Climbing up "The Most Active Volcano" on a budget | Italy ep.7

Do you want to know what traveling Sicily is really like? And do you want to know what's worth seeing on this beautiful southern island? We are The Budgeteers and we are actually traveling around entire Italy on just 1,000 euros. And right now we are actually hiking up Mount Etna, the most active volcano in all of Europe. So if you want to see this and everything else that this island has to offer, enjoy this episode. This adventure series is made possible thanks to these amazing travel brands, Ortlieb, Commute and Tropic Feel. In the last episode, we arrived by ferry to the island of Sicily. And on our bikes, we explored the city of Palermo and discovered some of the most beautiful sights and incredible beaches. We ate some of the most delicious food, which this part of Italy is famous for. However, the next morning, disaster struck. Because as we left our guesthouse, we found out that our bikes had been stolen. The ones that we bought with our budget and traveled all across Italy with, all the way from Milan. So that's a plot twist. The biking series just became a hiking series. This was a huge problem. But we the budgeteers pride ourselves in making the best out of these unforeseen obstacles. So we continued and made it to Catania, the city at the foot of the world's most active and dangerous volcano, Etna. So with only 138 euros left in our budget, these were going to be our last days. So we wanted to do as much as possible and especially discover Mount Etna and see if you can climb it on a budget. Is that our guide? Looks like our guide. Ciao. Lina. Where are you from? Colombia. Davide. Nice to meet you. Hi, I'm Thijs. Davide. Let's go. Okay. How long have you been doing tours? Just December. Ah, just December. On this side. Ah, yeah. On the north side. We've been going for a lot of years. Ah, okay. Seven years or something like that. If you're wondering how we got on to this tour, we had booked our cool dreadlocked tour guide Davide through our hostel. His tours promised a more unique and less touristy experience on the more rugged, natural north side of the volcano, which sounded great to us since we had no idea and just arrived yesterday. The area where we were going was only accessible with guides, so it was necessary to spend the money. The funny thing is, when you see the Etna from the level of the sea, Catania, you just see like the classic scholastic volcano, like this. It's like, with lava in the middle, you know? It's completely another thing. It's not like that. Ah, yeah. It's a big land. Yeah. How are you feeling, Lina? A bit of motion sickness on the road? I didn't take my pills. So this is the start. I can already feel that the weather is completely different. I can feel like a cold breeze. I'm feeling that I'm not really properly dressed with the shorts. Try to have this one. What is it? Crostata. Sweet. What is it? What does it have? Just have a taste. No mentira! It's good. Of course it's good. I'll buy some. Apparently it gets really, really cold, so I'm putting literally all my clothes on that I have. I'm wearing three t-shirts. Put it on sexy. Oh, si. Come on, get the views. Oh, si. Oh, papito. Pose sexy. Eso. Dale. Dios. What is this? Fire. It's fire of etna. It's made from the herbs of etna, of course. It's like a super alcoholic. It's 70 degrees. Fuego de etna. Fire of etna. Okay. Ready? Fuego. Tu eres fuego. Uno, dos, tres. Uy. It's good. Wow. Let's do this. Yes. With a little bit of Dutch courage in the morning, it was time to start climbing Mount Etna. We have started to trek. Officially. We're now walking on lava. This is still lava dust. It's going to be a lot trickier up there. This is it. Yeah. This is it. I'm always curious at the beginning like how this trek is going to go. Yeah. I love to do hikes and treks. Yeah. But every single one is different. This landscape is already so different. We were in a pine forest and now we're suddenly in a what looks like another planet. Yeah, I feel like it's like the end of the world. Yeah. Actually, we're doing another challenge because everyone's using hiking boots but we're using our Tropic Feel shoes because we want to put these shoes to the test. We're putting them to the ultimate test today. Yes, Tropic Feel provided us this series with carry-on backpacks and these comfortable and lightweight travel sneakers. And for the past 19 days, we've only worn these shoes. So, we've put them and ourselves through the paces and most of all, a lot of kilometers and they've really been amazing. But hiking up a volcano on the major sharp rocks is the toughest thing you can do to a shoe. So, let's see how they hold up today. Oh, we're actually at