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OBSOLETE COVID THREAD Well, that’s my trip cancelled….

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Sadly, I had to cancel my plans to fly on NY eve to Madrid via Frankfurt. After having my flights altered twice by the airline, so much so that my transit would now take me almost 48 hours for Toronto to Madrid… and having learned yesterday that my employer will not be altering the “no foreign travel permitted” until January at the earliest, and not for as long as Canada maintains an international travel advisory to avoid any “inessential“ travel...

While some workers can say that their work is essential, the refusal of my university to lift its restrictions prior to January means that I will be disappointing 4 graduate students in Granada with whom I had planned to work through the winter and spring. In essence what my university has said is that all internatioanl collaborative work has to be done virtually until the administration changes its mind about what the Canadian Travel Advisory means….

I have no idea if I will be able to walk later in the spring without trying to do research work in Granada…. That is something I could do without my employer caring. I’d have to buy my own health insurance as my work-based plan won’t cover us if we are trying to work in foreign locations while the advisory is in place. Maybe by spring I will be able to find a direct flight, or maybe I’ll just fly into LIsbon and start walking from there…

I am super bummed. My vaccinations are complete. I live somewhere with fewer than 100 cases and fewer than a handful of new cases on any given day. My sabbatical is a year overdue and I agreed last January to take it on this schedule. So I’m stuck.

I hope that this cancellation is not just a meaningless sacrifice.

I think I’ve had it in mind for at least a month now that this was a real possibility, but I had hoped that with Spain being open, that with my EU passport, that with indications being that we are getting ahead of the worst manifestations of COV-19… that I would be able to go.

Oh well…. Eventually I will get my money back. Eventually I will retire…

Buen camino all.
 
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How unfortunate for you and your students. It must indeed be a great disappointment but putting work aside, your employer can't tell you what you can and can not do in your free time so walking during vacation time is a real possibility. It may not be what you had hoped for but I'd say focus and plan for that. Who knows, in the mean time maybe the overall situation changes for the best.
 
This must be a huge let down for you @Faye Walker
Sorry to hear your news.

But we do live in very uncertain times......

May your travels happen soon and be even better than expected.

The Camino has a strange way of closing one door, and opening an even better one, as you will know I'm sure.
 
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Sadly, I had to cancel my plans to fly on NY eve to Madrid via Frankfurt. After having my flights altered twice by the airline, so much so that my transit would now take me almost 48 hours for Toronto to Madrid… and having learned yesterday that my employer will not be altering the “no foreign travel permitted” until January at the earliest, and not for as long as Canada maintains an international travel advisory to avoid any “inessential“ travel...

While some workers can say that their work is essential, the refusal of my university to lift its restrictions prior to January means that I will be disappointing 4 graduate students in Granada with whom I had planned to work through the winter and spring. In essence what my university has said is that all internatioanl collaborative work has to be done virtually until the administration changes its mind about what the Canadian Travel Advisory means….

I have no idea if I will be able to walk later in the spring without trying to do research work in Granada…. That is something I could do without my employer caring. I’d have to buy my own health insurance as my work-based plan won’t cover us if we are trying to work in foreign locations while the advisory is in place. Maybe by spring I will be able to find a direct flight, or maybe I’ll just fly into LIsbon and start walking from there…

I am super bummed. My vaccinations are complete. I live somewhere with fewer than 100 cases and fewer than a handful of new cases on any given day. My sabbatical is a year overdue and I agreed last January to take it on this schedule. So I’m stuck.

I hope that this cancellation is not just a meaningless sacrifice.

I think I’ve had it in mind for at least a month now that this was a real possibility, but I had hoped that with Spain being open, that with my EU passport, that with indications being that we are getting ahead of the worst manifestations of COV-19… that I would be able to go.

Oh well…. Eventually I will get my money back. Eventually I will retire…

Buen camino all.
So sorry for your cancellation. I would be bummed too, as I know your graduate students are. 😢
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
I hope that this cancellation is not just a meaningless sacrifice.
I can feel your crushing disappointment, and I am sorry for your dashed hopes.

On the pilgrimage of life there are many obstacles that crop up; we think them meaningless at first and then somehow some goodness materializes out of them. May you find goodness in this obstacle too.
 
@Faye Walker you have my total sympathy. How terrible that countries & institutions can’t get their acts together. The Covid cases in Spain/100,000 are so much less than in North America. The hypocrisy is mind blowing. You will get there. Nurture your hopes and dreams.
Well, I shall tell myself that at least this way I am guaranteed that I cannot possibly take a COV variant from here back to the Iberian peninsula that I love so much, filled with people who are dear to me even if I don’t know all of them personally.
And I will continue to purchase by a distance the equivalent of what I would spend on a typical camino…
Perhaps by summer I will be able to go for a walk for a few weeks…
And it’s really not optimal, but I will see if the students would care to do virtual work together… it’s a little more tricky because there are 4 in Granada who would be the core, but there are 2 in Zurich, and 2 in Ireland…. Close enough to each other in time-zone, but more for me to hop through when I am on EST in N. America.
Oh well….
 
