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I do realize that we as Americans do not have the luxury of 4-6 weeks vacation like most Europeans do, and that it is much further for us to travel to do the Camino.
falcon269 said:In 2008, the number from the U.S. dropped a little, about 2,200. The number of Canadians grew some to 1,933. The population of Canada is a little more than 10% of the U.S., so Camino participation is much larger from Canada. .
falcon269 said:....Profit and celebrity drive Americans. No one is likely to find profit in a pilgrimage, but make the Camino a reality show, and thousands of American would follow.
Caminando said:Nos somos todos americanos....Hugo Chavez.
WolverineDG said:I wish I could get a fare that low as your husband did. However, unless you live on the East Coast, air fares to Europe are going to be much higher than $425.
Kelly
Thanks for the sympathy vote omar...... and yes, to us US airfares look relatively cheap as well!! I will refrain from giving an Anzac bite back about the poor cousins!!!omar504 said:I'm envious of how cheap it is to fly from the US! It's normally about double from Australia-maybe even more from NZ (our poor cousins to the east).
KiwiNomad06 said:Thanks for the sympathy vote omar...... and yes, to us US airfares look relatively cheap as well!! I will refrain from giving an Anzac bite back about the poor cousins!!!omar504 said:I'm envious of how cheap it is to fly from the US! It's normally about double from Australia-maybe even more from NZ (our poor cousins to the east).
Margaret
edavis said:My daughter and I walked from Sarria to Santiago in late June. We could only manage 10 days so we had to settle for those last 100 kms.....
Buon Comino!!
Ellen
lynnejohn said:There are a number of sites that will alert you to changes in prices of a number of trips you have entered. I use http://www.farecompare.com and find it very useful.
lynne
Josecob said:Dear Hermanita,
Your second question “What is it with us Americans from the USA.” You answered your own question by saying “Most Americans I talk to never heard of the Camino”…
.
After my recent Camino now six additional American people want to join me next year when I return to redo my Camino.
I guess I am lucky to live on the east coast. I had a direct flight which is available from many locations in the USA.The French do not have to get on six airplanes (round trip) like I did to do the Camino. That could be one of the reasons why “they are there in record numbers.”
Hermanita said:I do realize that we as Americans do not have the luxury of 4-6 weeks vacation like most Europeans do
elzi said:What countries in Europe let most people have 4-6 week holidays!!??!! Please let me know because I'm moving there.....!
Bridget and Peter said:Can I point out that I would struggle to do the Appalachian way or other famous and inspirational american delights? I expect there are few british people to be found there!!
lynnejohn said:Despite horrid boors who can be from anywhere, difficulties getting time off, ridiculously expensive airfare, and other challenges, we continue to return to walk our caminos,either because we choose to, or because we feel called to. To me, these are minor compared to the transformative wonder of walking the camino. I like to remember the wonderful people I've met over the years rather than the jerks. Not to say we should "pretty up" our camino stories and memories, I just don't like to let those uncivil, unthoughtful and uncharitable people that I've encountered take up any more of my time and energy than they already have.
lynne
Frogmarch said:elzi said:What countries in Europe let most people have 4-6 week holidays!!??!! Please let me know because I'm moving there.....!
Actually, you've got a pretty wide choice of countries to move to- all the Scandinavian countries, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Greece, the U.K., Belgium, Ireland ... the list goes on....
Finland appears to have the most - 25 days' leave and 14 public holidays for a whopping 39 days off. http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=106596
I read somewhere that they are tops for productivity too.
As mentioned before, the combination of long holidays and proximity to the Camino make for more peregrinos.
lynnejohn said:I too love the idea of the Appalachian Trail, the West Coast Trail, the Cabot Trail, and other fantastic trails in North America. I will never walk them however. Two words:
1. BEARS. 2.COUGARS.
anniethenurse said:In Sweden the yearly leave is usually 25 days but if you are older (50 years) you will have 32 days leave every year + some public holidays. BUT you won´t get the public holidays FREE; those days/hours have to be worked in during the year. Our weekly working hours are 40. Means we work more than 40 hours every week. Means that we are never at home. Means that we leave our children in the day care when they are really small etc. The income tax is high...
It is my birthday today, so I took one of my 28 days annual leave (or maybe it was TOIL - time off in lieu - for hours worked outside my contracted hours) and we went for a lovely walk in Northamptonshire - where we saw a church with a Saxon tower over 1000 years old, a little narrow packhorse bridge over the river Nene, birds - herons, hawks and swans looking so elegant with their curved necks doubled by reflection in the water and finished up with tea for two with giant slices of delicious cake in a cafe attached to a Pharmacy! Just as lovely as many a days walk on the Camino - though I'm g;lad we can have both!Hermanita said:But I do know what you mean by using that as an example. It is easier to do something in one's own country than have to pay the expense of traveling to someone else's country.
Yes, I agree. We didn't meet any english or american pilgrims on our recent French and Spanish camino - and even the south african was an africaans speaker. So we had lots of those conversations where everybody is using the few words they know in each other's language and managing to converse just fine - sometimes on really serious and philosophical topics! And improving our pronunciation and vocabulary all the time!rachelvi said:It was fun to discuss things with people who live in other cultures, and also to have conversations in broken english/broken spanish and try to understand each other
That's so true too - I try to explain how we felt so nervous to begin with and have discovered how well we manage and how kind are the people we meet along the way, and that that is a big part of what makes the pilgrimage so fulfilling. I guess there will only be a small proportion of any population for whom hiking 400 km or cycling 500 miles in two weeks is an inviting holiday proposition!!!rachelvi said:Your personal idea of fun: When we tell some people that we hiked 400 km for vacation, they sort of look at us and say "that doesn't sound very relaxing." Also, many people ask what sort of group we went with. When we tell them that we went on our own, no guided tour, they are amazed that we could figure out the logistics. And/or they are surprised that we are that adventurous to go somewhere that we don't exactly speak the language and don't have pre-booked accommodations every night.