the refuge that was destroyed in the last eruption. And you can also see the roof of the buildings of the hotel. It was a two-floor hotel, right? All the structure was moved from the lava. Yeah. Okay? Literally pushed away. The hotel was destroyed in just one hour and the lava flow arrived here in like six, seven hours. Okay? The crater is near the forest. Yes, Davide was a fantastic guide. He taught us so much along the track about all the rare plants that can only be found here and most importantly, about the last volcanic eruptions and how geology and lava flows actually work. And eventually, he took us to see the actual craters itself. Nina, it feels like we're walking towards Mordor. Towards where? Mordor. What's Mordor? The mountain, the volcano in Lord of the Rings where they had to destroy the ring. All right, cover your ears. I've never seen Lord of the Rings. What? Who is this person? What? No. So one thing I noticed the higher up we get is there's more plants. I don't know about you, but I think it's just such a beautiful contradiction of having like the black lava rock under and then like plants on top. And he says in the spring, like all the flowers bloom. So I can imagine that's really beautiful. Well, one part where the lava stream was is like, looks like death. And this is like full with flowers. Life. It's life. Yeah, that's beautiful, isn't it? Beautiful. You're such a poet, Thijs. Yeah, we're getting lyrical here on Mount Etna. My God, I thought we were going to get athletic and we're getting poetic. The athletic part is about to start. Yeah. As the rugged terrain became more steep, the climb up became a lot harder and a lot colder with strong and icy winds, especially on a gray and cloudy day like today. From one moment to the next, you could be completely swallowed up by the clouds. But once it cleared, the views were incredible. Walking on top of an active volcano feels really special. And it was really amazing to see things you've learned in school textbooks actually come to life. But knowing this volcano could start erupting again at any second was a bit of a frightening thought. Try to... Try to throw it at me. Yeah, throw away like a couple of meters and... Now... Welcome to the volcano! Yeah, we were having the best time hiking and exploring crater after crater. But then we realized we had made a mistake. A really idiotic one. As we were going down, we asked David how long the remaining trek up the mountain was. When we finally realized our communication mistake and heard that the trek was actually only going around the craters, but not the craters at the summit. Those are all apparently different tours and you can easily confuse them if you don't do research like we did. We don't have any plan or research when we're traveling, so sometimes we're complete idiots. Due to the bad weather today, all of the tours to the summit were cancelled. So despite it being a stupid mistake, we really didn't lose out. We loved the experience and as a silver lining, our tropic fuel shoes did pull it off in the end. Oh yeah. Tropic fuel. They are. Boy. Let's go. Driving back to Catania, we did realize we were now 60 euros poorer on our budget. So making it to the summit was actually going to be a lot harder now. That night we relaxed and researched all the possible options of going up Etna, which are a lot. And I came up with a new plan to budgeteer our way up with our last money right and early the next morning. Guys, I've just taken out the last money and I think we're going to spend it all tomorrow. Going up to the summit, which we weren't able to do today due to the bad weather, but we will spend the money on it tomorrow and try to do it in a budgeteer way and then spend it all in one big go. Fucking yes. Cheers. Good morning. It's still dark outside, so it's early. Very, very, very early. It's super early. So here we are in our new set of wheels. A bit of an upgrade to our previous two wheels. Do not talk about J Balvin and Garibaldi like that. You did it. That doesn't even have a freaking mirror. Oh, no me. This car is a wee bit crap. Insane. Of all the transportation we've ever done, this is probably the craziest. We've ridden the tuk-tuk in Sri Lanka, but now a Sicilian car which is falling apart. Nothing works on this car in Sicilian traffic. It's so stressful. It's crazy. If we make it without an accident, that's going to be a miracle. If you're asking yourself why we're suddenly driving in a tiny rental car through crazy Sicilian morning rush hour at 7am, that's because the starting point to the trek to Mount Etna is actually really, really far and high up. It would take us hours to get there on a cheap bus. But since today is the only sunny day on the