Sadly, I had to cancel my plans to fly on NY eve to Madrid via Frankfurt. After having my flights altered twice by the airline, so much so that my transit would now take me almost 48 hours for Toronto to Madrid… and having learned yesterday that my employer will not be altering the “no foreign travel permitted” until January at the earliest, and not for as long as Canada maintains an international travel advisory to avoid any “inessential“ travel...

While some workers can say that their work is essential, the refusal of my university to lift its restrictions prior to January means that I will be disappointing 4 graduate students in Granada with whom I had planned to work through the winter and spring. In essence what my university has said is that all internatioanl collaborative work has to be done virtually until the administration changes its mind about what the Canadian Travel Advisory means….

I have no idea if I will be able to walk later in the spring without trying to do research work in Granada…. That is something I could do without my employer caring. I’d have to buy my own health insurance as my work-based plan won’t cover us if we are trying to work in foreign locations while the advisory is in place. Maybe by spring I will be able to find a direct flight, or maybe I’ll just fly into LIsbon and start walking from there…

I am super bummed. My vaccinations are complete. I live somewhere with fewer than 100 cases and fewer than a handful of new cases on any given day. My sabbatical is a year overdue and I agreed last January to take it on this schedule. So I’m stuck.

I hope that this cancellation is not just a meaningless sacrifice.

I think I’ve had it in mind for at least a month now that this was a real possibility, but I had hoped that with Spain being open, that with my EU passport, that with indications being that we are getting ahead of the worst manifestations of COV-19… that I would be able to go.

Oh well…. Eventually I will get my money back. Eventually I will retire…

Buen camino all.
What a bummer Fay, but not sure how to understand all this. Canadians have travelled to Spain and Portugal to do the Camino. So it must be because of your employers rules and regulations. Hope everything turns out ok, there is always hope that things change for the better. Ultreia!
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
What a bummer Fay, but not sure how to understand all this. Canadians have travelled to Spain and Portugal to do the Camino. So it must be because of your employers rules and regulations. Hope everything turns out ok, there is always hope that things change for the better. Ultreia!
Yes, Canadians have travelled but that is only because border guards do not demand to know whether travel is “essential” and leave it up to the conscience of the traveller at this point (since roughly last June). Because I have a medical insurance issue to deal with to get my employee healthcare in Spain, and because I have to submit a sabbatical plan for approval (mine involving this international group of students was provisionally “approved” but “can be done by Zoom”) that means that I am subject to the intent of the travel advisory.
It’s fine….
I’m just bummed.
I’m not entitled to travel.
I’m entitled by my contract to have the time to think and write and publish… I’ll just have to do it from my home office.
I will try channeling some gratitude for the caminos I have had that others can only dream of.
 
Sadly, I had to cancel my plans to fly on NY eve to Madrid via Frankfurt. After having my flights altered twice by the airline, so much so that my transit would now take me almost 48 hours for Toronto to Madrid… and having learned yesterday that my employer will not be altering the “no foreign travel permitted” until January at the earliest, and not for as long as Canada maintains an international travel advisory to avoid any “inessential“ travel...

While some workers can say that their work is essential, the refusal of my university to lift its restrictions prior to January means that I will be disappointing 4 graduate students in Granada with whom I had planned to work through the winter and spring. In essence what my university has said is that all internatioanl collaborative work has to be done virtually until the administration changes its mind about what the Canadian Travel Advisory means….

I have no idea if I will be able to walk later in the spring without trying to do research work in Granada…. That is something I could do without my employer caring. I’d have to buy my own health insurance as my work-based plan won’t cover us if we are trying to work in foreign locations while the advisory is in place. Maybe by spring I will be able to find a direct flight, or maybe I’ll just fly into LIsbon and start walking from there…

I am super bummed. My vaccinations are complete. I live somewhere with fewer than 100 cases and fewer than a handful of new cases on any given day. My sabbatical is a year overdue and I agreed last January to take it on this schedule. So I’m stuck.

I hope that this cancellation is not just a meaningless sacrifice.

I think I’ve had it in mind for at least a month now that this was a real possibility, but I had hoped that with Spain being open, that with my EU passport, that with indications being that we are getting ahead of the worst manifestations of COV-19… that I would be able to go.

Oh well…. Eventually I will get my money back. Eventually I will retire…

Buen camino all.
How frustrating! I really feel your pain. But I've always found that when one for closes another opens. Someday when I retire I know alot more did will open too.
 
