17 Things to Know Before EBC Trek Nepal

hello everyone in December of 2017 I completed the Everest base camp trek in Nepal and these are the 17 most important lessons that I learned let's get started so the first thing when you arrive in Kathmandu and you clear customs and security and all that stuff you're gonna want to buy a SIM card at the airport you can get 5 gigabytes for 1200 rupees which is the equivalent to about 12 dollars as opposed to in the city you will only be able to get about 1.2 gigabytes for 600 rupees or about 6 US dollars so you see the deal is actually much better if you purchase the SIM card at the airport number 2 your phone will work all the way up to namche a Bazaar you'd be able to check your social media and email communicate with your family whatever it is you want to do after that you'll only have Wi-Fi if you pay at the guest houses and tea houses if you want to try to use service you pretty much have to buy these little cards they're almost like a pay-for-play they're about 600 rupees but the thing is you only get a couple hundred megabytes and when I turned them on they basically burned out as all mice my social media my email tried to update itself really fast I burned out all of my data so I basically logged on to Facebook sent one message and boom it was done and then it cost us $6 to do that and I did it twice it just wasn't worth it anymore so pretty much don't worry about it after your phone stops working pretty much sometime around namche a bizarre don't worry about it let it go put it away take your photos don't worry about communication everything will be okay number three toilets you're gonna find two types of toilets in Nepal your standard Western toilet which is pretty much what you're likely gonna be used to and your squatter your squatter is essentially a hole in the ground and they put a porcelain edge around it now the biggest issue you're gonna have with that is toilet paper rarely will you find some they're waiting for you so always make sure you carry some with you what I suggest is when you start your Trek have your first roll and progressively as you use it you can just buy some in the tea houses or the guest houses it's not really a big deal also hand sanitizer rarely you'll find soap or some kind of cleaning agent next to the sink when you're finished so it's always best to have your own sanitation wipes or hand sanitizer gel just to make sure you avoid those germs and any contact you could have with any bacteria that could impact your stomach later number four bottled water you can buy bottled water from the beginning to the end and all the way back down in during the course of the trek the price ranges from around eighty rupees which is about 80 cents all the way up to six hundred rupees which is about six dollars the very end at the very highest end of the trek okay progressively they recommend that you're supposed to drink four liters of water a day I found that drinking between four and six liters for me personally was actually still causing me to be dehydrated because I was losing a litre of water through my breath as it was very difficult to breathe and I was breathing through my breathing out through my mouth I drank nothing but bottled water the entire duration of the trip and although that became a little bit expensive it for me it was okay and I was actually glad that I did it I did see people with water bottles and filters and they would go up to local water sources and purify that water and that was okay so it's up to you if that's what you want to do by all means it's possible number five carrying a water bottle with you different reports and different people will recommend different things I had a Camelback with three liters of water and a one liter bottle of water that was attached on the side that I could grab by hands personally after the first day I never filled a three liter Camelback I always drank the one liter bottle of water it's up to you the weight in the back started to affect me after the first day so I decided just to drink from the leader and then I would refill it along the different tea houses and guest houses we would stop at in my opinion as long as you have an extra one liter bottle of water it doesn't matter what you do whether you want to carry the the extra water in your pack or drink it from the bottle as long as you have it also another benefit of having a bottled water at nighttime on those extra cold nights you can fill it with boiling water and throw it in your sleeping bag which will definitely warm number six this brings me to my next point there is no heating in any of the guest houses or the tea houses you'll be staying at there are essentially four walls a bed a small thin door now they will give you thin blankets and if it's not heavy season or high season you can have extra blankets and extra pillows if you ask but I found that it was very cold and often times I had to sleep in all of my clothing after the third day after namche a bizarre yet to be honest even in namche a bizarre I slept in my clothing so be prepared the nights will be cold you'll sleep in your clothing you'll sleep in your sleeping bag you might even have a hat maybe some gloves on be prepared it does get cold at night number seven laundry a lot of people freak out about the issue of having a real wear the same clothes and being dirty and smelly don't worry about it it's gonna happen anyways but if you want to do laundry it is possible to do it along the trek but it will require an extra day for it to dry and that may affect your time up and down and