'm [also] going to do a bicycle ride in Banff."