I hope you post acts as a warning to those who think 2022 is going to be "so much" easier than 2021. It is a bummer for you but your experience may serve a warning to those who think things are returning to normal.
I have a flight in February and I am already concerned with 5 months before I plan to depart.
 
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I hope you post acts as a warning to those who think 2022 is going to be "so much" easier than 2021. It is a bummer for you but your experience may serve a warning to those who think things are returning to normal.
I have a flight in February and I am already concerned with 5 months before I plan to depart.
If I can give you some advice from someone who went against your feelings of waiting until 2022. I was worried since April when I booked my flight to Sevilla about things getting alot darker and worse as my October 10th departure approached. Covid got worse and I worried more and more. I also worried because at our age I know I may have a limited number of caminos left in me. But around September 1st I said F*%K this. Everything will be ok and I will walk. If I keep taking care of myself I have at least 12 years left in me of yearly caminos maybe more. (I am 67) and on last Wednesday and Thursday I was lucky enough to get my flu shot and my 3rd Pfizer booster shot. I figure I can only control my actions and what is happening tomorrow. Science will win out over lies and stupidity and I will walk starting October 14th and I will finish in Muxia.

I do believe we can create our own reality to a certain extent. My reality is I am going and I will finish. I will put that energy into other Pilgrim's realities, when I return and you are at the top of the list with my pal @tomnorth and @alexwalker for long lives and many more Caminos,
 
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If I can give you some advice from someone who went against your feelings of waiting until 2022. I was worried since April when I booked my flight to Sevilla about things getting alot darker and worse as my October 10th departure approached. Covid got worse and I worried more and more. I also worried because at our age I know I may have a limited number of caminos left in me. But around September 1st I said F*%K this. Everything will be ok and I will walk. If I keep taking care of myself I have at least 12 years left in me of yearly caminos maybe more. (I am 67) and on last Wednesday and Thursday I was lucky enough to get my flu shot and my 3rd Pfizer booster shot. I figure I can only control my actions and what is happening tomorrow. Science will win out over lies and stupidity and I will walk starting October 14th and I will finish in Muxia.

I do believe we can create our own reality to a certain extent. My reality is I am going and I will finish. I will put that energy into other Pilgrim's realities, when I return and you are at the top of the list with my pal @tomnorth and @alexwalker for long lives and many more Caminos,
I hear you loud and clear. After 11 walks on various routes. I was doing my 2019 walk from Le Puy when I learned in Hontanas my sister was in the ICU. I am now 75 years old, after missed 2 years and have underlying medical issues. Holy s$@t!
 
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I hear you loud and clear. After 11 walks on various routes. I was doing my 2019 walk from Le Puy when I learned in Hontanas my sister was in the ICU. I am now 75 years old, after missed 2 years and have underlying medical issues. Holy s$@t!
Get out there my peregrino brother and enjoy every step. I know you know how to do it!!!
 
I hope you post acts as a warning to those who think 2022 is going to be "so much" easier than 2021. It is a bummer for you but your experience may serve a warning to those who think things are returning to normal.
I have a flight in February and I am already concerned with 5 months before I plan to depart.

Yes, I made my plans without thinking that 2022 would be easy, nor with the thought of being entitled To 6 months in Spain…. But I do actually work internationally as a feature of my job, and I was invited by this group of scholars back in the spring of 2021, scholars who live and work in the EU.

I certainly do not feel entitled to traipse around the globe, and intended a very solo walk in the depth of January, using hotels or private rooms in albergues until I would arrive in an apartment from which I could work. I would have taken my own RAT kit with me (my spouse is a volunteer with a RAT site) and could have tested my group before every in-person meeting).

I could think about the feasibility only because my university had returned to accepting international students on campus (but that’s about income, so they bent their own rules).

And the ticket I purchased was a one-way (so not very expensive) and would allow me to stay as long as possible or return home on a moment’s notice if someone at home might need me.

I won’t even be out any money (eventually I will receive a refund on the ticket), and I hadn’t yet secured an apartment.

But I am sad because this is my 4th of 4 sabbaticals that has been compromised by things larger than I am. I am sad because the students are truly amazing and I wanted to pore over data with them, in person, and think it through for clinical ethics and human rights in medicine applications…
I am sad because I am sick of eating over-sized, starchy bananas here instead of the sweet, small ones that carry me through 15km in the early part of the day. I am sad because I won’t see cows or chickens in the village streets, nor squares full of people minding each other’s children so that *everyone* can go out for social/organic solidarity in the evenings… I am sad becabuse I miss the smell of dew on the anise seeds in the morning… lavender, Scotch broom waving in the wind… markers reminding of which number Via Romani I am on… all of it, all of it…

Just… all of it.
 
