Finding The Time To Walk A Camino

[ChrisT]

I was wondering how people find the time to walk a Camino?

My father and I walked from Sarria to Santiago last November and loved it and I was planning on doing the Portuguese Camino from Tui in September.

I'm now thinking I would love to do the whole Frances but with work commitments it is difficult to find the time.

I was wondering, do people take career breaks? Extended unpaid leave? Has anyone ever left a job in order to walk? I'm sure a lot of people are retired and many will be students having longer summer breaks. But people still working, how do they find the time?

 

[celinehenriette]

I have unpaid leave for 8 months, and plan to walk for 6 months and look for a new place to live for 2 months. I made the decision that traveling is more important to me than having a high paid career. For me that means having a job where they can miss me and replace me if necessary. I'm happy to have found one that I actually very much enjoy and I have the option to come back in january 2019. In 2013 I walked for 3 months, the boss of the company I worked before that asked me to come back after my pilgrimage. So far I've been very lucky, but it does mean making choices.

 

[Dorpie]

Hi Chris,

It's certainly a big commitment, but at least in Europe most employers give at the very least 4 weeks of paid leave each year, so as long as you're able to take it in one go and carefully juggle public holidays and weekends you can give yourself a five week block.

For me personally, I'm a poker player, so entirely flexible which is a huge luxury. But I did tent to find that there weren't so many people in my age group (40s) on the camino, it tended to be either people who on gap years from study or at the other end those who had retired.

Hope you manage to find the time to do your dream walk.

 

[Purky]

It's not so much finding the time to walk, as it is making the time to walk. Unpaid leave was also my way to ensure enough time, plus saving money for three years to keep everything at home afloat and my own expenses covered during my three month camino two years ago.

 

[Anamiri]

I guess it's easier for people living in Europe, we met many doing smaller walks, a week or so at a time, as its easy and cheaper to travel there and back. I met a Swiss girl who had walked from Paris, two weeks a year for a number of years, I met her in Najera. And Spanish people just walking over weekends.
From New Zealand and Australia though it is a huge commitment both in money and time, it adds 4-5 days just travelling there and back for a Camino. I procrastinated for years before I took the plunge and just booked unpaid leave.
I know some careers are more forgiving of large amounts of time off than others. I would not have had the courage to do it when I was younger, I was afraid of damaging my career, not being able to get in again, after stepping off.
I guess that's why I saw a lot of retired people, and quite a few 'gap year' or 'between jobs' people. There were more impulse people than I imagined.

 

[Kiwi-family]

I homeschool our kids so we call it a field trip. For daddy to join us, he takes carefully planned holiday leave.
But having just started a new job three weeks ago that luxury was not available this year - when he was given the job he negotiated a month’s leave without pay as we had a camino planned. (I’ll be doing an extra couple of weeks before he brings the kids)

 

[ChrisT]

Thanks for the reply's. It is interesting to know how people do 'make' the time.

I have asked for 4 weeks unpaid leave and to be able to tag 2 weeks holiday on to give me 6 weeks in September. Ill see what they come back with. I work for a large international company based in the UK.

On the HR website it says you can apply for a career break from 3 months to a year but no more than a year. Apparently its harder to give someone a months unpaid leave than 3 months as you cant offer someone else a secondment in your role for just 1 month.

 

[Banjo&Matilda]

We're taking long service leave for 12 weeks and spending 8 weeks of it on the Camino and then 2-3 weeks mooching around Spain. We have saved for this experience for 3 years.

 

[DowtyCamino]

Prior to my first Camino I came in one day and just told my boss I was taking 6w off 5yrs in advance. He kind of shrugged his shoulders - likely thinking "alot can happen in 5yrs". I reminded him every year. This had the effect of making it difficult for him to say "no", and also preparing him and my staff for my departure.
It wasn't until 3 months before I left that I began to see "panic" in his eyes. We did this "off the books" so to speak - since no one had ever taken such a large stretch of time off in a row (sans disability).
In the end - obviously - it all worked out.
So my guidance for anyone in the US or similar work environs is: ask early and often. Even the largest, most bureaucratic companies can make exceptions to formal policy if they are given enough time and if you prove to be sincere. Their option is to lose a good employee for the sake of a small accomodation. Normally they will choose wisely.

 

[WGroleau]

In addition to long "sabbaticals" from work, many of the pilgrims I spoke to would walk for two weeks, go back to work, and the following year start from where they stopped before. And then there are folks like me—retired with no deadlines (except for the inconvenient ninety-day Schengen limit).

In no way do I mean to recommend postponing till retirement, but if you are up in years, don't let that stop you. We had a 91-year-old woman come through one year. Another was 79. I'm 62.

 

[Deleted member 39850]

The issue of time and cost is a biggie for those of us who have to travel from the Americas. It generally means taking a longer walk so that the cost of the flight is not so stinging relative to time on the ground.
I thought about and saved for three years before my first trip in 2014, and had to go alone because while I get a sabbatical (at reduced salary) every 7th year, my spouse does not. This year, 4 years after my trek, he can finally go, but only because he has saved up enough vacation days to be able to do it by working in a few statutory holidays, and all the week-ends. We are fortunate that I can actually join him for 3 weeks this year, but we will definitely be retired before we can think of doing a whole Camino together.
I suspect this is why so many of those from the Americas are retired or in seasonal work (like teaching).
Otherwise, if the person is young and from the Americas, the walk seems to be taken at the end of studies, prior to the next big thing.

 

[MethaV]

I was wondering how people find the time to walk a Camino?

