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I'm considering walking Le Puy in 2016.
I'm a language hobbyist. I already speak French and Spanish. When walking the Frances in Spain, I often found myself wishing that I could communicate in Italian or German.
If I were to learn the basics of a language other than french before Le Puy...
I have no real regrets from my camino, but there are a few things that I'd do differently the second time around! I figured I may as well share, just in case someone finds themselves in the same position that I was in. If I could start again, I would…
1) Go inside the church in Santo Domingo...
There were no problems with theft in March or April 2014. I didn't meet a single pilgrim who had had something stolen - and trust me, people would have talked about it.
We stayed in albergues through most of our camino.
But lots of private albergues that offered dorm beds for 5 euros also offered double rooms for 20 or 25 euros. If you're travelling with a partner, 10 euros each isn't much for a semi-private room! These rooms generally shared bathrooms with...
My mom bought me a blister pack from an outdoor store in Canada. I brought a few pieces of it with me - alcohol wipes, moleskin, blister pads (they looked a lot like compeed). Then I just bought more compeed as I went.
I didn't have major problems with blisters. During my walk I only had one...
Yes, you can! It's a small albergue. We went to the pilgrim's office to get our credentials (they weighed our bags there, too), and then the lovely volunteers assigned us a bed in the albergue and walked us over. It's just a few doors down.
I was bitten by bedbugs in late April, either in an albergue in Santiago or in a hotel in Finisterre, right before heading home. My stuff is still in a plastic garbage bag in the shed 4 weeks later. Ha! It hasn't been hot enough for me to feel confident in the sun's bug-killing power. Anyone...
I brought my smartphone. I like knowing that I can contact the authorities in case of an emergency. My phone was also my camera. I bought an overseas texting package before leaving Canada, so that I could text my husband morning and evening, and my mom every night. This took about 30 seconds per...
I cant imagine needing an alarm to wake up, but if you feel that you need one, then definitely consider a vibrating alarm. During my March/April camino, I was more bothered by the rare people with alarms than I was by snorers - at least snoring is unintentional noise!
Either way, test it out...
I mailed forward my light down jacket and my camera. I didn't regret mailing forward my camera - it was a last-minute impulsive addition to my pack. My phone was plenty good enough for my needs. My down jacket I *did* regret mailing forward. There were several evenings when I would have been...
We met three or four hospitaleros in municipal albergues who didn't speak Spanish. They were generally English-speaking, and paired with a Spanish-speaking hospitalero. I think that if you planned on volunteering, and learned some basics before you went, it would be a great opportunity to...
I had a 32l pack, which worked very well for me. I walked in March and April, so needed warm clothes, but I used compression dry sacks. Everything fit perfectly. I had 3 bags in my pack: my bedding bag, my clothing bag, and a packing cube for everything else. It was really easy to find what I...
I carried my backpack on the flight with me. It was a 32l, so well within the rules. It fit easily in the overhead compartment. It's a good thing I carried on, because due to flight delays, I ended up getting to Paris 2 hours later than expected. I made it to the train station 20 minutes before...
Rosetta Stone is bad. Honestly. Unless you have years to learn, and you're just using it as a supplement anyway, it won't help you speak a language.
Look for the Pimsleur CDs in your local library. I think they're very useful (if terribly overpriced - hence the library suggestion.)
You can...
We were sorely disappointed by Samos. We chose that route because it was recommended to us by the hospitaleros in both Granon and Bercianos - 2 magical places - as having a similar atmosphere. So we arrived expecting a common meal, a sharing circle, a sense of community. Instead, we found a big...
I'd start in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, and just get as far as you get! You can always come back another year and pick up where you left off.
During our walk, we took a rest day in Burgos and Leon - both much-needed. We also had 4 or 5 short days of 10 or 15 km, either due to physical problems or...
I walked the Camino Frances with my dad from mid-March to late April of this year. I thought I might share some of my favourite albergues along the way!
A Raboleira in Fonfria (10 euros)
Fonfria itself isn't much to look at it. It's not a particularly beautiful town, although the walk in and...
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