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Sadly, I had to cancel my plans to fly on NY eve to Madrid via Frankfurt. After having my flights altered twice by the airline, so much so that my transit would now take me almost 48 hours for Toronto to Madrid… and having learned yesterday that my employer will not be altering the “no foreign travel permitted” until January at the earliest, and not for as long as Canada maintains an international travel advisory to avoid any “inessential“ travel...

While some workers can say that their work is essential, the refusal of my university to lift its restrictions prior to January means that I will be disappointing 4 graduate students in Granada with whom I had planned to work through the winter and spring. In essence what my university has said is that all internatioanl collaborative work has to be done virtually until the administration changes its mind about what the Canadian Travel Advisory means….

I have no idea if I will be able to walk later in the spring without trying to do research work in Granada…. That is something I could do without my employer caring. I’d have to buy my own health insurance as my work-based plan won’t cover us if we are trying to work in foreign locations while the advisory is in place. Maybe by spring I will be able to find a direct flight, or maybe I’ll just fly into LIsbon and start walking from there…

I am super bummed. My vaccinations are complete. I live somewhere with fewer than 100 cases and fewer than a handful of new cases on any given day. My sabbatical is a year overdue and I agreed last January to take it on this schedule. So I’m stuck.

I hope that this cancellation is not just a meaningless sacrifice.

I think I’ve had it in mind for at least a month now that this was a real possibility, but I had hoped that with Spain being open, that with my EU passport, that with indications being that we are getting ahead of the worst manifestations of COV-19… that I would be able to go.

Oh well…. Eventually I will get my money back. Eventually I will retire…

Buen camino all.
Sorry to hear this, though I can emphasize. I've been trying to go for ten years. I've remained committed to going in the Spring to best enjoy the beauty, but, everything that happens l, happens in the spring 🙄. I reschedule my ticket a couple of days ago, SFO to Bilbao via TAP. As we know, it's one day at a time.
I hope there's an unexpected shift and the clouds clear giving you blue skies to travel. Buen Camino!
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
Sadly, I had to cancel my plans to fly on NY eve to Madrid via Frankfurt. After having my flights altered twice by the airline, so much so that my transit would now take me almost 48 hours for Toronto to Madrid… and having learned yesterday that my employer will not be altering the “no foreign travel permitted” until January at the earliest, and not for as long as Canada maintains an international travel advisory to avoid any “inessential“ travel...

While some workers can say that their work is essential, the refusal of my university to lift its restrictions prior to January means that I will be disappointing 4 graduate students in Granada with whom I had planned to work through the winter and spring. In essence what my university has said is that all internatioanl collaborative work has to be done virtually until the administration changes its mind about what the Canadian Travel Advisory means….

I have no idea if I will be able to walk later in the spring without trying to do research work in Granada…. That is something I could do without my employer caring. I’d have to buy my own health insurance as my work-based plan won’t cover us if we are trying to work in foreign locations while the advisory is in place. Maybe by spring I will be able to find a direct flight, or maybe I’ll just fly into LIsbon and start walking from there…

I am super bummed. My vaccinations are complete. I live somewhere with fewer than 100 cases and fewer than a handful of new cases on any given day. My sabbatical is a year overdue and I agreed last January to take it on this schedule. So I’m stuck.

I hope that this cancellation is not just a meaningless sacrifice.

I think I’ve had it in mind for at least a month now that this was a real possibility, but I had hoped that with Spain being open, that with my EU passport, that with indications being that we are getting ahead of the worst manifestations of COV-19… that I would be able to go.

Oh well…. Eventually I will get my money back. Eventually I will retire…

Buen camino all.
I’m sorry. That stinks.
 
If I can give you some advice from someone who went against your feelings of waiting until 2022. I was worried since April when I booked my flight to Sevilla about things getting alot darker and worse as my October 10th departure approached. Covid got worse and I worried more and more. I also worried because at our age I know I may have a limited number of caminos left in me. But around September 1st I said F*%K this. Everything will be ok and I will walk. If I keep taking care of myself I have at least 12 years left in me of yearly caminos maybe more. (I am 67) and on last Wednesday and Thursday I was lucky enough to get my flu shot and my 3rd Pfizer booster shot. I figure I can only control my actions and what is happening tomorrow. Science will win out over lies and stupidity and I will walk starting October 14th and I will finish in Muxia.

I do believe we can create our own reality to a certain extent. My reality is I am going and I will finish. I will put that energy into other Pilgrim's realities, when I return and you are at the top of the list with my pal @tomnorth and @alexwalker for long lives and many more Caminos,
Then there are two of us!

@Faye Walker : I completely understand your frustration. It must be hard not to be allowed to go. You have my deepest sympathy.
 
