In training for our second Camino, my husband and I wear our packs around San Francisco. We have discovered that nothing makes one more approachable (and unapproachable) as wearing a backpack through the city. Yesterday we had several encounters with people who were really friendly. Apparently, when one puts a backpack on people (the people who are not avoiding eye contact because they think you might ask for spare change or are a "weirdo"
) want to talk to you and not about backpacking. People asked about how long we have been married or commented on us holding hands - stuff like that. One guy, after we had been in a brief conversion with him and his friend about the gorgeous weather and a longer one about why his life was not going so well, offered us a cigarette (which we declined) like we were old buddies hanging out on the street corner. That normally doesn't happen to my backpackless 56 year old woman standing on the corner self. Yesterday's training walk and its many impromptu conversations were reminiscent of being on the Camino; it made me realize that the seemingly unique flow of kindness and humanity that one experiences on the Camino is all around us, and if one wants to find it, all one has to do is put a fully loaded backpack on and walk out the front door. That was my long way of saying train with pack.