My very own hiking journey

I've always hated hiking. When we were kids, the words "We're going hiking" rather meant "We'll take your toys away, put you in a stuffy van and drive round switchbacks until your breakfast comes out". On the seemingly endless hikes that, it really was a habit of my parents to stop at every existing trail map without exception and study it thoroughly. And at every bend, every view, however small, the camera was pulled out, a test photo taken, a few settings changed, more clicks of the shutter release and the obligatory "Look how nice the picture turned out", where you then had to look at a screen that was far too small and listen to how sharp the new camera took photos. And I always hated the choice of bisquits that were brought as a snack. So what did the four of us siblings do to pass the time? We argued. After all, I was stronger than my sisters.

Looking back, we didn't hike that much on our vacations. Due to our resistance, we were usually able to break it down to 1-2 walks per week. The best walks were actually the ones where we were allowed to stay at home (but then we also smashed each other's heads in).

At some point, I was old enough, left home and travelled the world. During these shorter and longer trips, I only really went hiking when I was travelling with someone who urged for it.

In any case, I never questioned hiking itself because I thought that practically everyone around me enjoyed hiking. Even my siblings were at my back and soon embarked on all the multi-day hikes on the other side of the world or in Germany. Am I the only one who doesn't enjoy hiking at all?

Fortunately, most of my sporty fellow students were not very interested in hiking. Our experiences in this respect were limited to the walk to the kebab shop (which annoyingly didn't have a delivery service and the buses only ran every hour) and the way home from the club if we missed the last tram.

After I got to know Leah, she pretended - like all people (except my student friends) - to love hiking. Our trip around the world in particular was apparently supposed to be the pinnacle of her wanderlust, the fulfilment of her hiking personality, which is how it came across to me in the planning.

In preparation for our trip, I got talking to several people. "We would never hike in our lives, but you're real outdoor people, aren't you?" Hmm, were we? I said no. After all, I also like cities and city parks and I'm always happy to be back in "civilisation" after 2-3 hours in nature and not have to cook a badly seasoned meal on a camping stove.

Either way, I realised the more people I spoke to that apparently it is not a given to like hiking after all. Even Leah told me at one point that she hadn't been dragged on hiking trails as a child either and that two years ago she decided on her own and of her own accord (oh God, what happened to her in that time?) to like hiking. Man, why couldn't I have prevented all this... So she's not such an exaggerated hiking fanatic and for her, hiking is more of a means to an end to get to beautiful places.

Many of my friends, acquaintances, even Leah minus two years: apparently a large proportion of people don't go hiking. I drew hope from this realisation and was initially very much against Leah's hiking suggestions. So I resorted to my childhood weapons, blaming bad moods on the first hikes and trying to prevent any good vibes. But it didn't stop Leah. When I realised in the USA that this wasn't getting me anywhere, I slowly accepted that we were in the same boat (or wearing the same hiking boots) and started to think about how I could motivate myself. I came up with the following points:

• Track your progress: There are great apps like Komoot, Alltrails or even Strava where you can walk existing or customised hiking routes so you always know exactly how far away your destination is and when that stupid incline will finally be over. (Although my sister and I are still annoyed with Komoot because the app is obviously not entirely accurate with its gradient metres, "Only 50 metres to go"... yeah yeah).
• Good equipment: There are perfectly equipped professionals with poles, water hoses hanging out of their lightbags while the radio informs them about the current weather situation. Then there are these usefully dressed people with hiking boots, a first aid pack and plenty of water. And then there was me. In broken trainers, either in warm weather in completely sweaty jeans or when cold and snowy in sports shorts and a rucksack that is of course far too heavy, but with nothing useful in it. But I now have a pair of hiking trousers that - the best invention since fire - you can zip off the bottoms and convert into shorts. Leah and I also share a backpack, which she packs better (it's enough that I carry it).

• Delicious summit snack (or shirt): We're not perfect here yet, as Leah often still secretly swaps my delicious sweets for some wholemeal biscuits. But if I catch her and she has to put everything back, a little reward for completing the hardest section is a must. Alternatively, we were told that a dry summit shirt can also be nice - but I haven't been able to put this into practice yet, as I would either have frozen to death when changing at the summit or would have sweated through the new T-shirt straight away.
• Music is allowed on steep climbs: Several times, I've managed to smuggle one Bluetooth headphone into my ear facing away from Leah on the climbs, so that I'm much more motivated to hop up the hills. But somehow she has often noticed, is it because I can no longer hear my louder panting? Or that I no longer answer? Or that she supposedly saw the white button in my ear right at the beginning, even though I always turned away?

These tips help to motivate me during the hikes. But what also helps is the experience we've been able to build up over the months. Gros Morne in Newfoundland, above the clouds in the Canadian Rockies, sweating in the hot US National Parks, the high-altitude Andes, and the final boss Patagonia. Each time, I became more relaxed about the distances, altitude metres and levels of difficulty. We recently completed our first multi-day hike. Even though I was struggling a little with my stomach, this previously unimaginable hurdle of what is humanly possible was actually even more relaxing in the end, as you walk shorter distances with more time - and in the best case scenario, a rustic mountain hut awaits you at the end of the trail with a freshly tapped cold one.

So what are the benefits of the many kilometres, views and stones in your shoes? "You're closer to nature." But I'm not an outdoor person at all, I prefer to watch the world on TV and would most likely describe myself as a nature philistine.

But after all that walking, I have to admit that there is something to the "being in tune with nature" that Thoreau, Emerson and co. always ramble on about. I do have an obvious hole in the part of the brain where all flora and fauna names should be stored and have not yet been able to understand why Leah absolutely has to waste ten GB of our precious memory space every time a house sparrow lands.

But these photo breaks are perhaps time well spent. After all, we spend time in beautiful places, we can wind down and start to respect our surroundings while hiking and get to know them better.

But the many different views, the biodiversity of animals and plants and the impressive geology, the unimaginable natural formations, make you feel small and insignificant and give you the feeling that perhaps we shouldn't destroy the world too quickly after all.

In this respect, however, hiking is also somewhat ambivalent, as on the one hand you develop the feeling of subordinating yourself to nature, but at the same time you also try to overcome adversity, climbs and a striving for higher, faster, stronger.

Now we are hiking up to the Torres del Paine at the end of the world (they live up to their "pain"ful name) and will have over 22 kilometres in our legs by the end of the day. I'm motivated to have "completed South America" with this hike - Leah has promised that this is the last hike in Patagonia - and deep down I'm actually already looking forward to the next hike, wherever it will be... (but shh, don't tell Leah).