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I am soooooo pumped!

Arn

Veteran Member
We often speak about the number of times some of us have walked the Camino and the experiences never seem to be the same. We get hurt, we find someone, we get lost, we lose our Way...so many scenarios. All the same and all different. Well, looking at the threads now appearing and the excitement which abounds, I am soooo pumped!
It appears, and I hope it's true, the Camino, once again, is cautiously opening to welcome pilgrims to walk the Way to Santiago. This is, for me at least, as exciting as my first Camino in 2008.
Consider this, the Forum was in it's infancy back then. The availability of bunks along the CF was a matter of who can arrive first, or is willing to sleep on a mat in the doorway of a church. And, the nationality of the preponderance of pilgrims could be credited to a book, a movie, or the latest "loose weight" TV travel show.
Well, I believe, the cautious suspension of COVID restrictions shall usher in a new wave of pilgrim..better prepared (because we have spent nearly a full Camino season researching and planning), better centered (we have mulled over just WHY we are going on Camino), and better situated for the return home when folks ask why did you go in Camino (they have had an earful of our griping about rescheduled plane tickets, cancelled and rebooked accommodations, clothes don't fit, etc), they just want you to go already.
I am a believer it's better to be in the first wave, than wallow in the back wash. Yes, things may never be the same as we remember, but then, that's what change is all about. We assess the current situation, modify and adjust, then press on.
This is a new day!
Buen "Santiago...I'm on the Way" Camino
Arn
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
Arn said

“ I am a believer it's better to be in the first wave, than wallow in the back wash”

Arn, we will be on the camino (hopefully) about the same time in early September. But I would hardly describe others who are planning later Caminos as”wallowing in the backwash?” A bit harsh.... For some going in October, or even next Spring it will be bold action and a leap of faith....Perhaps even prudent!
 
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I just hope I am able to wallow in the backwash. Many activities have been on hold, rightfully so, since COVID.

I am looking forward to many Summer activities with friends and family. A fishing trip, started in the 70's, with my friends to Canada (9/10 to 9/18) if our neighbors to the north open the border. Then a return to the Camino, late September, early October. My first Fall Camino.

That said, I am tempted to join you on the deck for a few Cervezas.

Buen Camino
 
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I wish I could share the enthusiasm. Considering the low rates of vaccinations in Europe and the issues with variants of Covid, I don't think it is prudent to venture out until later in 2022. You can change my name to Donnie Downer from now on because I have been unable to return to Biarritz since December 2019 and according to my friends there it is a town in total despair because none of our daily haunts around the Marche are open.
 
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Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

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Arn said

“ I am a believer it's better to be in the first wave, than wallow in the back wash”

Arn, we will be on the camino (hopefully) about the same time in early September. But I would hardly describe others who are planning later Caminos as”wallowing in the backwash?” A bit harsh.... For some going in October, or even next Spring it will be bold action and a leap of faith....Perhaps even prudent!
Possibly harsh...but when writing “in the moment”...exuberance can overshadow the finer points
 
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I wish I could share the enthusiasm. Considering the low rates of vaccinations in Europe and the issues with variants of Covid, I don't think it is prudent to venture out until later in 2022. You can change my name to Donnie Downer from now on because I have been unable to return to Biarritz since December 2019 and according to my friends there it is a town in total despair because none of our daily haunts around the Marche are open.
We have been going to biarritz for the past seven years every summer. We miss it so much, how are people coping,? and is it totally shut down.?
 
My friends are obeying the strict rules which include no travel more than 30km from town and generally everything is closed and the town is at a standstill. People still go to the beaches but the cafe/bar scene is only a memory at the moment. The Casino is the vaccination center now.
 
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Thanks Don, Casino as a vax Centre says it all, what a shame, is grand plage open? it should act as a warning for going on camino its the main airport and on to Bayonne station. Be careful anyone going 30 k restriction wonder is the restriction preventing anyone going to sjpp.
 
