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Yes, that's probably the most effective approach. Since pilgrims will visit the office, one way or one time, they could know where to meet. As long as the notice is clearly visible, in Spanish (we are in Spain) and in English (most pilgrims understand English).JohnnieWalker said:Hola - this is a really good idea. I suspect much of the success might depend on the location of the meeting place. The advantage of the Pilgrims' Office is that we could put up a sign letting people know that (English speaking?) pilgrims who arrived during the day and want to meet others can come back at 7pm to the terazza.
fraluchi said:Yes, that's probably the most effective approach. Since pilgrims will visit the office, one way or one time, they could know where to meet. As long as the notice is clearly visible, in Spanish (we are in Spain) and in English (most pilgrims understand English).JohnnieWalker said:Hola - this is a really good idea. I suspect much of the success might depend on the location of the meeting place. The advantage of the Pilgrims' Office is that we could put up a sign letting people know that (English speaking?) pilgrims who arrived during the day and want to meet others can come back at 7pm to the terazza.
A confined meeting place may be too small for a well-informed and potentially large pilgrims crowd!CaroleH said:The best is a welcoming cafe or bar with reasonable prices... just my thinking.
fraluchi said:A confined meeting place may be too small for a well-informed and potentially large pilgrims crowd!
The notice at the Pilgrim's office should indicate an easy spot to find, where pilgrims can meet and make individual plans from that moment onwards.
JohnnieWalker said:Sure...how do we want this advertised? Do we put up a poster in English saying "Meet other piglrims who arrived today at 7pm here" or in various languages?
I suppose I'm asking if this is primarily aimed at English speakers?
Josefine - if all goes as planned we will arrive in Santiago on July 2nd - hope to meet you there (if not before) nari and mikeJosefine said:I like this idea and will arrive in Santiago during the first week of July. Hope to meet some of you.
Josefine
I am leaving for Madrid March 28. I do not carry a phone or laptop. I'll just check with the Pilgrims' Office when I get there. I will also check this website along the way when internet is available. Looking forward to seeing some of you sometime between May 7 and 15. I will be one of the many who have the Forum Patch : )Tia Valeria said:I like the idea of the Pilgrims' Office as we can all find it, let the Welcomers know we are around and are not tied to one cafe/bar. A notice in Spanish and English - yes please.
Sure. Both in Spanish and English.JohnnieWalker said:Do we put up a poster in English saying "Meet other pilgrims who arrived today at 7pm here" or in various languages?
peregrina2000 said:Santiago may not have quite as many bars per capita as Madrid, but it's got to be close. Maybe it's worth a bit of scouting, which I'm happy to do in July when I arrive. I guess this is still a work in progress! Laurie
This is a wonderful idea! I took so long to reach Santiago (54 days,absolutely no rush ) that I only ran into one other person that I had met on the way and only because her walking companion wound up in the hospital with a medical emergency. As a consequence I felt very lonely and lost in Santiago, also though I don't post much, I feel like I know all the veteran posters and would love to meet someone from the forum.Priscillian said:This is a super idea and I am surprised none of us thought of it before. One thing which struck me from Jack Hitt's book, even before I walked my first Camino, is how he says that three days after arriving in Santiago he didn't know a single soul. The experience can become lonely after the initial high has passed.
The other thing I like about this is that it gives those of us who live in Galicia a chance to meet new pilgrims too.
Well done. So be it...
Ivar, will you be making this sticky???
http://www.pilgrimagetoheresy.blogspot. ... house.html
P.S. I hope you're all wearing your "Pilgrim Forum Badge" [see bottom of page] so we get to know each other even BEFORE SdC!Stephen Nicholls said:Looking forward to meeting some of you guys at this point, around May 29th when I should be arriving in SdC from Salamanca.
Buen camino!
Stephen
http://www.calig.co.uk/camino_de_santiago.htm
Priscillian said:OK (and thanks to admin Miguel for the redirection...)
I am still not sure
IF...
When...?
Where...?
this is to be, but I shall be at the terrace at the Pilgrim's Office at 7:00 on Tuesday 24th June (Big Night...have to be at the Cathedral by 8:00 or forget a space!) and the same time on the Wednesday (25th) if anyone would like to meet up. Maybe dinner at Casa Manolo on Wednesday?
Would love to meet other Forum members in Compostela.
Ivar??? Johnny Walker??? Will you be around???
T
I'm entering this conversation very late, but wanted to let everyone know that we'd love to offer space for pilgrims to meet up regularly, for free. Our first Meet-Up for English-speaking pilgrims will be this Thursday, and reading through this entire thread has been very helpful and will inform how we plan for Meet-Ups in the future.
Since we're in that all-important planning stage, I have a follow-up question for everyone: it's now been two years since this thread was first created, and several of you have been to Santiago many more times now. Are there some things you still really would love to see in a regular Santiago Meet-Up? Anything new you'd like to add, too, that perhaps wasn't mentioned above? We'd love to hear your ideas and see what we can do to further the notion of pilgrims connecting and gathering in Santiago.
Faith
Hi, Faith,
Since I'm the one who started the thread and then let the whole thing drop, I wanted to thank you for your post. When I walk non-traditional caminos, I frequently enter Santiago with one or two other people, nothing like the big communal "family" entrances I experienced on the Frances and Norte, for example. So it can be a little on the lonely side, and having a place to meet up with others would be a nice opportunity. I have arrived in Santiago a couple of times now overlapping with other people I "know" from the forum who have walked a different camino, and having a regular meet up place would help make in-person meetings happen more easily.
My own opinion is that especially for pilgrims on those more lonely caminos, having a set time every day (or however many days the place is open) where English speaking people (and I don't mean to be exclusive here) and their friends, etc, can drop in to just chat and think out loud would be a really nice thing.
I have seen how this works for Dutch/Flemish people in the pilgrims' office. I'm sure you've been there. Upstairs there is a nice open space with cookies and coffee, tea, etc, always staffed by two Dutch volunteers. People working downstairs in the office and the Amigos try to be on the lookout to tell the Dutch and Belgian pilgrims about the upstairs "living room" (though most of them already know about it). It's a nice welcoming place, and the volunteers are able to help out with lots of little details for the return, help finding accommodation, and just giving people a chance to talk with someone who understands the camino, etc.
Although some of us thought it was kind of an exclusive thing at the outset, I came around to thinking that it was very nice, making sense because the Dutch Camino association is the largest in the world by far. And the hosts upstairs were open and welcoming to people of any nationality. This is NOT what you are offering, I know, but I use the example to say that I don't think that having an English language meeting place has to turn into a snobby exclusive place at all.
I think the only way to "test drive" your idea would be to have a sustained period where you just publicize -- every day at some fixed time, English speaking GTG at your place. Arrivals in Santiago are frequently "off schedule," so having to shoot for a Wed. or a Thurs. would be complicated. Just my rambling thoughts, sorry to have gone on for too long! Buen camino, Laurie
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