Camino 2023 Recap

Pyrenees – Day 1 in France. Only 500 miles to go!!

July 16, 2023

E: I re-read my Camino recap post from July 14, 2019.
I am reposting it as my 2023 recap!
I made a couple changes, correcting typos, grammar, omitting or adding/updating it to be relevant to our 2023 trip.
I couldn’t have rewritten it any better! So, here’s a repost of my recap 2019.

E: It’s taken me a while to write this because it signifies the end our journey which makes me sad. The thought of getting back to the Phoenician heat (117 degrees F.); the daily personal routines; shopping in a large store; driving (man, cars go faster than when you are foot!) and not experiencing a new village with excited Camino friends each day, seems daunting. Then I realized I could/should bring the Camino experience home with me.

I walked to the gym, a little over a mile from our house, (with lots of sunblock on, water and my SPF umbrella!). I unfroze my membership, took a class I loved with my gym friends and felt missed and welcomed when the instructor smiled and said “Elizabeth! Welcome back! How was your trip?!”. And I stopped at a local cafe on the way home to enjoy a cafe con leche con hielo (coffee with milk with ice…iced coffee).

I see each day as a gift. I am excited to return to the work I love and feel perfectly fine not taking corporate meeting jobs and or shifts I do not like to do.

I am connecting with family and friends, appreciating them, my husband and our life we have built together, more each day. Being “selfish” can be a positive move…making the most of your life and taking the time to realize we only get one chance at this great life we have been given! Think about the airline spiel: put your own mask on first before assisting others! Making “me” a priority is a good thing!

I am happy to share my revised pack list with pictures to anyone who asks. Hopefully it will help those of you heading out on your own Camino in the near future…or those of you dreaming of the day you will make it happen!

For those of you that have not experienced a Camino, especially the Frances route, you might not get all the hoopla. I will try and explain:

You walk through over 100 villages/cities/ancient hamlets that so appreciate and count on our tourism; you realize that the simplicity of 15lbs on your back is all you need for a journey of 500 some odd miles over 5 weeks; there’s a common goal between you and those you meet. It becomes an instant ice breaker to join them for dinner, walk alongside them or feel you have known them forever…even when you thought you said goodbye, and a week later you meet up randomly in a hostel or in a café! Everyone is on a level playing field on the Camino. Whether you are a multi-millionaire, a starving artist, an introvert, extrovert, liberal or conservative, traditionally religious or simply spiritual, you are all walking with a mutual purpose…to experience the positive outdoor journey of moving forward! Both your feet walk straight ahead and your mind will reveal to you what is next, for you.

What I have learned over our four Caminos is patience, kindness, willingness to help others, knowing someone is there for you and to relax! Enjoy the “now”. Approach each day with a smile and positive thoughts that if you are honest with yourself, doing what you love and be eyes wide open to opportunities coming your way, it’s not “luck” when things go your way, it’s making your life happen, choosing the way you want to live your life and going after it!

Don’t be that person who is too busy when you are young and then too tired when you are old.
– Unknown

“Live for the moments you can’t put into words.”
– Clo Mailen

“To move, to breathe, to fly, to float. To gain all while you give. To roam the roads of land remote. To travel is to live…”
– Hans Christian Andersen