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Sadly, I had to cancel my plans to fly on NY eve to Madrid via Frankfurt. After having my flights altered twice by the airline, so much so that my transit would now take me almost 48 hours for Toronto to Madrid… and having learned yesterday that my employer will not be altering the “no foreign travel permitted” until January at the earliest, and not for as long as Canada maintains an international travel advisory to avoid any “inessential“ travel...

While some workers can say that their work is essential, the refusal of my university to lift its restrictions prior to January means that I will be disappointing 4 graduate students in Granada with whom I had planned to work through the winter and spring. In essence what my university has said is that all internatioanl collaborative work has to be done virtually until the administration changes its mind about what the Canadian Travel Advisory means….

I have no idea if I will be able to walk later in the spring without trying to do research work in Granada…. That is something I could do without my employer caring. I’d have to buy my own health insurance as my work-based plan won’t cover us if we are trying to work in foreign locations while the advisory is in place. Maybe by spring I will be able to find a direct flight, or maybe I’ll just fly into LIsbon and start walking from there…

I am super bummed. My vaccinations are complete. I live somewhere with fewer than 100 cases and fewer than a handful of new cases on any given day. My sabbatical is a year overdue and I agreed last January to take it on this schedule. So I’m stuck.

I hope that this cancellation is not just a meaningless sacrifice.

I think I’ve had it in mind for at least a month now that this was a real possibility, but I had hoped that with Spain being open, that with my EU passport, that with indications being that we are getting ahead of the worst manifestations of COV-19… that I would be able to go.

Oh well…. Eventually I will get my money back. Eventually I will retire…

Buen camino all.
That is very disappointing, I feel for you
 
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Gosh Faye - this is such a disappointment. Your heart must feel so heavy.
I hope that you will be able to proceed with the Zoom teaching plan and that the time difference does end up being OK for all your students.
I also hope that you do manage to go on camino next year - maybe a different camino at a different time of the year.
To echo the thoughts from Forum members in the posts above - a wise friend of mine once said to me that when something disappointing happens - when plans don’t work out - it’s the Universe repositioning you to where you need to be. I’ve found this to be a comfort and I hope you do too.
And yes! I agree with you about the Spanish bananas - what sweet little gems they are!
Cheers from Oz -
Jenny
 
How can employers tell you what you can and cannot do in your own free time?

Maybe they are worried that employees who travel out of the country could become stranded as has sadly happened to hundreds of Australians.

Certainly, there is an expectation that you will be law abiding but apart from that?

I remember one academic employer used to demand a telephone contact number so they could contact us over the Christmas holidays. I have lots of stories about academic employers and their demands.

Sometimes though a golden lining happens out of adversity. Time to write that book perhaps, or begin your new course / career? Get a new job? Something good will come your way soon enough. And your Camino waits always!
 
It's a different world right now between the retired, the self employed, and the employed by someone else. They certainly can tell you what you can and cannot do on your time if there is a result that could affect your ability to do your job- will you catch a disease overseas and have to be indefinitely quarantined/medically treated? Who does your job while you are out? Does your country require you to quarantine when you come home? Are you going to use vacation for that? Does your employer need to follow the government laws for part of their business compensation? A university IS the government and would definitely follow government laws, even if they are narrow minded.
 
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Sadly, I had to cancel my plans to fly on NY eve to Madrid via Frankfurt. After having my flights altered twice by the airline, so much so that my transit would now take me almost 48 hours for Toronto to Madrid… and having learned yesterday that my employer will not be altering the “no foreign travel permitted” until January at the earliest, and not for as long as Canada maintains an international travel advisory to avoid any “inessential“ travel...

While some workers can say that their work is essential, the refusal of my university to lift its restrictions prior to January means that I will be disappointing 4 graduate students in Granada with whom I had planned to work through the winter and spring. In essence what my university has said is that all internatioanl collaborative work has to be done virtually until the administration changes its mind about what the Canadian Travel Advisory means….

I have no idea if I will be able to walk later in the spring without trying to do research work in Granada…. That is something I could do without my employer caring. I’d have to buy my own health insurance as my work-based plan won’t cover us if we are trying to work in foreign locations while the advisory is in place. Maybe by spring I will be able to find a direct flight, or maybe I’ll just fly into LIsbon and start walking from there…

I am super bummed. My vaccinations are complete. I live somewhere with fewer than 100 cases and fewer than a handful of new cases on any given day. My sabbatical is a year overdue and I agreed last January to take it on this schedule. So I’m stuck.

I hope that this cancellation is not just a meaningless sacrifice.

I think I’ve had it in mind for at least a month now that this was a real possibility, but I had hoped that with Spain being open, that with my EU passport, that with indications being that we are getting ahead of the worst manifestations of COV-19… that I would be able to go.