your trekking company may actually advise you against it otherwise they'll charge you for an extra day just over laundry I don't think that's necessary number eight money I found that exchanging two hundred US dollars which is the equivalent of twenty thousand Nepalese rupees was more than enough for the duration of the trek because my trekking company actually took care of breakfast lunch and dinner with one drink attached to each one of those so really I just had the extra money if I wanted to buy some extra snacks some extra drinks that weren't included in those meals water if I wanted to buy a couple of Twizzlers or something along the way Snickers bar something that I wanted essentially that's what that extra money was for and I had plenty of money left at the end of the trek somewhere between 150 and 200 dollars exchange two Nepalese rupees was more than enough for me number nine sleeping bags you can rent a sleeping bag in Nepal in Kathmandu for very very cheap just a couple dollars a day for the duration of your Trek and you return it at the end but before you do that before you purchase a new one in your home country or you rent one in Kathmandu ask your trekking company lately they have one or can rent one very very cheap for you for free and you don't have to worry about it yes you'll have to carry it maybe you won't maybe it'll go in your big pack what your portable carry doesn't matter but the point is don't spend the extra money on a hundreds you know sometimes these sleeping bags cost three hundred and fifty dollars two hundred dollars you want one rated for -20 C let your trucking company take care of it it doesn't hurt to ask number ten clothing I do recommend to buy some clothing in Katmandu and save yourself some money the day that you arrive just before your Trek starts head over to one of the market areas and get yourself some trekking socks a fleece jacket and maybe a down jacket the reason is the quality is virtually the same as your name-brand Columbia and all that other stuff that you're gonna buy North Face however the stitching might be a little bit weaker and maybe over time it might degrade a little faster and there's obviously no warranty you can't bring it back to the store if anything happens but for the duration of the trip to spend ten twenty thirty forty dollars fifty even a hundred dollars is much better than spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars on clothing that you may never wear again it's up to you maybe you're an avid hiker and you'll be in mountains all the time but maybe you're only doing this trip and you never plan to go to another mountain again better to save some money and buy some of the smaller items in Katmandu and also you'll help the local economy number eleven boots I do recommend to buy your boots ahead of time do not buy them in Katmandu because number one the most important reason you'll never have enough time to break them in the biggest issue you're gonna have is your hiking for six eight hours a day depending on your speed maybe more maybe less and you do not want blisters they're gonna tear up the back your feet the sides the heels the toes you want to break those boots in you want to have some practice hikes and practice staircases you want to do as much as you can to wear those boots in and not have to do that on-site in Nepal so please I recommend buy your boots ahead of time you can buy them on Amazon you can buy them in your local Walmart whatever you choose but buy good ones before also I do recommend to get the ones that are higher the actual trekking boots that go above your ankle it's actually easy to slip on some of these rocks if it's slippery if it's raining or snowing you're definitely gonna have a little bit less traction grip it's very easy to twist your ankle if you're wearing sneakers I highly advise against that regardless because of the water the rain and snow that could possibly affect you on your trip you don't know what the weather will be like hiking boots just add more protection and that's all I can say about that number twelve vitamins I am a big vitamin guy I really think that vitamins helped me to push through this trip I take them every day actually and let's talk a little bit about that number one get yourself some high-quality multivitamins and you want to start taking them three four five six weeks eight weeks before the trek you want to make sure your body gets adjusted to them if you take them the day of your Trek or the day before you're not gonna have enough time to absorb those vitamins and nutrients and actually use them for a benefit so definitely make sure that the vitamins you buy are high quality and you start taking them several weeks if not a couple months if not even more than that before I also had high quality energy pills now they were caffeine based and also some iguana and some other stuff the ingredients were really high quality and really they helped me they really did some people get affected negatively by those it's up to you but I will post in the description everything that I took for vitamins also vitamin C you definitely want to take that extra you want to make sure you take the kind that dissolves on your tongue or the pill I don't recommend the drinking kind it does exist but I don't recommend that you want to make sure that you fight off any potential sickness because you'll you'll be in contact with lots of different germs you may not be used to the last thing you need is a flu or a cold when you're that high up so definitely vitamin C is key now the brand that I recommend is old school