In response to Al - I looked after mother for 5 years - took a flat just down the road ... moved to a new town to do that, gave up my life as it was ... we do these things, last man standing, who else was there? I cancelled a number of my first aid visits to the Camino, curtailed the others as I was needed at home ... always the guilt, always the not knowing how long one would be away and always wondering if one should even
be away.
The thing is, even with support in train (I had none until she was moved to a nursing home) the guilt remains .. it is how it is - we either walk away or accept what the universe is manifesting to us - and how can we live with ourselves if we walk away?
Mother died August 31st and my post-funeral attempted visit to the Camino - free at last - was quite the disaster ... car died south of Bordeaux, had to scrap it in France, repatriated the caravan and took the train home. I had mother's ashes in the caravan, planned to cast them on the Camino (Eunate came to mind). To add to the comic-drama they managed to jacknife on the motorway in England whilst towing it to me and totalled the van. Then a wait for two weeks while they decided to tell me ... caravan is now here, arrived this morning, and her ashes are back in the house - too late to return really ..... perhaps she didn't want her ashes spread in Spain - who knows these things.
So - Polite - your questions are really about lack of confidence, don't you think? You most likely already know that you are looking at an average of 35 days from St Jean but could cut your Camino to fit your time .... the thing is (my personal opinion) there are some people for whom the Camino is an interlude, or rather a deep catalyst between one life and another ... sometimes, possibly most times, it is better to let go, just let go of all we have been holding onto and just go - just go - and let the future take care of itself .. it isn't a holiday, it isn't a hike, it is a pilgrimage - and a pilgrimage is to do with internal change ... of facing oneself (and God, however we describe that internally) .. and during that long time out there the "real" world that one has been trapped in becomes like a delusional dream and drops away .... so for me, I say - go, just go, forget time, forget the world at home and just - go.
Re cost - people on here will answer from how they live their lives ... I have heard some suggest you need 50 euros a day! Nonsense, utter nonsense! Many eat at least twice a day in restaurants and cafes and consume expensive coffees and cakes in between, but you don't have to do that, not at all. You can carry simple food and look after yourself - you won't starve in 35 days eating pasta and bread and cheese and sausage and fruit, in fact, you will be healthier than the restaurant goers eating their mass-produced and overcooked food. It will also give you a sense of power, of freedom, of self-reliance - you provide for yourself. If you are addicted to caffeine give it up a month before you go and there will be absolutely no desire for coffee stops - so, how much? Refugio fees plus some euros for your own food - not a lot, not much at all.
20 euros would be plenty, I know pilgrims who have done it for less.
As for procrastinating ... you just aren't ready yet .... if you open wide the doors of a battery chicken barn it can take weeks for the hens to falteringly step outside and stand under the beautiful sky and breathe fresh air ... think about that ....
Buen Camino!!