The journey begins

No matter how long you have to prepare for any future trip, you eventually get to the point where it suddenly seems like it snuck up on you. And that’s where I find myself now with my upcoming Camino. It’s go-time! I’ll shortly get in my car, drive a few hours, hang out in the airport, and then board my ~11 hour flight to Portugal. I’ve known my departure date for more than a month, and yet it is somehow surprising to me that it’s finally here!

There are a lot of emotions competing for air time right now: excitement, fear, sadness, elation, impatience, gratitude, concern, and more. Given the long flight to Lisbon, a train ride to Porto, and taking Sunday to acclimate to the time zone change and check out Porto a bit, I’m not going to start walking my Camino until Monday morning. So I still have plenty of time to contemplate what’s ahead of me, what I hope to get out of it, not to mention ample time to fret over all the things that could go wrong, things I might have forgotten in my preparations, and so on.

But above it all, my guiding principle has been to remain open; open to whatever I’m going to experience and bring home from this trip: the highs, the lows, and all that’s in between. This journey is a tremendous opportunity for me, a thought that has lived rent-free in my brain since I knew I’d be walking the Camino Portugués. Someone much wiser than me once said “what you put into something is what you’ll get out of it”. I’ve done whatever I can to prepare and set myself up for success. But I think the most important things will be simply being present each day, taking my journey one step at a time, being open to whatever experiences the universe throws at me, and taking time to think through what I’m learning along the way.

I believe that documenting my trip and what I’m experiencing will prove to be important to me. I bet we’d all agree that with time, it’s effectively impossible to recall what it truly felt like to be in the moment of something important. But beyond jotting down some notes at the start and end of each day, I’m not sure what form capturing my experience will take. I’ve packed a lav mic and mini tripod in case I feel motivated to record my thoughts. At minimum, I plan to share my route progress here along with a few notes. I know there are people interested in the trip and also those concerned with how I’m doing. And lest anyone worry, I’ll have my phone (in DND while walking) and my Garmin satellite communicator with me so I’ll never be far from assistance in the unlikely event it is needed!

As always, thanks for being with me on this journey. I don’t know what the next 20 days will bring for me, but I hope they are great ones for each of you. Be excellent to each other, make each day count, and be well. Mahalo! 🙏