My father and I walked from Sarria to Santiago last November and loved it and I was planning on doing the Portuguese Camino from Tui in September.

I'm now thinking I would love to do the whole Frances but with work commitments it is difficult to find the time.

I was wondering, do people take career breaks? Extended unpaid leave? Has anyone ever left a job in order to walk? I'm sure a lot of people are retired and many will be students having longer summer breaks. But people still working, how do they find the time?

I guess there are plenty of reasons why people can do the full Camino. As for me, I live in Sweden, and we have minimum five weeks of vacation each year. Most people have the possibility to take it all in one go. We often take four weeks, and then we can save the fifth week until another year. I took six weeks off when I did the full camino. Paid vacation! Now I'm retired and still love walking. This summer I will do the via Podiensis from Cahors to SJPP. I did the first part last year.

 

[mvanert]

I am fortunate that I work for myself and can do a lot of it remotely. I also have great clients who support my going and finally a wife, who will worry while I'm away for six weeks, supports me and my camino.

 

[trecile]

When I walked my first Camino in late August/September 2016 many pilgrims that I met were retired.
Last year in July/August I met many teachers.

 

[Deleted member 56069]

I was wondering how people find the time to walk a Camino?

My father and I walked from Sarria to Santiago last November and loved it and I was planning on doing the Portuguese Camino from Tui in September.

I'm now thinking I would love to do the whole Frances but with work commitments it is difficult to find the time.

I was wondering, do people take career breaks? Extended unpaid leave? Has anyone ever left a job in order to walk? I'm sure a lot of people are retired and many will be students having longer summer breaks. But people still working, how do they find the time?

Chris, my wife and I had the same problem, although we had annual vacation allotments of 6 weeks, neither employer would allow it to be used in one stretch.
So to do the Frances, we broke it into three pieces, so we walked in 2014, 15 and 16. If we had waited for retirement amd to walk it all in one stretch, we would still not have gone. You never know if health issues crop up in the mean time as well.

Some would think it is a lot of airfare to break up a Camino route, but really Camino's are a really inexpensive holiday compared to most other options.

I have since retired and last year we walked the Portuguese route from Porto and this fall will do the Primitivo route.

Personally for us as much as we love our walks and Camino life we find after about 18 days of walking, it is about as much as we wish to do most years and about as long as we wish to be away from home.

That being said, if I can ever get my wife to retire, we might do the Frances route or another longer route all in one shot.

 

[naplesdon]

Retiring at 58 gave me lots of time to do what I really wanted to do.

 

[Josefine]

I guess there are plenty of reasons why people can do the full Camino. As for me, I live in Sweden, and we have minimum five weeks of vacation each year. Most people have the possibility to take it all in one go. We often take four weeks, and then we can save the fifth week until another year. I took six weeks off when I did the full camino. Paid vacation! Now I'm retired and still love walking. This summer I will do the via Podiensis from Cahors to SJPP. I did the first part last year.

I am Swedish too and can take 7 weeks of paid vacation every year. I guess we are just lucky to be able to walk for so many weeks in a row.

 

[ChrisT]

Prior to my first Camino I came in one day and just told my boss I was taking 6w off 5yrs in advance. He kind of shrugged his shoulders - likely thinking "alot can happen in 5yrs". I reminded him every year. This had the effect of making it difficult for him to say "no", and also preparing him and my staff for my departure.
It wasn't until 3 months before I left that I began to see "panic" in his eyes. We did this "off the books" so to speak - since no one had ever taken such a large stretch of time off in a row (sans disability).
In the end - obviously - it all worked out.
So my guidance for anyone in the US or similar work environs is: ask early and often. Even the largest, most bureaucratic companies can make exceptions to formal policy if they are given enough time and if you prove to be sincere. Their option is to lose a good employee for the sake of a small accomodation. Normally they will choose wisely.

I like your style. The thought of still working where I am now in five years time is enough to make me resign tomorrow though.

 

[Anamiri]

Thanks for the reply's. It is interesting to know how people do 'make' the time.

I have asked for 4 weeks unpaid leave and to be able to tag 2 weeks holiday on to give me 6 weeks in September. Ill see what they come back with. I work for a large international company based in the UK.

On the HR website it says you can apply for a career break from 3 months to a year but no more than a year. Apparently its harder to give someone a months unpaid leave than 3 months as you cant offer someone else a secondment in your role for just 1 month.

Well done, I know you'll be glad you took the step. Have a great Camino.

 

[Mark Barnes]

I retired in 2015 and walked for 43 days in 2017. I would have never even considered doing this while I was working as getting more than two weeks off at a time would have been out of the question.

 

[Black and the Red]

I'm self employed so I just need to make sure my wonderful wife and son have all the finances they need whilst I'm away for 35 days. I don't believe that my Camino would be possible when I was employed by a company unless I took unpaid leave. So long as you have a flexible understanding boss...!

 

[WGroleau]

I'm self employed so I just need to make sure my wonderful wife and son have all the finances they need whilst I'm away for 35 days. I don't believe that my Camino would be possible when I was employed by a company unless I took unpaid leave. So long as you have a flexible understanding boss...!

To each his own. If my wife were still around, she'd go with me—or I wouldn't go.

 

[WGroleau]

Some would think it is a lot of airfare to break up a Camino route, but really Camino's are a really inexpensive holiday compared to most other options.

If you shop around well in advance for the best fare, without pinning it to a specific date, you can save lots of money. Then whatever date gets you a good price is the date you start your vacation. This trip, my price BOS-BCN was US$159.10