My Trip of a Lifetime!!!!

Trip of a Lifetime!
Now this is really saying something, isn't it?

Not the hat I'm taking, but me on a fine spring day, taking the backpack out for a walk.

Those of you that know me well, know that I'd rather be on the road, but this is a road trip that has consumed me since I made my final decision to go forward with a my plan to walk 450 miles on the Camino Frances to the Cathedral at Santiago de Compostela. This route has been taken by pilgrims since the 9th century, with the height of the pilgrimage in the 11th & 12th centuries.

Two and a half months on the road for me. Funny thing, I always planned on doing this alone, but life happens and it's amazing the connections that have come about since I first planned my trip.

Here's my itinerary:
I am leaving Thursday, May 16, 2013
- 12 days in Paris - possibly 2 - 3 day trips by train to nearby towns
- Move on by train to St. Malo. I will meet up with a painting group from England
- I move on from St. Malo with the group in a mini-van and we paint for 7 days on l'Ile de Re (sorry about the lack of accents.
- The group retraces their steps, while I move to St. Jean-de-Luz on the southwest coast of France for 4 days.
- Then one last train trip take me to St. Jean-Pied-de-Port. While I'm on that train, my daughter, Monica will be on a plane to Paris.
- Monica takes a train from Paris to St. Jean-Pied-de-Port, we rest for a day.
- June 14, we start our pilgrimage walk on the Camino Frances de Santiago de Compostela. 726 km, about 450 miles.
- Our plan is to be in Santiago de Compostela on July 23 to be there in time for St. James's Feast Day (July 25) for all the festivities.
- From there, we will walk another 3 days - or take a bus - to Finisterre, depending on our level of fitness. I believe that is another 50 miles or so, but not totally sure.
- Right now there is a hole in our schedule of 3 - 4 days, but we will finally arrive in Madrid for 5 nights before flying home on Aug. 6

Of course, people have asked for travel logs. People are excited, but worried at the same time. I feel the same way. Trust me, this is no light undertaking for me and these last few days have been frantic, but now my Camino backpack is packed, and my suitcase for France is packed, and I leave momentarily for the airport. Of course I want to communicate with you all, but I also want the luxury of tuning out of technology and experiencing life to it's fullest, living in the moment.

Blogging is a job in itself, and I won't do it to the extent that I did last year with my Irish trip. What I learned on that trip, just in the Chicago airport was, that in trying to write and post photos you are only as good as your wi-fi band width, and the number of people that are using it at the same time. From India we tried to write about once a week from Internet centers on computers, when possible, but as much as our friends asked for photos, it was impossible to do.

I think it will be fairly easy to post from France. But I am not at all sure from Spain. I can't promise anything except to try to write once in a while from Spain. I love it when you write, but I cannot say that I will be able to answer, especially if I have a pack of young whipper snappers breathing down my neck to use the wi-fi.

If you know of anyone that would like to read my musings from the road, please tell them to sign up for my blog, or my newsletter on my website. I am not sure which will work better at this point, but I will try the blog first.

Thank you all in advance for your good wishes. I write this is a hurry as I am not off for the airport in a few.

I will try and write from NYC!