All of the beaches are open and they have had summer like weather for about a month with the exception of the pesky Basque rainstorms that seem to last for days and days. There is an official certificate that you must have to travel anywhere, it is called an attestation. I have a friend who does the Camino and day hikes in the Pyrennes, he has sent me a few photos lately from areas around SJPdP but there is never anyone else in his pix. I have no clue what is going on between Bayonne and SJPdP or whether foreigners must quarantine for 10 days or two weeks.
 
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We often speak about the number of times some of us have walked the Camino and the experiences never seem to be the same. We get hurt, we find someone, we get lost, we lose our Way...so many scenarios. All the same and all different. Well, looking at the threads now appearing and the excitement which abounds, I am soooo pumped!
It appears, and I hope it's true, the Camino, once again, is cautiously opening to welcome pilgrims to walk the Way to Santiago. This is, for me at least, as exciting as my first Camino in 2008.
Consider this, the Forum was in it's infancy back then. The availability of bunks along the CF was a matter of who can arrive first, or is willing to sleep on a mat in the doorway of a church. And, the nationality of the preponderance of pilgrims could be credited to a book, a movie, or the latest "loose weight" TV travel show.
Well, I believe, the cautious suspension of COVID restrictions shall usher in a new wave of pilgrim..better prepared (because we have spent nearly a full Camino season researching and planning), better centered (we have mulled over just WHY we are going on Camino), and better situated for the return home when folks ask why did you go in Camino (they have had an earful of our griping about rescheduled plane tickets, cancelled and rebooked accommodations, clothes don't fit, etc), they just want you to go already.
I am a believer it's better to be in the first wave, than wallow in the back wash. Yes, things may never be the same as we remember, but then, that's what change is all about. We assess the current situation, modify and adjust, then press on.
This is a new day!
Buen "Santiago...I'm on the Way" Camino
Arn
Buen Camino Arn! Perhaps I’ll catch the first wave in 2022 as the calendar is full for 2021 stateside! Doug and I look forward forward to your visit mid June! Until then...my best!
 
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Arn said

“ I am a believer it's better to be in the first wave, than wallow in the back wash”

Arn, we will be on the camino (hopefully) about the same time in early September. But I would hardly describe others who are planning later Caminos as”wallowing in the backwash?” A bit harsh.... For some going in October, or even next Spring it will be bold action and a leap of faith....Perhaps even prudent!
Maybe his enthusiasm got the better of him:)
 
I wish I could share the enthusiasm. Considering the low rates of vaccinations in Europe and the issues with variants of Covid, I don't think it is prudent to venture out until later in 2022. You can change my name to Donnie Downer from now on because I have been unable to return to Biarritz since December 2019 and according to my friends there it is a town in total despair because none of our daily haunts around the Marche are open.
I hate to believe that you are correct in your prophecy of when things open again. I have been vaccinated thankfully. I have read what is happening in India and think it can happen again and maybe worse. I have long since given up asking people to wait and have patience. I did make a plane reservation that can be changed or vouchered on Iberia for an October 10, 2021 departure. But as I wait and have hope I know that I will not force the situation. If I can't go I will just have to wait some more. I am running out of time to do the caminos I want to do. I am sure this is a fear of many of us "more mature" pilgrims. But than I am even sadder when I see how my daughters have been robbed of an important part of their lives too. That makes me even angrier and sadder. Then I think I have not lost anyone I love or had a loved one profoundly effected by this plague and I think how lucky I am.
It is all relative. I hope for the best but have no idea of tomorrow let alone October.
 
Join our full-service guided tour and let us convert you into a Pampered Pilgrim!
I wish I could share the enthusiasm. Considering the low rates of vaccinations in Europe and the issues with variants of Covid, I don't think it is prudent to venture out until later in 2022. You can change my name to Donnie Downer from now on because I have been unable to return to Biarritz since December 2019 and according to my friends there it is a town in total despair because none of our daily haunts around the Marche are open.
Well said I absolutely agree with your assessment of the situation in Europe, nothing wrong with enthusiasm but in the cold light of day it’s just not the right time. Yes there are some vaccines working at 90% untested but what people fail to see is there are three new strains Africa, UK and now one in India which are Covid killers and highly contagious. Patience to all.
 