Oh well…. Eventually I will get my money back. Eventually I will retire…

Buen camino all.
I am so sorry to read this but hope that when you are eventually allowed to travel agai , that your Camino will be a good and meaningful journey for you. Camino blessings.
 
It's a different world right now between the retired, the self employed, and the employed by someone else. They certainly can tell you what you can and cannot do on your time if there is a result that could affect your ability to do your job- will you catch a disease overseas and have to be indefinitely quarantined/medically treated? Who does your job while you are out? Does your country require you to quarantine when you come home? Are you going to use vacation for that? Does your employer need to follow the government laws for part of their business compensation? A university IS the government and would definitely follow government laws, even if they are narrow minded.
Yes; thank you… I didn’t have the energy to explain all this.
I booked a ticket I could afford to lose…
I made a highly conditional acceptance on an invitation to work with students.
A sabbatical is not a vacation, and so not “my own time” but I was going to take my 2022 vacation days in the first weeks to walk north out of Segovia and then on the Invierno to SdC. My sabbatical plan had been approved when I applied. I think everyone thought that with vaccines rolled out and in arms that by 2022 I’d be able to go. But all our approvals were made “conditional” this year.
Right now my country does not require that we quarantine on return from travel *unless* we are returning from some place where we’ve avoided or been unable to be vaccinated.
But Canada *is* maintaining the travel advisory and while many faculty are able to say that their travel is essential, I’m not setting up a lab…. Or dealing with a fragile site…. Which means that as my particular school does not intend to alter its regulations prior to my sabbatical start, there’s no way for me to get all the ducks lined up that have to line up.
And I’m cautious, not entitled… so I pulled the plug… maybe in time to come to terms with it.
I just happen to be really good at what I do, and really, really wanted to work with people who nearly *fell over* when I was their programme‘s invited guest last term. I don’t normally brag… I’m not trying to… I nearly feel over when they introduced me as “field defining”…
Now I just really have very little to look forward to. Just more grinding away, head down… in a town that I described to my spouse today as a dreary version of Pittsburgh.
I just need a minute to be really sad about this and a pile of other stuff that folks from the sub-forum for caregivers on camino know about.
 
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I hear you loud and clear. After 11 walks on various routes. I was doing my 2019 walk from Le Puy when I learned in Hontanas my sister was in the ICU. I am now 75 years old, after missed 2 years and have underlying medical issues. Holy s$@t!
I want to write to the person whose hopes for tomorrow are dashed... but instead i'm on your line. Hope my prayers and sincere wishes for anyone who wants to walk are answered. I plan to go even if it looks bleak in 2022 but who knows... anything can and will happen.
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
Faye
I think everyone is feeling for you and your setback.
It would be safe to say, we are all on your side.
Please remember, it is always darkest before dawn and then the sun rises and the sun WILL rise for you too.
When the sun does, please go for a walk, take a deep breath and instead of thinking in words, try to think in pictures. No words - just pictures and colours. You will soon find you can’t and so tell yourself what your next thought will be. Try to choose your next thought. Your mind will clear and you will soon just be in the moment, walking and breathing and feeling a bit brighter hopefully.
Kindest regards
Graham
 
Sadly, I had to cancel my plans to fly on NY eve to Madrid via Frankfurt. After having my flights altered twice by the airline, so much so that my transit would now take me almost 48 hours for Toronto to Madrid… and having learned yesterday that my employer will not be altering the “no foreign travel permitted” until January at the earliest, and not for as long as Canada maintains an international travel advisory to avoid any “inessential“ travel...

While some workers can say that their work is essential, the refusal of my university to lift its restrictions prior to January means that I will be disappointing 4 graduate students in Granada with whom I had planned to work through the winter and spring. In essence what my university has said is that all internatioanl collaborative work has to be done virtually until the administration changes its mind about what the Canadian Travel Advisory means….

I have no idea if I will be able to walk later in the spring without trying to do research work in Granada…. That is something I could do without my employer caring. I’d have to buy my own health insurance as my work-based plan won’t cover us if we are trying to work in foreign locations while the advisory is in place. Maybe by spring I will be able to find a direct flight, or maybe I’ll just fly into LIsbon and start walking from there…

I am super bummed. My vaccinations are complete. I live somewhere with fewer than 100 cases and fewer than a handful of new cases on any given day. My sabbatical is a year overdue and I agreed last January to take it on this schedule. So I’m stuck.

I hope that this cancellation is not just a meaningless sacrifice.

I think I’ve had it in mind for at least a month now that this was a real possibility, but I had hoped that with Spain being open, that with my EU passport, that with indications being that we are getting ahead of the worst manifestations of COV-19… that I would be able to go.

Oh well…. Eventually I will get my money back. Eventually I will retire…

Buen camino all.
So sorry to hear your news. Try to stay positive.
 