labs they have the vintage based multivitamin and then they have their energy pills I definitely recommend that company I really enjoyed their brand their quality materials their quality everything is super standard of very high quality so that's what I recommend but feel free you can take any kind you like number thirteen food the food on the track is actually extremely tasty you can have burgers and pizza and Asian style food and wontons and soups and stews and all kinds of things eggs for breakfast and pancakes you actually have a really wide variety however the one main thing I do recommend is go vegetarian do not eat meat on the trek although it's interesting to try some yak or something else steaks save that for Katmandu before or after a piccata if you visit that place the truth is that meat has to be carried up by person by someone who straps it to their back wraps it in some plastic tarp it's exposed to a lot of germs and a lot of things that you don't want to risk impacting your stomach while you're on the track avoid getting sick avoid getting any kind of stomach disruptions that could affect your Trek simply by not eating meat you'll survive for ten days or 12 days the world will move on and you'll be okay and you'll thank me for it number 14 altitude sickness pills I do not recommend that you self-medicate and start taking altitude sickness pills before or during the trek without advising your guide your guide is number one trained and number two he's gonna be highly experienced in seeing the symptoms so before you start thinking that your symptoms are that when they could be simply just exhaustion dehydration lack of drinking water whatever explain to your guide hey listen I'm feeling dizzy I'm feeling a headache I'm feeling tired I want to throw up let him analyze now also more than likely they will carry altitude sickness bills and you can double-check with him the day before your Trek or by email as you're communicating with them let him bring the pills he's got him because he may not even give you a full dose when it comes to altitude sickness pills and altitude sickness symptoms speak with your guide he's qualified he's expert has the expertise do not self medicate okay this is important number fifteen if you hire a trekking company most likely it'll come with a guide and a porter so the big issue is how much should I weigh my bag how much weight should I put in my bag for the porter to carry because remember the big backpack you're not going to carry her only carry your date back now I recommend that your big backpack should be somewhere between 10 and 15 kilos it depends and that's per person and I spoke to my Porter and I asked him what's what what do you feel comfortable at per person and he said somewhere in that range but doesn't overwork him and he feels ok so don't worry about it make sure it's got all your essential items and it's in that range as for your day pack I recommend your day pack should be as light as possible it should have your camera a few batteries your 1 litre bottle of water and a few snacks and some toilet paper and sanitizer and that's it you don't want to pack it with everything that you think you may need you can always stop and ask your Porter if you can get something out if you need it you'll likely see him along the way number 16 tipping this is a big issue that I personally couldn't find a lot of information on and my recommendation is tip your guide and your Porter $5.00 a day each at the end of the trek give them your fifty dollars your fifty five dollars or sixty dollars or whatever it is give them that at the end of the trek in cash in person and don't worry about it they're going to be happy regardless as the group you want to do around a hundred and fifty dollars but if you're per person if you're a single person do around fifty dollars and one more thing to that your Porter may not show up on the last day because you're probably going to be back in Lukla and he may already be moving on to his next place so make sure you find out what his last day is that you'll be together and give him that because you if you expect it to give it to him on the next day he might not actually show up and then you'll miss your chance and number 17 is actually more of a bonus if you have the opportunity I highly recommend to take a helicopter up to lukla or if you want to do the trek but you think you can't make it you just want to quickly fly there are options to fly directly to base camp via helicopter and come back yes you're not doing the full trek and you may miss out on the experience but some people physically can't make it so before you get bummed out with the possibility that you can't make the trek research the options of taking a helicopter and you can also contact the trekking company to get the tickets for you if the prices online are too expensive that's my tips good luck see you soon [Music]

Channel: Igor Travels The World

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Keywords: igor travels the world, backpacking, world travel, best vlogger, top ten vlogger, travel guide, things to do, top ten, top 10, thiings to know, before, best, must know, nepal, ebc, trek, trekking, everest, base, camp, useful, tricks, tips, what to expect, how to travel the world, how to travel the world cheap, ebc guide, everest base camp guide, how to hike mount everest, mount everest, mt everest, mt., what to do in nepal, mount everest hike, best travel vlog, everest things to know

Id: IXx7ozc9ZwM

Length: 15min 42sec (942 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 29 2018