Bridget and Peter said:I guess there will only be a small proportion of any population for whom hiking 400 km or cycling 500 miles in two weeks is an inviting holiday proposition!!!
Hermanita said:Caminando said:Nos somos todos americanos....Hugo Chavez.
And he is absolutely right...but it was Castro who first said that many years ago, and I think he may have stole it from Che.
In the body of my statement I did qualify that by saying "we Americans from the USA"
Rebekah Scott said:Portia, you are the gutsy one, and you make some great points.
I have done only four days of the AT, as I am a wuss who does not sleep well on the ground.
Caminando said:If I do the Frances again in busy times like summer, I will take the airmat and a goretex bivouac sac, which will free me from crowded refugios. I will miss the interesting people there, of course.
Hermanita said:Caminando said:If I do the Frances again in busy times like summer, I will take the airmat and a goretex bivouac sac, which will free me from crowded refugios. I will miss the interesting people there, of course.
I spent one night in a hotel on the Frances when all the albergues were closed in Najera. Yes, it was nice, private bath, soft towels, no snoring etc, etc; but I missed the camaraderie of the Pilgrims and the whole albergue scene so much.
I think, for me, staying in the albergues is so much a part of the Camino experience that I wouldn't want to stay anywhere else.
Deirdre said:And I don't worry about people, Americans or others, finding the Camino. I believe the Camino will find the people.
Buen Camino,
omar504 said:On the VDLP one year me and the Danish bloke I was with came across a man who quite vehemently,and aggressively, said that unless you stay in Albergues you're not a pilgrim. We both spontaneously laughed in his face. From Granada in 2008 there were many days when hotels/hostals or the floor in a sports stadium were the only option.Such silly dogmatism.
And in a few weeks I hope to be in Tiruvanamalai, South India. There is a mountain there, Arunchula, whose circuit is a pilgrimage I want to do. So there is always an East-West exchange....RestlessRose said:Deirdre wrote :
And I don't worry about people, Americans or others, finding the Camino. I believe the Camino will find the people.
How true this is. I am a Malaysian living in Singapore. There is no promotion of the Camino in this region. And yet there I was, walking the Camino in October.
At the pilgrims office in Santiago, I was told that I was the 5th Malaysian to walk the Camino this year.
Perhaps in time there will be more Malaysians, and more Americans on the Camino.
Buen Camino
Rebecca
bbz180 said:Perhaps we need someone better than Shirley McLain to write a book to spark an interest here.
Tximeleta said:ok! Thank you for your answers.
Here by law, you have 30 days of paid vacation /year of work.
People usually takes 15-20 days in July, August or September and save a week for Christmas or Holy Week (that´s in April). And children have their holidays from 21th of june to 15th of september (what doesn´t make parents happy, beacuse they get mad to find someone to look after their children when they are working)
So here is the answer to why there are less Americans in the camino than other nacionalities.
In summer, when I am at my parent´s house in Najera and I see the tired pilgrims looking for the albergue I often feel temped to offer them my house, to have dinner and have a long shower, but never dare to because they may think I am crazy or something.Should I try sometime?
Greetings!!!
Ana.
Tximeleta said:In summer, when I am at my parent´s house in Najera and I see the tired pilgrims looking for the albergue I often feel temped to offer them my house, to have dinner and have a long shower, but never dare to because they may think I am crazy or something.Should I try sometime?
Greetings!!!
Ana.
Tximeleta said:In summer, when I am at my parent´s house in Najera and I see the tired pilgrims looking for the albergue I often feel temped to offer them my house, to have dinner and have a long shower, but never dare to because they may think I am crazy or something.Should I try sometime?
Tximeleta said:Yes, that would be my idea!
Invite a pilgrim to dinner, have some conversation and if they want to, or there is no place at albergue, sleep that night in my house, but, how can I approach to a pilgrim and propose that? Do you want to sleep in my house sounds "weird
Tximeleta said:ok! Thank you for your answers.
In summer, when I am at my parent´s house in Najera and I see the tired pilgrims looking for the albergue I often feel temped to offer them my house, to have dinner and have a long shower, but never dare to because they may think I am crazy or something.Should I try sometime?
Greetings!!!
Ana.
kgreid said:Hi All,
It's the cost, plus ignorance. I just priced my plane ticket from Michigan in the US to Madrid in May of 2010. It is $1,120.00. It's not that easy to pop over on a moments notice for a nice walk. Then I have to pay to fly to Santiago. The cheap flights do not match my flight schedule. Air Iberia is $208 one way to Santiago from Madrid. This is not a cheap vacation for US citizens. Plus, I have to admit that most Americans have not heard of the Camino. I remember studying about it in medieval history in College but I did not realize that it was a viable trip until a Mexican friend of mine mentioned it to me. I have studied hard and now I proselytize about it all the time. I hope to bring a few friends in May. I hope to see many of you then.
kgreid said:Hi All,
It's the cost, plus ignorance. I just priced my plane ticket from Michigan in the US to Madrid in May of 2010. It is $1,120.00. .
kgreid said:Hi All,
Air Iberia is $208 one way to Santiago from Madrid.
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