If I can give you some advice from someone who went against your feelings of waiting until 2022. I was worried since April when I booked my flight to Sevilla about things getting alot darker and worse as my October 10th departure approached. Covid got worse and I worried more and more. I also worried because at our age I know I may have a limited number of caminos left in me. But around September 1st I said F*%K this. Everything will be ok and I will walk. If I keep taking care of myself I have at least 12 years left in me of yearly caminos maybe more. (I am 67) and on last Wednesday and Thursday I was lucky enough to get my flu shot and my 3rd Pfizer booster shot. I figure I can only control my actions and what is happening tomorrow. Science will win out over lies and stupidity and I will walk starting October 14th and I will finish in Muxia.

I do believe we can create our own reality to a certain extent. My reality is I am going and I will finish. I will put that energy into other Pilgrim's realities, when I return and you are at the top of the list with my pal @tomnorth and @alexwalker for long lives and many more Caminos,
I will be interested to hear what albergues are opened from Santiago to Muxia/Fisterra when you go through the area, since I will be on your tail about then. Many places seem to be closed by the end of October. Your info will be a great help.
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
I will be interested to hear what albergues are opened from Santiago to Muxia/Fisterra when you go through the area, since I will be on your tail about then. Many places seem to be closed by the end of October. Your info will be a great help.
The best thing to do is to call ahead each day or send a Whatsapp message. I would also download the Buen Camino and WIse Pilgrim app for more choices. I have walked in late November and December before and I can tell you no sight was more than about 65% accurate on open/closed for season. But quickly looking there seems to be more than enough beds to Muxia. I am not going to Fisterra as I have walked there before. I will probably be walking to Muxia the first week of December. I doubt if I am going to have any problems finding a bed. If you are coming after I would think you would be fine too. Don't know about how things are really close to Christmas.
 
The best thing to do is to call ahead each day or send a Whatsapp message. I would also download the Buen Camino and WIse Pilgrim app for more choices. I have walked in late November and December before and I can tell you no sight was more than about 65% accurate on open/closed for season. But quickly looking there seems to be more than enough beds to Muxia. I am not going to Fisterra as I have walked there before. I will probably be walking to Muxia the first week of December. I doubt if I am going to have any problems finding a bed. If you are coming after I would think you would be fine too. Don't know about how things are really close to Christmas.
Thanks. I have been checking and there are a number of places as you mention stating on the websites they are open but are not. I am one of those Luddites who does not have a phone so calling ahead won't work for me.
 
Thanks. I have been checking and there are a number of places as you mention stating on the websites they are open but are not. I am one of those Luddites who does not have a phone so calling ahead won't work for me.
You could always say to a pilgrim in a bar, restaurant or on the way, "hey sailor can I borrow your phone to call for a bed tonight???" haha or you could ask the albergue hospitalario (I have no idea if I spelled this correctly) to call ahead. I have faith you will figure it out just fine!
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
You could always say to a pilgrim in a bar, restaurant or on the way, "hey sailor can I borrow your phone to call for a bed tonight???" haha or you could ask the albergue hospitalario (I have no idea if I spelled this correctly) to call ahead. I have faith you will figure it out just fine!
As do I
 
Sadly, I had to cancel my plans to fly on NY eve to Madrid via Frankfurt. After having my flights altered twice by the airline, so much so that my transit would now take me almost 48 hours for Toronto to Madrid… and having learned yesterday that my employer will not be altering the “no foreign travel permitted” until January at the earliest, and not for as long as Canada maintains an international travel advisory to avoid any “inessential“ travel...

While some workers can say that their work is essential, the refusal of my university to lift its restrictions prior to January means that I will be disappointing 4 graduate students in Granada with whom I had planned to work through the winter and spring. In essence what my university has said is that all internatioanl collaborative work has to be done virtually until the administration changes its mind about what the Canadian Travel Advisory means….

I have no idea if I will be able to walk later in the spring without trying to do research work in Granada…. That is something I could do without my employer caring. I’d have to buy my own health insurance as my work-based plan won’t cover us if we are trying to work in foreign locations while the advisory is in place. Maybe by spring I will be able to find a direct flight, or maybe I’ll just fly into LIsbon and start walking from there…

I am super bummed. My vaccinations are complete. I live somewhere with fewer than 100 cases and fewer than a handful of new cases on any given day. My sabbatical is a year overdue and I agreed last January to take it on this schedule. So I’m stuck.

I hope that this cancellation is not just a meaningless sacrifice.

I think I’ve had it in mind for at least a month now that this was a real possibility, but I had hoped that with Spain being open, that with my EU passport, that with indications being that we are getting ahead of the worst manifestations of COV-19… that I would be able to go.

