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Just returned from Camino

Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
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.
As you "come down" from your Camino high you will start to experience post-Camino depression (PCD). It will happen, and it affects each of us differently. I have done five Caminos so far and I get it (PCD) everytime I leave Santiago. It continues for a few weeks.

Being on the Forum during the off season really helps too. Trying to help others keeps me sane as I prepare for my next Camino or volunteer opportunity. I spend from one to two hours daily on this computer trying to help others. It helps me, and hopefully others.

You can also join the nearest "friend of the Camino" group. I do not know where you are from, but there are organizations all over the world. Join yours, get involved. Staying connected to others who share your interest will also help.

Here is a good listing of the websites for most of the larger Camino-friendly organizations: https://www.americanpilgrims.org/internet-resources#other-associations

I also recommend that you start planning your next Camino. Most of us find that is the only medicine for the PCD syndrome. Even if it does not get beyond the planning and dreaming stage, the intellectual exercise will leave you better informed, interested and motivated to return.

However, if walking is not in the offing for whatever reason, consider giving back as a volunteer. You can either give your time locally, to your Camino organization, on the Camino as a hospilatera, or in Santiago, at the Pilgrim Office. Use the search function in this Forum (top right corner) to locate threads addressing volunteering.

Welcome to our magnificent obsession...!

Hope this helps...
 
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Another option apart from t2andreos always sage advice, is to use some of the time you might spend obsessively reading and posting on camino threads here, to instead volunteer at a local seniors centre or hospital, where you can interact with people travelling on a different Way.

Join or start a local walking group.

... or do like the rest of us and start obsessively planning for your next camino. :)
 
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Loving these suggestions - and yes - on the train ride from SdC back to Madrid, I already started planning my next Camino.

I work as an interpreter for young Hispanic families with special needs children - how sweet to realize that my pilgrimage can continue through my service to them
 
I forgot to say that I started teaching myself Spanish using www.duolingo.com. I have been using it nonstop for over 470 consecutive days. I use the website at home, and the app on my iPhone.

It is FREE. The perfect peregrino price (PPP).

I typically try to spend one-hour daily practicing online. After many months, I am finally starting to achieve level five, in at least the basic grammar and vocabulary categories. While I do not presume to become fluent, being able to communicate with others is very important to the whole Camino experience. My confidence is increasing, and fast.

If I am traveling, I might only use the app for 15 minutes. But anything is better than nothing.

Plus, at 65, learning a new language is not as easy as it is when one is younger. I learned French for four years in high school, like 50 years ago. I used it intermittently during my professional career, but it has mostly lapsed.

Living in the Flemish region of Belgium for two years, I learned basic Dutch (using Pimsleur CDs) to be able to communicate with older folks and young kids who did not speak English. Most everyone between 16 and 60 spoke very good English. I still have some of it, but would need to have a refresher if I were to need to rely on it.

Walking five Caminos since 2013, and volunteering in the Pilgrim Office each summer since 2014, I have learned the need to speak conversational Spanish. If I do, I can help more people and improve my overall experience.

Besides, learning a new language helps keep my brain young and fit. I try to learn something new every day. Living in South Florida there are opportunities to speak basic Spanish almost daily. Just exchanging pleasantries in a coffee shop or supermarket helps me practice.

Finally, to aid my comprehension and uptake of the new vocabulary, I downloaded a FREE word scramble game from IThinkDiff in the app store. This is the developer of the better Spanish and a ton of other language dictionaries. I highly recommend their apps. The word game can be played in English, Spanish or about two dozen other languages, including languages that do not use the Roman alphabet; e.g. Russian, Thai, Arabic, Korean, etc.

Hope this helps.
 
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Great suggestions ..... I am already a Spanish speaker so I didn’t need this for my Camino, but I have used Duolingo app for travel prep to other countries. It gave me what I needed to ask for bus routes by number in Italy, etc. It’s wonderful even to just have the basics - and helps make connections with people in towns along the way.
So I agree with your recommendations. Thanks!
 
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Just returned from my first Camino, acclimating to my U.S. time zone, but all night long in my dreams, I am still walking the Camino 💕. #sweetsleep
I call it Camino Dreaming 🙃
 
The first edition came out in 2003 and has become the go-to-guide for many pilgrims over the years. It is shipping with a Pilgrim Passport (Credential) from the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.
New Original Camino Gear Designed Especially with The Modern Peregrino In Mind!
As you "come down" from your Camino high you will start to experience post-Camino depression (PCD).
I will respectfully disagree with my friend @t2andreo on this one. Because not everyone experiences this. Not at all - it depends on many things. I love being on the camino but love life off the camino too - and I've never had the experience Tom describes.

The ongoing play of what @SYates calls the 'camino de la vida' is finding ways to bring that open joyful camino feeling into moments of everyday life. Ultimately walking down the street is walking down the street, whether somewhere on the Meseta, or at home - with fellow peregrinas or with friends and family. What makes the difference is how we relate to it. So the key is remembering that the camino feeling is a matter of the heart, and figuring out your own way to access it anywhere...like...
instead volunteer at a local seniors centre or hospital, where you can interact with people travelling on a different Way.
I work as an interpreter for young Hispanic families with special needs children - how sweet to realize that my pilgrimage can continue through my service to them
Exactly...that beautiful feeling of connection that comes from knowing we're all just fellow travelers, everyone walking through life. And being able to manifest the natural kindness that comes from knowing that. Wonderful...
Buen camino, peregrina!
 

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