weather forecast, we rented the cheapest car to beat the crowds and make it there first. I'm scared we're going to die. We made it. We're now on a parking lot where it's supposed to be free, but there's a guy here who's telling us where to park, which we'll probably have to pay for. But now we're going to go climb the mountain that is Mount Etna. We're going to try it without a guide, without spending too much money. We're going to show you how. We've done a bit of research on the internet, but we don't know what is right or what is wrong and what still works. So we'll see. We've got a mixed problem with the car. It can't be locked. It still opens. That's what happens when you rent the cheapest car you can find on one day's notice. So we're going to have to leave it unlocked. Hopefully the guy is going to look after it for us. Now we're at Refugio Sapenzia. That's where the cabin lift should go up to where we can start the hike. It's 8 o'clock in the morning and already this place is buzzing. You can see that all the people here are ready to go and get up that mountain. Mount Etna is a very touristy attraction that everyone wants to get on. Normally everyone does this with a guided tour. It's extra, but we're just going to do this. Only the lift. These are the cabin lift tickets. They cost €30 each. Get in! It's going to be really cozy, right? I'll put my backpack here. We got up this early just for this. So that we're here and straight up on the mountain. Let's go! As you can see, you can also walk underneath the elevator and walk up. But it's going to take an hour and a half or so, or maybe two hours to walk it. Which we would do if we had more time. It would save us €30 each. But it's the last day of good weather. Tomorrow it's going to rain again. And I only go to the beach. Here we go again. I'm not even afraid. The reason why this cable car is so expensive is because they had to rebuild it multiple times. Because of ongoing eruptions and shifting rocks. But luckily the cable car safely dropped us off another 1000 meters higher. I'll let you go first. And since we're now so high up, we rented jackets for €5. Because up at this altitude, temperatures can get freezing cold. There's a wee cold wind here. At this point normally you can get picked up by jeeps. But this is one of our budgetier tips. Skip them and save the money. They cost another €30 and you can easily follow the road they take up the mountain. So this is where the real trek begins. Demotivating to see everyone passing by in jeeps. Going three times the speed. But we're budgetiers. We're challenging ourselves to spend a bit less and experience a bit more. Ooh, aren't you poetic, Thijs? I think it's the altitude. It brings it out. That's where we're going. We found ice. Is it cold? It's cold. We're way up high. Who would have thought that we would have found ice? Take the ice with you and let's make ice cream. Let's make our own gelato. We'll make our own gelato, mate. Etna gelato. That'll be our congratulations for making it up and down. Today we were really lucky with the weather. At some parts the wind even quieted down which made it comfortably warm to hike up. We've walked all the way up and this is the farthest point that we're allowed to go. This is where the buses drop all the tourists off and all the tours. But we'll go and follow these tours over here and see if we can budget our way around. Guided tours that way. Here's another bus. In this area you're only allowed access with guided tours. But we used the classic travel hack and followed a guided tour along the path. So we managed to sneak in. But I would really recommend to be safe here. Don't go up any further up the mountain because Etna spews rocks regularly. And you don't want to get struck in the face by one of those. Or fall off one of the many cliff sides. I think we managed to budget our way up here. What a view. We made it up. We're at 2750 meters altitude. And this is the view that we've been greeted with. It's amazing. It's stunning. We're out above the clouds. The sky is clear. There's not a lot of wind. It's actually warm. So that's good. We were pretty scared that we were going to freeze here. But instead it's the ideal place to chill. We just had our breakfast cereal bar here. And relaxed a little bit. Enjoy this view. It's amazing. This is actually as far up as you go. So people come here with a tour. But you don't really need to. I think we got more value of our tour with David yesterday. Around the craters on the other side. Where there weren't as many tourists. So I think we got the best of both. And actually later on we're going to go over there. You might not be able to see it with the clouds. But right behind it there's a little