Oh well…. Eventually I will get my money back. Eventually I will retire…

Buen camino all.
I am so sorry to hear it, but please try not to be super disappointed. Some times, some things are a blessing in disguise. Perhaps someone is watching over you so you will be safe from any possible harms. Or going to Granada in the Spring will bring you many unexpected blessed events and joy.
 
Yes; thank you… I didn’t have the energy to explain all this.
I booked a ticket I could afford to lose…
I made a highly conditional acceptance on an invitation to work with students.
A sabbatical is not a vacation, and so not “my own time” but I was going to take my 2022 vacation days in the first weeks to walk north out of Segovia and then on the Invierno to SdC. My sabbatical plan had been approved when I applied. I think everyone thought that with vaccines rolled out and in arms that by 2022 I’d be able to go. But all our approvals were made “conditional” this year.
Right now my country does not require that we quarantine on return from travel *unless* we are returning from some place where we’ve avoided or been unable to be vaccinated.
But Canada *is* maintaining the travel advisory and while many faculty are able to say that their travel is essential, I’m not setting up a lab…. Or dealing with a fragile site…. Which means that as my particular school does not intend to alter its regulations prior to my sabbatical start, there’s no way for me to get all the ducks lined up that have to line up.
And I’m cautious, not entitled… so I pulled the plug… maybe in time to come to terms with it.
I just happen to be really good at what I do, and really, really wanted to work with people who nearly *fell over* when I was their programme‘s invited guest last term. I don’t normally brag… I’m not trying to… I nearly feel over when they introduced me as “field defining”…
Now I just really have very little to look forward to. Just more grinding away, head down… in a town that I described to my spouse today as a dreary version of Pittsburgh.
I just need a minute to be really sad about this and a pile of other stuff that folks from the sub-forum for caregivers on camino know about.
“in a town that I described to my spouse today as a dreary version of Pittsburgh.”

So…just spit balling here…Hamilton🤪
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
“in a town that I described to my spouse today as a dreary version of Pittsburgh.”

So…just spit balling here…Hamilton🤪
Close. We happen to lack the natural beautiful geographic features of Hamilton…. PIttsburgh and Ponferrada both happened to demonstrate to me what Hamilton could have been — with some vision.
Where I am is flatter… and being from the west coast, where granite mountains collide with the ocean, flat lands really aren’t my thing.
Give me Galicia… or the Pyrenees… and I guess I am still hoping I will walk through the picks de Europa, and the St. Bernard’s Pass into Italy… and the range just north of Madrid…
 
Sadly, I had to cancel my plans to fly on NY eve to Madrid via Frankfurt. After having my flights altered twice by the airline, so much so that my transit would now take me almost 48 hours for Toronto to Madrid… and having learned yesterday that my employer will not be altering the “no foreign travel permitted” until January at the earliest, and not for as long as Canada maintains an international travel advisory to avoid any “inessential“ travel...

While some workers can say that their work is essential, the refusal of my university to lift its restrictions prior to January means that I will be disappointing 4 graduate students in Granada with whom I had planned to work through the winter and spring. In essence what my university has said is that all internatioanl collaborative work has to be done virtually until the administration changes its mind about what the Canadian Travel Advisory means….

I have no idea if I will be able to walk later in the spring without trying to do research work in Granada…. That is something I could do without my employer caring. I’d have to buy my own health insurance as my work-based plan won’t cover us if we are trying to work in foreign locations while the advisory is in place. Maybe by spring I will be able to find a direct flight, or maybe I’ll just fly into LIsbon and start walking from there…

I am super bummed. My vaccinations are complete. I live somewhere with fewer than 100 cases and fewer than a handful of new cases on any given day. My sabbatical is a year overdue and I agreed last January to take it on this schedule. So I’m stuck.

I hope that this cancellation is not just a meaningless sacrifice.

I think I’ve had it in mind for at least a month now that this was a real possibility, but I had hoped that with Spain being open, that with my EU passport, that with indications being that we are getting ahead of the worst manifestations of COV-19… that I would be able to go.

Oh well…. Eventually I will get my money back. Eventually I will retire…

Buen camino all.
It has been difficult. We're sorry for your situation. When we realized we weren't going to make it to Europe, we decided to try a different walk and opted for The PEI Island Walk - islandwalk.ca. We're just back and can tell you, PEI is a safe place, a beautiful place and offers a great walk!
 
Thanks… maybe I will walk PEI at some point, but it’s a very much more expensive proposition and I really don’t have those kinds of funds… I’d like to walk PEI, the Shi-ko-Ku, The Francigena, the LePuy… all of which are too expensive for me to consider now, even if I could get to them.

For those who *can* afford the PEI walk, I wish them well in their efforts. I’ve heard it’s very pretty.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
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