My heart is now, and has been, on the Camino. In the past, I had been under a bit of pressure to complete the trails within the reasonable time frame. This time my heart will stay wherever it feels happy. I will not there to complete anything. I will be there with all my senses wide open, to feel and to live.
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
I hate to believe that you are correct in your prophecy of when things open again. I have been vaccinated thankfully. I have read what is happening in India and think it can happen again and maybe worse. I have long since given up asking people to wait and have patience. I did make a plane reservation that can be changed or vouchered on Iberia for an October 10, 2021 departure. But as I wait and have hope I know that I will not force the situation. If I can't go I will just have to wait some more. I am running out of time to do the caminos I want to do. I am sure this is a fear of many of us "more mature" pilgrims. But than I am even sadder when I see how my daughters have been robbed of an important part of their lives too. That makes me even angrier and sadder. Then I think I have not lost anyone I love or had a loved one profoundly effected by this plague and I think how lucky I am.
It is all relative. I hope for the best but have no idea of tomorrow let alone October.
I have Iberia and TAP vouchers from 2020 which have been extended until 2022, I am not trying to hold my breathe too long.
 
The trouble is, we are all crazy right now. We are trapped in a deadly dangerous situation which has existed for about a year and a half. It seems that the only ways to get out of it are to either deny it: close the eyes of your mind and it doesn't exist, but the people who are acting as if it does are very annoying; or attempt to put oneself into stasis, with the promise that it will all go away at some point in time, and we can start living again. Neither works. The deniers can go on denying, but they may have some terrible losses to wake them up. The "Just Wait Until..." persons may find, like myself , that the "until" continues to fade into the future. Arn has volunteered to be our "canary in the coal mine." I am looking forward to following his journey on this forum to see if this is really a good time to break the stasis and return to life again.
 
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I have Iberia and TAP vouchers from 2020 which have been extended until 2022, I am not trying to hold my breathe too long.
The glass half full says that at least Iberia and TAP keep extending the vouchers! Don't hold that breath too long!!! Who knows maybe we will run into each other some day along the way so keep breathing Pilgrim!
 
All of the beaches are open and they have had summer like weather for about a month with the exception of the pesky Basque rainstorms that seem to last for days and days. There is an official certificate that you must have to travel anywhere, it is called an attestation. I have a friend who does the Camino and day hikes in the Pyrennes, he has sent me a few photos lately from areas around SJPdP but there is never anyone else in his pix. I have no clue what is going on between Bayonne and SJPdP or whether foreigners must quarantine for 10 days or two weeks.
I was plucked from the dusty plains of Canada and found myself and my family living in the Biarritz area in August 1967. Bit of a shock to the system. Little did I know I would return 50+ years later using the area as a jumping off point to the Caminos. The photo attached is of a poster I brought home as a souvenir that has hung on the wall ever since.
 

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I guess the covid situation has made me too old for my planned last camino, after cancelling my caminos for the last two years.
Even if I am one of the lucky vaccinated ones, but I would not think of starting on a camino this year even if the authorities of Norway say I am allowed to go.
Guess my walking in Spain in the future will be daytrips in wellknown Sierra Helada in Alfaz del Pi.
 
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€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
"I am so pumped" describes my mood. Cindi (wife of 39 years) and I hiked the Camino Frances three times, every two years after I retired. We considered hiking last year to avoid the Jubilee Year rush, but cancelled. We're now set to go, leaving Indianapolis Sept 13. Air and train tickets all set and also private room reservations. We also have Jacotrans backpack transport tickets every day. At age 64, I decided I no longer need to prove I can carry my backpack on the camino, having done this three times before.

With less than four months to go, we start a more detailed level of planning. Just hired a dog walker to walk our beagle puppy twice a day (mother in law will stay at our home to care for him). Need to check our "kit" and make any modifications. The nice thing about private rooms is there is no need for sleeping bags, silk liners, travel towels, etc.

I've thought about the camino frances several times a day since last March. So excited to begin final preparations for this fall! Bob
 

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