incline. Into the coast. Surrounded by rocks and cliffs. That's where we're going to go swim later on. So it's nice to see that we can actually spot it from here. This is amazing. I can't believe how high up we are. Insider tip. Come early. Come really early. Because around 11 this place fills up. I would just recommend getting here on your own by 8 or 9. And then there are some tours that come up early. And I'm sure you could just pay and come on the first one. Sure. Instead of booking it from down there. Thanks that we're allowed to visit. Thanks for your hospitality. Gracias. Thanks for not erupting. That's too mean. We know you're a little bit hot headed at times. But we're grateful that you let us pass. I feel personally attacked by that. Are you a volcano, Rina? Do you mean to say that you identify as a volcano? I could be. Or a hurricane. Okay, now we're back in the car of death. It's a lot hotter here. It's so hot down here. The car of misery. Because look at the shifts. It's crazy. Like this car barely drives. But we're gonna try and make it all the way up to that bay that we mentioned up on that mountain. Yeah. Which looked gorgeous. But we can do it, mate. Everything about this rental car was screaming that it was about to break down any second. But eventually we did make it to one of the most stunning beaches of Italy. Called Isola Bella. Named after this small island inside the bay, which is also nicknamed the Pearl of the Ionian Sea. And it's now a nature reserve. Look at that crystal clear water. This beach is the perfect location to finish our trip. Relax and enjoy a nice lunch. And wash off all that volcanic dust with a fresh dip in the sea. What a last day of the trip. Incredible. We made it here. All the way from Milan. We needed this lazy beach day so badly. Lazy afternoon. It wasn't even a whole beach day. It was just a lazy afternoon. But it was good. We got some sun. Yeah, and a nice wind. This is one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. Also one of the most uncomfortable. Everything hurts. If this beach wasn't so rocky, I'd be asleep here. I know. The budget's finished, so we gotta go home. We're actually flying out of Milan. Which is... On the other end of the country. 13 hours. Yeah. That'll be just an episode in itself. It's crazy. Yeah, but we made it. With a thousand euros, we managed to buy bicycles and travel all the way across Italy from Milan all the way to this little piece of paradise in Sicily. A crazy adventure of 20 days. Which means we did almost three weeks on less than 50 euros a day. It's unbelievable. And we really didn't expect we'd make it this far. We're just so grateful. Thanks to everyone who helped us along the way and who supported our videos. We hope you enjoyed this crazy travel challenge as much as we did. And last of all, we just want to shout out our sponsors for enabling us to make this series possible in the first place. Like our backpack and shoes from Tropic Fuel whose gear we can now properly review having reached the end. So this morning at Mount Etna obviously our shoes got filled with all the volcanic rock. And so when we got here we just dunked them in the water and washed them off and we just set them back on our feet and we were talking about how comfortable they are. They're still soaking wet, but they're so comfortable. Normally, shoes when they're wet, they're uncomfortable. You don't want to walk in them. They feel really heavy. I feel sometimes that they're going to leave me a rash. We just jumped in the ocean. We're putting them back on. We're hiking up to our car again. And they're perfect. They do dry very fast. That's what the marketing said and it's literally true. It is true. And they survived the volcano. So there's that. Yeah, they're budgeteers approved. Budgeteer approved. And now we have to take this car back into the city of Catania which is going to be another challenge. We made it back safely and had a proper beer to celebrate. What a long day. A good day. Yeah. A long day. And we still had one crazy big challenge awaiting us the next day. Okay, we made it at the train station. It's now 5 o'clock in the morning. Very, very early. And we're about to spend the last of our budget for a train ticket all the way back to Milan which is going to be the most crazy train journey of this entire series because it's also the longest. And we're actually going to try out the high speed trains. Yeah. So if you're interested in seeing any of that, the train journey, in seeing our thoughts on Italy, in seeing all of the behind the scenes that you don't normally see, join us in our final episode. Yeah. Thanks for watching. We'll see you in the next one. Bye. We're so sad. I'm sad it's over.